Ben Simmons

 Fascinating how quick we went from "woa, Simmons is a beast, the clear ROY" to "meh, not that good, his game is full of holes, why not trade him". And all it took was a disappointing series against the Celtics.

 I’ll be the first to admit that I believe that Simmons has been way overhyped, but saying he doesn’t play well with Embiid is a massive stretch. They’re two very young players that took a team to the 2nd round. Yes he has massive holes in his game, and no he’s not LBJ (who is?) and is closer to a 6’10" Jason Kidd, but again, he’s young. Give him some time. If we’re having the same discussion two years from now then there’s a problem.

Playing Point Guard in the NBA – by far the toughest position in the game – a 1st year player

 Boston was able to stifle Simmons during the season as well – Boston was the ONLY team able to give Simmons problems though 

Boston is an elite Defensive Unit w/ a Unique personell grouping that Also gave Houston & Golden State all kinds of trouble 

Simmons ripped apart Every other team in the NBA – 

Phila is an Incomplete team – as Fultz develops we’ll truly see Simmons unleashed – but the fact that in their FIRST year playing together we are Disappointed that Embiid & Simmons did not make the Conference Finals is just Crazy 

I understand his raw straight line Power drives to the cup remind people of Lebron but for me he is the closest player I’ve seen to my All Time Fav player Magic Johnson since Magic Johnson 

Simmons is a Natural passer who just happens to be packaged in a 6’10” freak athlete’s body, he’s a crazy talented rebounder & post player as well & an All NBA Defender 

Perspective people – Simmons Avg 16 pts 8 reb 8 ast on 53% FG% & ALL NBA Defense – Def should have been in the ALL Star game – as a ROOKIE (1st Yr player if Rookie offends you) 

 He is 21 years old. Almost averaged a triple double with no jumpshot.

 I feel the type of player Ben Simmons is, is in vogue now. The stat stuffing guard who can’t shoot. Lonzo Ball is very similar in that regards they both remind me of a bigger Rondo. I simply can’t dismiss Simmons after the Celitcs series. Prior to that the sixers were playing stellar ball! The chemistry he had with his teammates during that stretch was remarkable. He’s got tremendous feel as a passer, but yes in terms of shooting he doesn’t have that same touch. I totally get what you were saying about when he’s in the post, those little bunny shots he either airballs them or clanks them. Furthermore I don’t think he will ever be an elite scorer or have a scorers mentality. A true scorer has confindence in there shot making. The thing is he isn’t a guard he’s a power forward. They should stick him in the post like the Celtics do with Horford. Most of the time Horford is the one initating the offense. Bottom line Ben is a forward and any coach with some courage would step up to him and tell him that.

He’s a unique player who is a true PG at 6’10 and a terrific defender. He’s got an odd ball offensive game, but he’s an elite passer and playmaker and puts pressure on the defense because of his ability to score in the paint.

In a league with few true rim protectors and a league that has gone small ball, most teams aren’t equipped to deal with players who score the majority of their points in the paint.

To me, his ceiling as a player is Magic Johnson. He’ll probably never be that level a passer and playmaker, but he might be a better rebounder and defender. Magic was an all-time great and only averaged more than 20 PPG in a season a handful of years, shot 52 percent from the field, didn’t really shoot a lot of 3s and had something of an odd offensive game as well. 

I think Simmons can be one of the best players of his generation and have similar scoring numbers, 19-20 PPG. However, he needs to improve his FT% to be a championship level player at PG. Magic shot 90 percent from the line late in his career. 

 The best comparison for Simmons I can think of is a young Magic Johnson. I know it’s cliche to compare any young tall player who can handle and pass the ball to magic, and I was hesitant to make the comparison at first, but after a year in the league I can definitely see it. Neither was that advanced offensively as a scorer when they came into the league (although I think magic was slightly more advanced than Simmons). Both excelled in transition and were somewhat limited in the half court. Neither really had outstanding one on one breakdown ability. Keep in mind I’m talking about a very young circa 1980-1982 magic when making this comparison. Magic improved his scoring ability significantly later in his career. 

Simmons doesn’t really remind of lebron that much. I don’t think he’ll ever be on that level as scorer. But he definitely reminds me of magic and if I had to guess a career path for him I’d lean toward magic. If you actually look at the overall rookie year numbers for both players they are pretty similar. 

 Anyone think the 76ers vs Celtics helped the Celtics pre plan for Lebron?

As Simmons has a similar playstyle…

As for Simmons and Embiid they work fine together the only thing Ben will definitely need to do this summer is practice and take/make a lot of shots otherwise teams will clogg things up for him and he will be taken out of games/not maximised as much as he could if he doesn’t at least take some jump shots in the game.