Coming out of high school and into LSU, Ben Simmons was the highest ranked NBA prospect since Andrew Wiggins and before that, Lebron James. Since then, Simmons has dominated the college game, been drafted #1 overall and gone through the annual 76ers’ red-shirt season, and now he has finally begun his impact on the NBA floor. While he is having a magnificent rookie season, there are still some media members and fans that don’t believe Ben Simmons has what it takes to be an elite player in the NBA.

The obvious takeaway on why Ben will never be elite is his inability and unwillingness to shoot from outside. He has taken one legitimate 3-pointer this season and only 39 shots in the 15-24 foot range, making just 38.5% of them. While Simmons’ unwillingness to shoot is definitely a cause for concern, lets take a step back from it all and take a deep dive into whether Ben Simmons can be the elite player that we need.

There are many players that have come into the league struggling to shoot from deep. Derrick Rose, Lebron James and Kevin Durant all shot below 30% from three in their rookie seasons. All three of them took major strides in just their second and third years in the NBA and it happens to more players every single season. While Ben Simmons has hardly even attempted to shoot from three, we all see him during practice videos and warm-ups. He is working on the shot and it will come, but for now, Ben just wants to do whatever is best to win games.

Lets compare Ben Simmons to some of the previous Rookie of the Year picks. Over half of the Rookie of the Year winners since 2000 have averaged under 18 points per game and no one has averaged over 23 PPG in that time. Known primarily as a scorer, in 2009, Derrick Rose won the award averaging 16.8 PPG. Ben Simmons average? 16.5 points per game. While shooting 53.9% from the field so far, only Tim Duncan and Karl Anthony-Towns have had a higher FG% since 1995. In the 05-06 season we witnessed one of the best passers in the past 20 years enter the league in Chris Paul, averaging 7.8 assists per game. Ben Simmons is at 7.6 APG so far and climbing fast. And the last Rookie of the Year to average over seven assists and seven rebounds per game? Oscar Robertson back in 1960-1961.

Another aspect that needs to be looked at is the team surrounding him. The majority of rookies that average a higher number of points have very little surrounding them. Kevin Durant averaged 20.3 PPG and his next best scorer on the Supersonics was Chris Wilcox who averaged 13.4 PPG that year. There are four players on the 76ers right now that are scoring more than 14.8 and seven players scoring in the double digits per game. Ben Simmons is a facilitator first and that is what’s best for the team. While it would be very nice to have him make the occasional three pointer, he is not asked to do so because the players around him can, which brings a great inside-outside presence to the offense.

The 76ers are on pace for their highest win total since the Iverson Era and it is due to both Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons high level of play. Averaging just three points per game less than Donavon Mitchell and being on a far more relevant team, it should not even be a question of who is the Rookie of the Year. Ben Simmons is having the most well rounded rookie seasons ever and it will only improve in time, proving him to be an elite talent in the NBA.