Huskies Could Use Another Shooter Like Tre Simmons

Tre Simmons is an instructional assistant and an assistant basketball coach at Garfield High School. Put those two endeavors together, and he could teach a class or two on how to shoot the 3-pointer.

He would do well to invite current players from the University of Washington, his alma mater, to sit in on a lecture -- because they struggle beyond the arc game after game, hitting just 32.7 percent.

"People said I was a shooter, but I was a scorer," Simmons points out.

Either way, the 6-foot-5 wingman proved to be one of the purest marksmen to play for the Huskies. He went up with a slight backward lean, let go with a super-soft touch and held his release extra long as if to guide the ball in.

Simmons is now part of Brandon Roy's Garfield coaching staff, which has the Bulldogs entered in the state tournament this week at the Tacoma Dome. Twenty years ago, these two were teammates for a Garfield entry that made it to the semifinals only to lose 54-52 to eventual state champ Foss.

Simmons played two years of junior college basketball, where he had a couple of 50-plus games, and was headed for UNLV until he changed course. He ended up with Roy again, joining a pair of Huskies' NCAA tournament teams in 2004 and 2005.

As a UW senior, Simmons was selected first-team All-Pac-10 after averaging 16 points per game, with a career-high 29 against Arizona State and USC. He set a school record, since broken by Ryan Appleby and C.J. Wilcox, with 80 3-pointers in a season.

He went to training camp with the Atlanta Hawks but didn't stick, and he later tried to go back for another shot at the NBA and ran into a lockout.

Simmons found his niche overseas, playing 14 seasons in Spain, Greece, France, Israel, the Czech Republic and Russia. He was good in any language, especially with that silky shot. He won seven championships and was named MVP four times.

"I think I exceeded my (expectations)," he said.

After retiring from the pro game, Simmons coaches alongside Roy and former UW teammate Jamal Williams, who like to joke with each other but take the game seriously.

"We've got three very experienced players that played at different professional levels," he said. "It's a lot of knowledge that we're giving them on the court. Sometimes it's too much knowledge that they can't grasp. For the most part, they're getting it. We got this far."

He hopes this Garfield mentoring experience is a stepping stone to the next level.

"I want to be coaching collegiately," he said. "I have a couple of coaches I've talked to recently and hopefully in the future I'll be joining them."

As he walks the hallways at Garfield, where he has a daughter going to class, Simmons is dressed on this day in purple Washington basketball sweats, still demonstrating his allegiance to his old college team.

Besides a few 3-point pointers, Simmons could show the current Huskies how to bounce back. He had a 3-point shot that was made for the NBA but the timing wasn't right for him to earn a roster spot. He went elsewhere to be successful and got paid well doing it.

"I was never the type of guy who was trying to force myself into the NBA," he said. "I had a nice career. I'm totally fine with it."