NBA: 9 extremely bold predictions for the 2019-20 season

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NBA Philadelphia 76ers Ben Simmons (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) /

With the start of the 2019-20 NBA season only weeks away, here are nine extremely bold predictions for the upcoming year

Every year, there are countless storylines for fans to follow during the NBA season and a lot of them are completely unexpected.

So, with the 2019-20 NBA season only weeks away now, I thought I would make my attempt at predicting some of these bold and unanticipated storylines.

Let’s get into it…

*And if the thought of reading all of this fills your soul with dread (much like the thought of going to a Hornets game next year), you can check out the latest episode of the Around the Arc podcast where I dive deep into these bold predictions (listen below)!

Ben Simmons will attempt one 3-pointer per game

When Simmons was taken No. 1 overall in the 2016 NBA draft, he entered the league being compared to one, LeBron James.

Now, while Simmons certainly hasn’t disappointed by any means in his first two NBA seasons (he was named an all-star last year!), there has been one clear hole in his game that has thus far, kept him from reaching his lofty potential.

His jump shot.

Right from day one, there has been a ton of talk about this and after showing little to no development in that area in year one or two, Simmons now seems ready to silence all the skeptics in year three.

There’s certainly been no shortage of offseason footage showing the Australian raining in transition pull-up threes and turnaround fadeaways left, right and center.

I understand that doing those things in pickup games is one thing and doing them in NBA games is a whole other monster entirely, but Simmons himself has come out and said that if he’s open from three, he’s going to take it.

Sixers’ head coach Brett Brown has talked about stationing Ben in the corners at times, suggesting he’s confident with him letting it fly from there.

So while this certainly seems to be the year we get to see a Simmons that can shoot, we shouldn’t be expecting him to morph into a Kyle Korver-level marksman.

Attempting around one three per game, knocking down around a third of those attempts while also showcasing a more dependable mid-range game would be a very promising step in Simmons’ development and would do a lot to bolster Philly’s title hopes in the process!