Welcome Simmons

[Negrodamus]

i cannot believe people are that stupid to not get what Brett meant. LeBron basically runs the point a lot of the cavs but he doesn't always guard them. why this so hard for people to get? Simmons will run the 1 on offense and guard one of the forwards on defense. This isn't rocket science.

Unless the other team puts a point guard on him on defense.

Then Simmons will laugh as he gets an easy 2 points posted up in the paint... then switches on defense.

It behooves the other team to have someone with similar size to defend Ben.

[Unbreakable99]

The only thing that concerns me is Brett said Simmons will guard whoever guards him. I don't think Simmons should ever guard PGs even if they guard him. I hope Brett clarifies even more and says Simmons will never guard a PG even if they put one on him. It would be reckless and stupid to just put Simmons on whoever guards him. Brett already said he doesn't want to see Simmons guard PGs. Brett expects teams to put bigger players on him. But what if they don't? What if a team put Avery Bradley on him instead of Smart or Jaylen Brown? Is Brett just going to say oh well jus guard Bradley? What if teams know Simmons will guard whoever they put on him and they put Lillard on him? I know that's a long shot and won't happen but if they do I hope Brett just puts Ben on a forward.

[PLO]

Simmons has a lot of potential on the defensive end, but the "on-paper" idea of him shadowing guards consistently is doomed to end in the "Okafor/Embiid on the floor together" waste paper basket.

[Ericb5]

The only thing that concerns me is Brett said Simmons will guard whoever guards him. I don't think Simmons should ever guard PGs even if they guard him. I hope Brett clarifies even more and says Simmons will never guard a PG even if they put one on him. It would be reckless and stupid to just put Simmons on whoever guards him. Brett already said he doesn't want to see Simmons guard PGs. Brett expects teams to put bigger players on him. But what if they don't? What if a team put Avery Bradley on him instead of Smart or Jaylen Brown? Is Brett just going to say oh well jus guard Bradley? What if teams know Simmons will guard whoever they put on him and they put Lillard on him? I know that's a long shot and won't happen but if they do I hope Brett just puts Ben on a forward.

I don't want Simmons guarding point guards either, but if a point guard is guarding him, it would be the rare point guard that would win this matchup. I don't think teams are going to guard him with a point guard very often.

I would just stick to the principle that he guards who guards him, and have confidence that it will very rarely be a point guard.


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[Sixerscan]

I think Brett will try a bunch of different things with Ben and end up doing whatever works best, which will probably be different things on different nights.

That being said if Embiid can make us a top 5 defense with Sergio Rodriguez converting point guards I don't think there's much to worry about.

[sixerswillrule]

I would just stick to the principle that he guards who guards him, and have confidence that it will very rarely be a point guard.

This isn't pick up ball (and even then you don't always guard who guards you). I would just stick to the principle that Simmons guards who he is best suited to guard.

[TTP]

i cannot believe people are that stupid to not get what Brett meant. LeBron basically runs the point a lot of the cavs but he doesn't always guard them. why this so hard for people to get? Simmons will run the 1 on offense and guard one of the forwards on defense. This isn't rocket science.

I can believe it.

[eskimo]

The league has gone really small for obvious reasons - zone defenses, no handchecking, improvement in shooting has generated space for guys who can create off the dribble with quickness.

The argument for who Simmons guards should be thought of this way - who can he guard best with the least amount of effort and how do you maximize the level of skill/shooting on the floor to allow his game to flourish.

Many of us grew up in the 70s-90s when size and power dominated. Heck the Bulls used to play Ron Harper at point a ton. Those days of bully ball are forever gone with intent. It took awhile for the league to adapt and the key that got everyone to change their minds was how using Lebron at the 4 and Bosh at the 5 opened things up for the Heat to dominate. I think that is the template for us to follow.

Simmons has been about 240 pounds since he was 17. Chances are that he might even get a bit bigger. Right now he measures in at 6-10 and 245 pounds. He has the strength and size of a modern 4 and has the prerequisite rebounding ability. There are very few true bullies at the 4 anymore so that is probably the matchup where you can best rest him against guys who are often fairly inactive on offense. It will also give him more opportunities to be closer to the basket for grab and go opportunities.

Now you have to think about things from the opposition POV. If Simmons is the biggest non-Center we have out there and he is playing with a bunch of skilled, smaller, athletic guys the other team will almost always have to play smaller than us. They will have nowhere to hide a plodding PF. If they put this player on any non-Center we immediately get a big mismatch that we can take advantage of. Now because the opposition has gone small, we get a big advantage on the defensive boards. Anytime we can cause havoc on offense and get some switches and rotations happening we can also get Embiid mismatches against one of the small guys for a quick score inside a few times a game.

Now maybe the odd game where we face a team like NO (Cousins & Davis), Minnesota(Dieng & Towns) or Utah (Gobert & Favors) we may play bigger to decrease wear and tear on Simmons' body except for end of game situations but I really think most teams will have to adapt to how we play so long as we have the skill on the wings to kill those bigs in space.

[Unbreakable99]

Simmons is practicing 5 on 0.

However, Ben Simmons was front and center leading the fastbreak in all of the drills the media were allowed to see.

Donning the white practice jersey that signifies the starters, Simmons played with a bounce as he galloped up and down the court at half speed at the Sixers practice facility.

Read on Twitter

[sixerman25]

I wouldn't rule out that Simmons can be a plus defender against opposing small guards. He's shown flashes of potential to be an elite on ball Defender with the quick feet of a guard. He might actually at times expend LESS energy defending guards because his length allowed him to make up ground and still contest a if somebody gets a step on him, vs spending time fighting 4's for position. Also, if Embiid (still a big IF obviously) is back there to erase the shot of any smaller guard who dares to get to the rim, imagine the possibilities if Simmons is already in the backcourt when the transition fast break starts....

[76ciology]

Do you guys think Simmons can be a good rim.protector like LeBron or Kawhi?

[Unbreakable99]

Do you guys think Simmons can be a good rim.protector like LeBron or Kawhi?

Hell no. Simmons doesn't block shots. He hardly jumps to defend shots. He sort of just puts his hand up. That's about it.

[Kobblehead]

Fake injury. That's a relief.

[76ciology]

Do you guys think Simmons can be a good rim.protector like LeBron or Kawhi?

Hell no. Simmons doesn't block shots. He hardly jumps to defend shots. He sort of just puts his hand up. That's about it.

..and goes for the rebound. I call it the "evan turner" defense.

[Unbreakable99]

Do you guys think Simmons can be a good rim.protector like LeBron or Kawhi?

Hell no. Simmons doesn't block shots. He hardly jumps to defend shots. He sort of just puts his hand up. That's about it.

..and goes for the rebound. I call it the "evan turner" defense.

Please don't ever ever ever ever include Evan Turner in the same sentence as Simmons again. It gives me chills.

[Unbreakable99]

Fake injury. That's a relief.

You don't think he really got something injected in his foot to promote blood flow?

[HotelVitale]

Do you guys think Simmons can be a good rim.protector like LeBron or Kawhi?

I'd guess he'll block shots here and there and sometimes make some play-of-the-night type blocks. Even best case scenario I wouldn't count on him for consistent rim protection, though, just some occasional athletic-looking blocks from weird angles.

(Also, I just checked and in college Kawhi averaged fewer blocks per minute than Simmons last year, FWIW).

[Kobblehead]

Do you guys think Simmons can be a good rim.protector like LeBron or Kawhi?

Wait, what? Neither of those guys protect the rim. They're perimeter defenders.

Can Simmons grow into a pseudo rim protector like Draymond has? Perhaps.

[shawn_hemp]

Just pretend the acronym PF means Point Forward instead of Power Forward and everything will make more sense

Simmons would play SF if he was as athletic as LeBron but he isn't.

No knock on Ben, LeBron is the most athletic player in terms of size-to-speed that the NBA has ever seen

I'm interested to see if Ben can become a decent post up player. If he can got that Jahlil Okafor turn-around special off a spin move he could be a lethal player on offense.

Spin move, if someone is wide open for 3 due to a help defender coming over kick it out to the shooter

If nobody helps on D, take the 1 handed slight jump shot

Will be interesting to see, and he has shown the ability to do that move. Could be an underrated aspect of his game especially considering his quick decision making and BBIQ

Ok well it's not really a "spin move" like Jahlil does but Simmons did use the turnaround one handed jumper move a lot in half court sets in college and I think he should be able to get that shot off basically whenever he wants to in the NBA.

[sixerswillrule]

I wouldn't rule out that Simmons can be a plus defender against opposing small guards. He's shown flashes of potential to be an elite on ball Defender with the quick feet of a guard. He might actually at times expend LESS energy defending guards because his length allowed him to make up ground and still contest a if somebody gets a step on him, vs spending time fighting 4's for position. Also, if Embiid (still a big IF obviously) is back there to erase the shot of any smaller guard who dares to get to the rim, imagine the possibilities if Simmons is already in the backcourt when the transition fast break starts....

I'd put money on Simmons being matched against centers defensively more often than against point guards over the course of his career.