Miami Heat: Why they shouldn’t trade for Ben Simmons

There is a perception around the league that the Miami Heat are one of the teams that can turn around Ben Simmons’ career. Brian Scalabrine said on June 25th during his SiriusXM show that the Heat are a team that could put Simmons in the best position to succeed. Scalabrine believes Miami would utilize Simmons as a ball handler.

However, that statement is misleading as Simmons has done a significant portion of his offensive damage in transition. Simmons has shot 62.6 percent from the field in transition on 2.7 attempts per game. The field goal percentage contributed to him scoring 4.3 points per game on 4 possessions per game: 27 percent of his scoring output.

Unfortunately, the Miami Heat are not known as a transition basketball team. They have an average ranking of 23rd in the league in transition possessions since the 2015-16 season, averaging 14.1 per game.

Ben Simmons had a nightmare playoff run with the Philadelphia 76ers and may end up on the trade market. Let’s examine why the Miami Heat should stay away.

The Miami Heat run most of their offensive sets in the half-court. Erik Spoelstra runs an offensive system centered around dribble handoffs and pick and rolls. Miami was second in the league in dribble handoff possessions during the regular season, averaging 8.3 per game.

Spoelstra gave 42.2 percent of those possessions to Duncan Robinson and Jimmy Butler as they combined to average 3.5 per game. On the other hand, the Heat were 22nd in the league in pick and rolls, averaging 17.9 per game. Butler was responsible for 36.9 percent of those possessions as he averaged 6.6 per game.

The Heat’s offense forced most of the other players on the roster to spend most of the minutes as a floor spacer. For instance, Trevor Ariza took 59.3 percent of his shots from behind the arc averaging 4.8 per game. 83.3 percent of those threes were catch and shoots as he averaged 4 per game.

Simmons won’t thrive in the role of a floor spacer as he rarely takes 3-pointers. Simmons has only attempted 34 3-pointers in his four-year career; he has made 5 attempts. Consequently, defenders will leave him wide open if he is off the ball because they know he won’t take a three. Therefore, his hypothetical defender can help elsewhere, increasing the likelihood that the Miami Heat would take a contested shot.

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Simmons’ on-the-court fit wouldn’t be the only problem with acquiring him; Simmons has had previous tension with Miami Heat’s star, Butler. Yaron Weitzman of Fox Sports stated on June 22nd that Simmons was part of the reason Butler left Philadelphia in 2019.

Simmons was frustrated that he was pushed off the ball because the team allowed Butler to become the primary ball handler in crunch time during the Sixers’ second-round playoff series against the Toronto Raptors in 2019. Consequently, Philadelphia 76ers management was worried about how Simmons would handle an off-the-ball role for years to come if they re-signed Butler.

Simmons would be a much better fit with a team like the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors were 5th in the league in transition possessions during the regular season, averaging 20.5 per game. Raptors’ head coach, Nick Nurse, gave 39.5 percent of the team’s transition possessions to Kyle Lowry and Norman Powell, as they combined to average 8.1 per game.

Unfortunately, neither of those players are expected to be with the Toronto Raptors next year as the Raptors traded Norman Powell at the deadline for Gary Trent Jr. On the other hand, Kyle Lowry will be an unrestricted free agent with the expectation that he will likely sign with the Heat.

Consequently, they need another player to pick up those possessions, and Simmons is the perfect player to accomplish that goal. In conclusion, Ben Simmons’ skillset doesn’t necessarily fit the Miami Heat offensive scheme.