He does need to improve that part of his game.

Its not so much his shot creation, as his actual shooting ability. If you have good rim protection amd/or quick enough to stay in front of him. He will struggle till he finds a jumper.

"If you have good rim protection amd/or quick enough to stay in front of him. He will struggle till he finds a jumper."

Isn't that the same story for Lebron (Well before he developed a consistent jump shot)? Good in theory but in reality it is not the case.

Looks like in this game he was double teamed so he did the team thing and passed the ball.

Yes he does and he will.

In saying that, his lack of shooting is not so much a lack of skill in creating his own shot. If anything, it's his mentality. He doesn't want to create his own shot because his mentality is to pass. The real definition of a pass-first player (at times a bit too much).

I've never seen passing ability like Simmons' before. Just freakish understanding. It's like the game just slows right down for him.

Anon was correct, he struggles at the moment but by the time he hits the pros he'll be a far more polished player, and after a couple of years in the NBA even more so. It's really just a matter of how quickly he develops, not if he develops.

He's played five college games ffs. He'll be fine.

Worst case scenario barring injury he becomes a slightly one-dimension core contributor in the NBA who will excel distributing the ball with good shooters around him.

Best case scenario he will be a future NBA All-Star or better. He is not yet 19, lots of guys are still working on the fundamentals at that stage.

At the same age LeBron had just entered the league averaging 21ppg at a fairly woeful 41%, and 29% from 3.

Shot mechanics can be fixed. That's what off-seasons are for. Dude is a freakishly talented passer, has great handles, rebounds like a boss and is already almost unstoppable in the open court - and if teams aren't sold on that already, he's got these abilities at 6 foot fucking 10 and only 18 years old.

Correction: 19, not 18.

A shooting drill from the Nike Hoops Summit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiOoKxO7Fzg

Shows he really needs to clean up a few aspects of his jumpshot. Right now the basic mechanics are alright, but he has some bad habits in swaying to the side in both arms and legs. If he brings in a shooting coach, he should improve his jumpshot immensely. Are college players allowed to employ personal coaches?

Now he is like an inverse 3&D player. He does everything else so well. Given the quality of the rest of his game, once he gets that jumpshot going, ups his defense to a level that a player of his athleticism should, he might become the most complete player since LeBron.

It's not exactly unusual for young athletic players to not have developed a jumpshot when they're 19 year olds - easy enough to get points being quicker than everybody on the court. What happens to his jumpshot from this point forward depends entirely on his work ethic.

Dante Exum massively improved his three point shot during his first season with the Jazz, to the point that he was barely using his perceived strength - getting to the basket. I am sure Simmons will also make huge strides with his shot.

He will have to, or NBA defences will just sag off him and his athleticism and speed wont save him alone.

I trust he will do it. They really are the only weakness in a great all-round package.

" easy enough to get points being quicker than everybody on the court."

this is a very pertinent point. Up until college, if you're the biggest guy out there (or one of them), you don't need to worry about launching 3s or shooting jumpers. Just take it to the ring and boom. TBH, even in the NBA the better caliber players can still get away with this, and develop a jump shot later when age takes away some of the explosiveness.