When Jonathan Simmons joined Liaoning last season, there was a "big finale" sound. His professional experience in the Spurs was quite turbulent, and he once turned to become a hair stylist, but he became an important rotation at the Spurs. He then joined the Magic and played his NBA career season, averaging 13.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. But then he quickly declined, after joining the 76ers, only to have 5.5 points and 2.3 assists, and after not getting an NBA contract, he had to re-mix in the development league.
A famous self-media person once said that the big bed in the NBA got a contract bigger than Marzanne and Weems, so he must be one level stronger than the two in the CBA. Not to mention that many players with larger wrists than Simmons in the NBA can't be mixed in the CBA, according to the logic of this self-media person, simmons has not been able to get the NBA contract at that time, and should also be calculated according to the 0 value, so his logic is also self-inflicted.
The reality surprised a large number of fans, Simmons averaged only 9 points, 2.4 boards and 1.6 assists in Liaoning in just 12.1 minutes per game, and did not enter the starting list. He was terminated by Liaoning after playing 16 games, and in addition to his ability not meeting the requirements, his salary was reported to be as high as $4 million. The CBA contract stipulates that after playing two months or 20 games, it will provide full protection, and Liaoning will not have the patience to wait.
The most fundamental reason simmons had difficulty adapting to the Liaoning system was that his form had plummeted, otherwise he would not have been reduced to the development league twice. From his performance in Liaoning, it can be seen that although his physical fitness is still first-class, it has not had the original explosion. His technique did not progress with age, and his projection ability stagnated. When he can't force a breakthrough with physical fitness, and the projection is not good, naturally there will be no good performance. Saying that Liaoning needs no ball and good defense is actually nonsense, for the championship team, spending such a large price to ask for foreign aid, scoring ability is a necessary skill. Defensive tasks can be done by domestic players, and what foreign aides have to do is score and attract defenses to create space for teammates.
So can Simmons join Shanxi and justify his name and prove that he is not just a parallel commodity living on his resume in the past? It is difficult for me to see that no foreign aid can become a good foreign aid in the CBA just by defense. And his style is not suitable for Shanxi, Shanxi already has Felder, he needs the ball to play the maximum role, Simmons's technical characteristics are ugly points are the four differences of rough technology. The weak inner line of Shanxi actually needs a big foreign aid to supplement, their orthodox internal line is only Ge Zhaobao and Wu Ke, Ge Zhaobao has injuries from time to time, and Wu Ke has been completely water dispenser level in the past two years, averaging only 2 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. Xing Zhiqiang and Yan Pengfei are more focused on the fourth position, and after Ren Junwei's transfer, the internal line is even more lacking.
If Simmons wants to succeed in Shanxi, he must strengthen his desire to attack. In the CBA, foreign aid is one of the cores, and he must stand up in the face of uncertainty, especially in terms of projection. It wasn't the Spurs, Simmons was going to play like he had in the first season with the Magic.