There is no problem with Ben Simmons

His weird supplemental role is working. He seems to have embraced it. What's the issue?

Jan 25

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

The Philadelphia 76ers have the best record in the Eastern Conference at 12-5. Three primary factors contribute to this:

Joel Embiid is playing at an MVP level.
The Sixers have the No. 3 defense in the NBA.
Philadelphia has had a relatively soft schedule thus far.

There are, of course, other factors: Tobias Harris has been better than ever under the familiar Doc Rivers, Seth Curry is shooting the lights out, other top East teams including Boston and Miami have been suffering from major COVID-19 and injury absences.

One named not mentioned here is Ben Simmons, once the crown jewel of the franchise and a player who was reportedly just on the table in James Harden trade rumors. But really, Simmons is present in all of it. He is first team All Defense material again, his playmaking has helped Embiid, Harris and Curry score at high rates and he has subjugated his own scoring needs for the benefit of the team.

Simmons has met with disappointing reviews this season because he’s shooting less than nine field goal attempts per game (a career low, by far) and averaging just 13 points per game (a career low, by far). He’s still not taking threes except when he absolutely must (five attempts on the season), and while he’s getting to the free throw more frequently than ever, he’s still below 70% on converting them. The disappointing reviews on Simmons stem from the reality that on offense Simmons is largely the same player he was as a rookie. (Sorry — no asterisk, Utahns.) We expect phenoms to develop and improve, and when they don’t there’s disappoint. That is understandable. We want more more more from the brightest young players.

But the Sixers are winning, and this version of Simmons — as many assists as field goal attempts, high overall scoring efficiency, stellar defense — is a major contributing factor to the marquee and obvious excellence of Embiid and Harris. Embiid is an MVP candidate (perhaps a frontrunner) because Simmons is comfortable in a supporting role. Harris will potentially be an All-Star for the first time in his career because Simmons — a max player, a No. 1 pick, a Rookie of the Year, a two-time All-Star, an All-NBA player — is comfortable in a supporting role.

Isn’t this what we want of our stars? To know how best to help their team succeed and accept whatever role that is?

There is room, of course, for improvement, even if Simmons remains in this supplemental role. For one, the Sixers would benefit from Simmons being more aggressive when Embiid and/or Harris are on the bench. Simmons is at his best in the open court and attacking mismatches in the pick and roll or post. Philadelphia hasn’t had much success with Simmons on the floor and Embiid out (-47 in 147 minutes). It’s not much better when Simmons and Harris are both on the floor without Embiid (-19 in 72 minutes). (For the record, the Sixers are +111 in Embiid’s 442 minutes.) The tactic would be to unleash an overly aggressive Simmons in these moments — shake up the defenders a little, gas them, get Simmons to the cup or the line, apply serious pressure using Simmons’ athletic strengths.

Simmons put a ton of pressure on the Celtics late in a Friday win. It felt important when watching it unfold: despite Embiid, Harris and Curry all having highly efficient nights, Simmons took over and made the win-clinching plays. Boston was without Jayson Tatum yet again, but stayed close enough to smell victory late … and then Simmons went aggro and finished off the C’s. ESPN’s Tim Bontemps also felt it an important moment and wrote about it:

But then, as Boston cut Philadelphia's lead to four midway through the fourth quarter, and threatened to potentially steal the second half of this two-game series between these rivals, Simmons burst onto the scene.
He fought on the offensive glass to score off his own miss. He stormed down the lane for an and-1 bucket. He picked off a pass in the open court, one he took the other way for a dunk -- and that was immediately followed by a timeout from Celtics coach Brad Stevens.

Simmons is not so much a decoy; Doc moving him into the dunker spot on Harris, Curry and/or Embiid action does force the defense to guard him more actively than when Brett Brown stationed him in the corner while Embiid or, in a previous life, Jimmy Butler set up shop up top. This isn’t a decoy situation: it’s creating the space for Simmons to read the game and use his rare gifts to strike and counterstrike when appropriate and when needed. He’s almost like a not-so-secret weapon, hiding in plain sight, ready to deploy at any moment.

So long as he’s comfortable with the working arrangement — he has embraced it, according to the quotes in Bontemps’ piece, and Doc really has a magnificent talent for building up the importance of supporting players — and so long as Embiid and Harris remain healthy and exceptional enough for this to all work, I don’t see the problem. The agitation to turn Simmons into something he’s not or move him for a more traditional lead guard regardless of the merits of such a move speaks to widely held discomfort with the abnormal. Simmons is abnormal. These Sixers, if they keep it up, would be an abnormal contender. But holding the past failures of this team — failures experienced with an inferior coach and their abnormal star in a less comfortable role, with their superstar never having played this well — against this version does not seem wise.

Simmons is a fascinating, unorthodox player with a fascinating, unorthodox style, and it’s working for his team. What exactly is the problem?

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An Addendum on the Sixers and Contention

I’m really chuffed at the top of the Eastern Conference. Milwaukee is playing around with Giannis Antetokounmpo a little more than usual. Boston looks as good as they have since 2010 despite Jayson Tatum’s long absence due to COVID-19 and Kemba Walker’s late start. Brooklyn has a healthy Kevin Durant, an aggressive Kyrie Irving, a deferential James Harden and an ecstatic Joe Harris: what’s not to like?

Just those three teams and Philadelphia, you can even leave out Miami and the blessed Pacers: what a collection of interesting, talented teams! I daresay it’s hardly a failure if you can’t escape that pod into the East finals. But at least two of these four teams will meet their demise no later than the second round. What a battle we’re in for.

Scores

Friday

Bulls 123, Hornets 110

Rockets 103, Pistons 102

Magic 118, Pacers 120

Nets 113, Cavaliers 125 — Cleveland did it again! Kevin Durant sat the rematch out, but Collin Sexton spun up Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn defense for a second time, finishing this one with 25 points, 9 assists and one turnover. Jarrett Allen had 19 off the bench and Taurean Prince scored 14. They still seem a little sore about being traded!

Celtics 110, Sixers 122

Heat 81, Raptors 101

Hawks 116, Timberwolves 98

Mavericks 122, Spurs 117

Nuggets 130, Suns 126

Thunder 106, Clippers 120

Knicks 94, Kings 103 — Sacramento with a big stem-the-bleeding win and a strong defensive performance against an iffy offensive team. More importantly, this is a huge win in the nascent League Pass Cup as the Kings stay undefeated!

Saturday

Sixers 114, Pistons 110 — You know what? The Pistons fight hard every night. It usually doesn’t end up mattering, but these kids play hard. HOWEVER, ALSO, Mason Plumlee has fouled out of four straight games. How is that possible?

Heat 124, Nets 128 — Superstar behavior from Bam Adebayo. James Harden is really leaning into the playmaker role. He had more assists than FGAs in this game!

Pelicans 110, Timberwolves 120 — Bad loss for New Orleans. Now 5-10 and No. 14 in the West.

Warriors 108, Jazz 127 — Utah keeps rolling (eight straigh wins). Meanwhile, Steph Curry passed his idol Reggie Miller for No. 2 all-time in made threes. Pretty sweet moment in the post-game press conference when Reggie and his son pop up to honor Steph.

If he stays healthy, Steph should be approaching Ray Allen for No. 1 all-time towards the end of next season. And then he should set the new record pretty far out of reach!

Lakers 101, Bulls 90

Rockets 133, Mavericks 108 — Helluva game for DeMarcus Cousins.

Nuggets 120, Suns 112 — Big, big weekend sweep of the Suns for Denver with Nikola Jokic playing out of his mind and Phoenix falling just short both nights. The wins put the Nuggets above .500 for the first time this season — they are 9-7, in the No. 5 slot and seem to have it rolling.

Sunday

Raptors 107, Pacers 102

Thunder 100, Clippers 108

Cavaliers 103, Celtics 141 — Jaylen Brown with 33 points on 13/20 shooting in NINETEEN MINUTES AND FOURTEEN SECONDS. A new record for scoring in under 20 minutes in the shot clock era.

For the season, he’s now averaging 27 per game (No. 6 in the NBA) shooting 53% from the floor and 43% from three. Even the biggest JB optimists like me couldn’t have seen this coming.

Hornets 107, Magic 104 — Gordon Hayward for the win.

Bleacher Report @BleacherReport

GORDON HAYWARD WINS THE GAME ♨️

Wizards 101, Spurs 121 — Washington plays for the first time in 13 days and … loses by 20. Bradley Beal is the NBA’s top scorer, though.

Hawks 115, Bucks 129

Knicks 113, Blazers 116 — Dame Lillard played like an MVP but Immanuel Quickley should probably be starting over Elfrid Payton if Tom Thibodeau wants to make the playoffs, right?

League Pass Update

It’s true, the Kings are now 2-0 and control their own destiny.

The 1-loss Spurs jumped the Magic for second place on Sunday — three of the four West teams are having a strong showing here. LP Cup games are on the docket today, Wednesday and Friday as we approach the end of the first quarter of the season.

Schedule

Busy Monday with 10 non-postponed games (the Grizzlies are still on ice), including an NBA TV doubleheader. All times Eastern, LP Cup games denoted with a 🏆.

Sixers at Pistons, 7
Raptors at Pacers, 7
Hornets at Magic, 7 🏆
Heat at Nets, 7:30, NBA TV
Lakers at Cavaliers, 8
Nuggets at Mavericks, 8:30
Celtics at Bulls, 9
Spurs at Pelicans, 9
Timberwolves at Warriors, 10, NBA TV
Thunder at Blazers, 10