Imagine Simmons was faced with a tough defensive matchup that made it difficult for him to get to the rim. We’ll call this dream defensive player Partialus Ohjaylay. Now your argument is that it would be worse if Simmons could stop and pop at a high rate from 8-10 feet from the basket with efficiency to help keep Partialus honest or find other ways to score efficiently. Partialus makes him more creative helping him score 2 points in a playoff game and being benched for TJ McDonald
That’s not credible.
You’re a good poster when you’re not doubling down on some random opinion you’ve backed yourself into a corner defending.
Oh, for Christ’s sake. Can we stop it with acting like Stevens and Ojeleye created the magical Jordan Rules in defending Simmons because a rookie had one bad playoff game? He averaged 18 points over the next three games, like he did in the six playoff games prior. Along with like 9 and 9.
It’s not actually that silly of an idea that defenses help Simmons by laying off of him. What data do you have that proves the optimal way to defend a non-shooter in all instances is to lay several feet off him? Frankly, it seems pretty obvious that it’s extremely player specific, both offensively and defensively.
The conventional justification for laying off a non-shooter would seem to be (1) enticing him to take a shot beyond his range, thus encouraging a below EV possession; and (2) making it easier to defend his non-shooting options (ie, driving, passing); 2(b) allows you to double/shade another player(s).
But when the non-shooter is not going to be baited into taking those non-efficient shots, reason (1) does not exist, and when dealing with a size/speed/athletic freak with elite court vision, (2) may not work, because it allows him to get a head of steam before powering in for a dunk or a dump off for an easy basket. All of which is to say, it seems perfectly reasonable that teams may do themselves a disservice by automatically giving Simmons space because he doesn’t shoot from outside. And that would be a lucky by-product for the Sixers of that reluctance to shoot.