Ben Simmons Needs to Get Thrown In the Water to Learn How to Swim

I’ll never forget how I learned how to swim because it was one of the most frightening experiences of my adolescence. And I almost got kidnapped one time.

I was taking swimming lessons at the local Y, like most kids do. And we’re all super young and don’t have a clue what we’re doing. So, to teach us basic swimming skills they have different flotation devices, especially kickboards. If that weren’t enough, it’s a parent/kid class so your dad or mom could be in the water with you coaching you along the way.

Except one day, they didn’t let us do any of that. They made all of the parents get out of the water and leave the pool area all together. They plopped us in the water, no floatation devices, no gimmicks, no coddling from your parents. You just had to swim, there was no other option. It was horrifying, I thought I was going to drown.

But, I can swim now.

The Sixers need to throw Ben Simmons in the water and make him swim. Don’t throw floaties on him, make him swim all on his own. As the Sixers came down the court on the final possession of regulation, for an instant I thought Simmons was going to make an isolation move and take the last shot. In reality, the “play” was just taking too long to develop. But, I would’ve been okay with a Simmons attack. I would’ve been okay with Simmons being “the guy” for once.

When the Sixers were making their comeback against the Nets up in Brooklyn, I said on the final play, “you know, I wouldn’t be opposed if the in-bounds play was just to pass it into Jimmy Butler, and let him take a shot.” It worked. It’s why he’s here, that’s why you traded for him.

We did not draft Ben Simmons first overall for him to just bring the ball up late in games and then get out of the way. Jump shot or no jump shot, the Sixers need some semblance of aggression from him during crunch time. He’s a terror when he gets a head of steam, so attack the rim when you need a bucket at the end of a game.

Yesterday was the perfect opportunity. He is clearly uncomfortable playing at TD Garden and the crowd turns him into a shell of himself. He wanted to pass that ball with 6 seconds left. He didn’t want to be the guy to miss the shot in front of that crowd on national TV. He wanted to cling onto a flotation device, in this case it was JJ Redick. But, sometimes you just have to do things that make you uncomfortable in order to better yourself. The best way to learn how to swim? Drop you in the water, so you have no choice but to do just that.