In 2021, Simmons and the Sixers were challenged once again.
Although he distributed the ball well, the non-shooting threat gave the Sixers spacing issues once again.
And when the Hawks felt the game was close enough, they would challenge Simmons even more by intentionally fouling him, forcing him to shoot free throws and generate points for the Sixers.
Simmons averaged less than 10 points per game in the second-round series, scoring single digits in four of seven games.
Following the Game 7 letdown on Sunday night, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers didn’t offer a lot of confidence in the idea that Simmons could be a point guard on a championship-winning team.
After digesting the loss, Rivers offered a lot more confidence in Simmons the following day.
Sometimes you have to go through stuff to see it and be honest with it.
Then, after his poor offensive showing in Game 7, Simmons mentioned he had a bad series.
I said that, if you remember, before the season started; the first thing I said was we got to get him to the line 10 times a night.
Getting Simmons to where Rivers wants him to be won’t be an easy task, which the head coach admitted.