Jonathon Simmons seeking his second wind

Jonathon Simmons will make his career-high in minutes played soon. A side effect is his slowdown in his production. Simmons still has much to learn.

Coach Frank Vogel, in the depths of another losing streak, admitted he was considering a new starting lineup. His team was struggling and everything was on the table for the team once again.

Everything had pointed to making a move on the wing with Jonathon Simmons, a player who started the year coming off the bench and has a demonstrable record off the bench for this team. And it was something Vogel was considering.

The Magic won two of four games and started playing a little bit better, even if just for a week, and Vogel stuck with his current rotation.

Simmons’ play has been a bit uneven of late. Thus the talk of him going to the bench. He picked it up some during the recent good play stretch last week and that was enough to settle everyone down again.

But there has been an undoubted up-and-down rhythm to Simmons’ play throughout this season.

Simmons is averaging a career high in almost every category. Points (13.6), rebounds (3.6), assists (2.3) and field goal attempts (11.2). He is still shooting a solid 45.9 percent from the floor, although he has struggled from 3, hitting 31.1 percent from beyond the arc.

A lot of this production was expected seeing an increase in minutes. He is averaging 28.8 minutes per game after averaging 17.8 last year. That is quite a huge bump up. Orlando has given Simmons a bigger role and watched him deliver in a lot of ways and struggle in others.

And that has led to some of the inconsistent run in his recent stretch of games.

Vogel noted this too when discussing some of Simmons’ inconsistency this part of the season. Simmons is playing more minutes than he has at any point in his career by a significant amount. It is more than just the minutes per game he is playing.

Simmons’ 1,352 total minutes played so far this year is just 40 fewer than he played all of last year with the San Antonio Spurs.

Simmons is no rookie. He has been through the mental grind of an 82-game season. But he has not been through the physical grind. Not like this at least. Hitting a wall of some sort would seem understandable for Simmons. This experience is completely new for him.

It is no surprise then to look at his splits and see them tail off.

In October he started off on fire, averaging 16.7 points per game on 53.3 percent shooting. In November, his shooting remained hot at 47.3 percent even though his overall average dipped to 12.7 points per game.

But things started to turn south in December. He averaged 15.8 points per game, but shot 43.9 percent from the floor and 28.1 percent from beyond the arc. This despite his minutes increasing to nearly 35 per game.

January has not seen him do a ton better. Simmons is averaging 9.5 points per game on 42.0 percent shooting and 24.0 percent from beyond the arc.

Simmons has just tailed off more and more as time has gone on. Fatigue is as likely an explanation as anything else.

If there is some good news, it is that Simmons is starting to get himself back into form again. Or, perhaps, the Magic are starting to find more effective ways to use him within the starting lineup.

In his last six games, Simmons is averaging 12.0 points per game and shooting 50.9 percent from the floor. He is still at an icy 28.6 percent from beyond the arc, but it would seem like he is starting to round his field goal shooting back into form.

Against the Sacramento Kings, Simmons scored all 14 of his points in the third quarter. He did a good job working his way into the mid-range for jumpers, never settling for 3-pointers. He has done better getting to the line too, going to the line for eight free throws against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

None of it has been consistent though. Simmons has not scored more than 10 points in consecutive games since January 1. He has not scored 15 or more points in consecutive games since Dec. 17.

As groundbreaking as it seemed the Simmons signing was for the Magic, adding a player with his defensive ability and offensive potential on a reasonable deal, he still had a lot of room to grow and improve. Simmons was always a bit of an inefficient shooter with the Spurs and someone whose offense was a bonus. He took advantage of bench units and the relative talent on the Spurs supporting him and freeing up space for him.

Simmons has had to work with less space and support. That has enabled him to blossom in some respects and forced him into a larger role. But it has also led him to struggle too.

Simmons has gotten lost in the shuffle before with this lineup. Like Terrence Ross, his offensive opportunities have been as inconsistent as his shot. He needs the ball in his hands and the ability and freedom to create to be at his best. That cannot happen as often with the starting lineup and all the players who also need the ball to succeed.

From there, Simmons simply needs to find a “second wind.”

He needs to push through the heavy minutes load he has played through this year and find a way to keep contributing.

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In any case, the Magic can certainly do a bit more to help him. There are signs Simmons is finding that second wind to contribute.