Ben Simmons has been at the center of attention this offseason, as he and the Philadelphia 76ers both trip over themselves to take credit for trying to get him traded out of Philly. At the time of writing he has reported to the team but it is not yet clear when and if he will suit up for the 76ers again.
Simmons is an incredibly talented player, one of the league’s five or ten best playmakers and defenders. In the open court or in a spaced-out context he can score at a solid clip. In the more compacted setting of playing alongside Joel Embiid, there is less room for Simmons to operate.
That is why he needed to spend the offseason working on his scoring aggression. Simmons refuses to shoot 3-pointers until and if he feels completely comfortable, and likewise when he gets in his own head about his poor foul-shooting he stops looking to score and instead looks to pass. Draymond Green is reluctant to score because he genuinely is looking for the best pass at all times; Simmons seems to get reluctant because he is afraid to be fouled.
The ultimate example came in the 76ers’ Game 7 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in last season’s playoffs, when he hot-potatoed’ an open layup. “The Pass” as John Hollinger has coined it is forever etched in the memories of basketball fans. To help erase that perception, in Philly or elsewhere, Simmons has to become a more aggressive scorer and punish teams who look to capitalize on his passive approach.
NBA is where amazing happens, where the league’s brightest stars draw us in with dunks and blocks and impossible shots. The very best players are incredible combinations of talent, skill and athleticism, and compared to a normal fan they are the peak of basketball perfection.</p>
<p>When compared to one another, however, weaknesses start to become clear. Even the best players alive have room to improve. During the grind of a season players are mainly just surviving; that means to improve, to chase that ultimate perfect, players have to leverage time off in the offseason to grow and improve.</p>
<h2>No player in the NBA is perfect. What off-season weakness should each of the league’s Top 30 players have worked on this summer?</h2>
<p>To identify one weakness each of the league’s best should have addressed this offseason, we ranked the 30 best players in the league. Then we went through each one and identified one area that they need to improve in. Why is it important for them to work on that?</p>
<p>The rankings are in order, but more meant to lay players in a general ranking up to #1. If any of these players do come back having improved on those weaknesses then they could easily move up the rankings and push others down, so consider them somewhat fluid. Let’s start with a player whose weaknesses are about as glaring as they get: Ben Simmons.</p>
<p><strong>Honorable mentions (just missed the Top-30 cut):</strong> Jaylen Brown, De’Aaron Fox, Gordon Hayward, Kyle Lowry, Julius Randle, Russell Westbrook</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#bb2c32" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/18/nba-off-season-weakness-star-worked/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 30 </a>
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<img class="wp-image-431076 size-full" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/18/nba-off-season-weakness-star-worked/2/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_1154,w_1600/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1324294166.jpeg" alt="Ben Simmons" width="1600" height="1154" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1324294166.jpeg 1600w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1324294166-768x554.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:1600px;">Ben Simmons, Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>30. Ben Simmons, G/F, Philadelphia 76ers – Scoring aggression</h2>
<p>Ben Simmons has been at the center of attention this offseason, as he and the Philadelphia 76ers both trip over themselves to take credit for trying to get him traded out of Philly. At the time of writing he has reported to the team but it is not yet clear when and if he will suit up for the 76ers again.</p>
<p>Simmons is an incredibly talented player, one of the league’s five or ten best playmakers and defenders. In the open court or in a spaced-out context he can score at a solid clip. In the more compacted setting of playing alongside Joel Embiid, there is less room for Simmons to operate.</p>
<p>That is why he needed to spend the offseason working on his scoring aggression. Simmons refuses to shoot 3-pointers until and if he feels completely comfortable, and likewise when he gets in his own head about his poor foul-shooting he stops looking to score and instead looks to pass. Draymond Green is reluctant to score because he genuinely is looking for the best pass at all times; Simmons seems to get reluctant because he is afraid to be fouled.</p>
<p>The ultimate example came in the 76ers’ Game 7 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in last season’s playoffs, when he hot-potatoed’ an open layup. “The Pass” as John Hollinger has coined it is forever etched in the memories of basketball fans. To help erase that perception, in Philly or elsewhere, Simmons has to become a more aggressive scorer and punish teams who look to capitalize on his passive approach.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#bb2c32" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/18/nba-off-season-weakness-star-worked/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 29 </a>
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<img class="size-full wp-image-436773" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/18/nba-off-season-weakness-star-worked/2/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2134,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1346100222.jpeg" alt="NBA" width="3200" height="2134" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1346100222.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1346100222-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Zach LaVine, Chicago Bulls. Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>29. Zach LaVine, SG, Chicago Bulls – Playmaking</h2>
<p>Zach LaVine came into the league as an uber-athletic dunker with raw offensive skills. To his credit he has improved significantly as a player, now scoring among the league-leaders at an efficient rate, including hitting 41.9 percent of his 3-points last season. He was the fulcrum of the Chicago offense.</p>
<p>The next step in his growth is improving as a playmaker and distributor. By virtue of having the ball in his hands so often he racks up a fair amount of assists, but he needs to grow from merely passing the ball to leveraging his impact on defenses to set up teammates in optimal situations.</p>
<p>The Bulls invested in Lonzo Ball as their longtime point guard alongside LaVine, and for all that Ball does well he is not an elite playmaker in the half-court, but rather a much more dangerous player off-ball as a shooter and cutter. That means it will be up to LaVine to shoulder the burden of running the offense in the half-court.</p>
<p>He has certainly shown growth in that area, but for him to take the next step as a player who doesn’t simply score but elevates his team’s offense he will need to improve his playmaking. For a team unlikely to escape the basement in terms of defense, LaVine has to be at the helm of a Top-5 offense for this team to make the playoffs.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#bb2c32" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/18/nba-off-season-weakness-star-worked/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 28 </a>
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<img class="size-full wp-image-434508" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/18/nba-off-season-weakness-star-worked/2/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2133,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1319651032.jpeg" alt="NBA" width="3200" height="2133" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1319651032.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1319651032-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Bradley Beal, Washington Wizards. Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>28. Bradley Beal, SG, Washington Wizards – Defense. Any Defense.</h2>
<p>Bradley Beal is one of the league’s premier scorers, combining solid efficiency with elite volume to produce two consecutive 30-points-per-game seasons. Similarly to LaVine, Beal has become a good passer, but his focus has been on increasing his impact as a scorer and that has absolutely borne fruit.</p>
<p>Unfortunately Beal has completely neglected the other end of the court. He is one of the league’s worst defenders, a player who dies on screens, loses his man off-ball and can easily be beat in space. He clearly devotes all of his attention and energy to scoring on offense, and it results in a player who gives up on defense much of what he provides as a scorer.</p>
<p>The Wizards have escaped from salary cap purgatory, over the course of two seasons flipping John Wall’s mammoth contract for Russell Westbrook, and then sending Westbrook to the Los Angeles Lakers for a collection of solid rotation players. This roster offers potential built on legitimate depth, and it needs Beal to buy in on both ends of the court to maximize it. He doesn’t have to do everything on offense anymore; hopefully he spent some time this offseason working on the mirror end of his game.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#bb2c32" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/18/nba-off-season-weakness-star-worked/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 27 </a>
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<img class="size-full wp-image-431431" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/18/nba-off-season-weakness-star-worked/2/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2133,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1316561286.jpeg" alt="Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors" width="3200" height="2133" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1316561286.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1316561286-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors. Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images</p>
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<h2>27. Draymond Green, PF/C, Golden State Warriors – Taking open shots</h2>
<p>Draymond Green has a legacy as one of the all-time great supporting stars, a defender among the likes of Dennis Rodman or Ben Wallace but also a passer in the vein of Jason Kidd or LeBron James. In both areas he has been and is an elite impact player, a major part of the Warriors reaching five straight NBA Finals.</p>
<p>There was a time when Green brought scoring impact as well, including the 2015-16 season when he shot 38.8 percent from 3-point range and averaged 14 points per game. Those days are long gone, and Green took just 6.0 shots per game last season, shooting an abysmal 27 percent from 3-point range.</p>
<p>Green has learned ways to punish teams for completely sagging off of him, but he will have to go a step further and regain some of that shot aggression. The gravity of Stephen Curry opens up space for slip-cuts and other jaunts to an open rim, and Green knows when those open up as he loves to hit teammates in that open space. Sometimes the defense dictates that he should be the one blitzing to the rim, and he needs to stop demurring and be the one to attack the rim.</p>
<p>Shooting wide open 3-pointers with confidence, and looking for his own shot more often around the rim, are two relatively simple ways for Green to help this team’s spacing, if not its scoring, and put even more pressure on opposing defenses.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#bb2c32" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/10/18/nba-off-season-weakness-star-worked/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 26 </a>
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<span class="call_to_action">Next:</span> Predicting the starting lineup for every team in the league </a> </div>
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<p>Kevin Durant leads the way for the Top 30 players in the NBA this season. No player is perfect, and all have a weakness that they could have worked on over the offseason. Did they? We will have to find out as the season begins.</p>
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