I've been watching basketball for a long time. I remember Walt Frazier and a lot of other "old school" PGs since then. I've never, ever, seen a PG who brings the ball up, passes off, and then goes and sits in the low post. That's not what point guards do, but that's exactly what Simmons does. I don't know if there is a stat for this, but I would love to know how often Simmons gets the ball back after making that initial pass. I would bet it's way, way, less than other PGs, traditional or not. A PG has to be consistently involved in the half court offense. Simmons just isn't.
Understandable. I'll try to explain my reasoning simply.
Simmons plays very afraid in the halfcourt thats absolutely true, and thats the basis of all his problems, but the bring it up pass it off thing is a product of Brown's offensive scheme.
BB's offense is based on dribble handoffs with mostly high action and A LOT of "horn set" type stuff.
Here's examples.
Simmons role as the primary ballhandler is to set the timing of the action with the initial handoff.
The receiver out high then has to survey the court quickly and make an on the fly decison based on defensive positioning.
Non verbally someone has to come to ball off either wing to continue the chain of action and so on and so forth until you get the shot you want.
Simmons problem is, as you noted, he doesnt call for the ball again once the ball is rotated away.
He does not hunt the open space that Brown's offense creates in the paint.
Iso on Simmons on this play:
Simmons begins the action w the handoff then rotates to the weakside.
Brown's offense should work in principle as long as Simmons plays intelligently without fear.
He often does not.
Sixers strength is their size and paint presence but they cant space due to Simmons lack of shooting so Brown manufactures spacing by forcing the defense to rotate out high to cover the wing actions off either side of the foul line.
This play is open for Simmons 10-15 times every game. He rarely makes the correct read though.
Jimmy ****s up the spacing a bit by walking into the paint for some reason but the play is still there.
All Simmons has to do is spin around the smaller man, plant his feet and call for the ball instead he's late and Jo turns it over leading to a loss.
I said 3 years ago when Brown's offense works its great but with young players set plays and set roles are just so important.
Its good in that it gets everyone involved and provides ample space for cutters if theyre willing to take it.
Off ball activity in general has been very bad this year.
Redick was very effective in these.
Tobi settles for the midrange too often off the same actions and like JJ his lack of playmaking vision means he misses 4-5 easy assists per game.
JRich, Al, Kork, Matisse are new to the system and lack the shooting, esp off the dribble, of JJ and Tobi.
Simmons would miss his cues in past years but they would be wiped away impactwise due to shotmaking that isnt there right now.
Would love to see straight PnR Jo+Ben consistently for one ********* game.
Even if Simmons man sags, Jo's man wont and then you'll have (provided Simmons stays aggressive) a wing and a big man trying to coordinate themselves to stop the lob over the top to Jo and Simmons drive at the same time.
Brown calls it so infrequently that you cant even glean anything concrete from the numbers.