The Ben Simmons Megathread - Part III

[youngcrev]

When this happened...

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I'm guessing half of this board was like

Stupid Brett Brown should have called the play where Ben steals the ball and dunks it earlier. SMH

Hey man, goats gotta scape sometimes

[sixerswillrule]

Simmons CANT play the 4. I need this entire board to understand this. Simmons as is can not be on the floor AT ALL if we want a consistently effective offense. It doesnt matter what position he plays. He is not a threat to do anything therefor he makes the other 4 guys jobs harder regardless of what he is or where he plays.

#smallballC

The key to salvaging Ben Simmons in the halfcourt is playing him at the 5 with no other bigs on the floor.

On the ball:
With 5 guys outside the arc, he'd have wide open driving lanes.

Off the ball:
He'd be utilized as a screen and roller catching lobs from ball handlers.

Wouldn't you still be able to accomplish this with a stretch big? My only worry would be how he'd hold up in the paint against some of the more physical 5s, potentially turning a plus defender into a minus. Rebounding and rim protection could also be potential issues.

Yeah his ideal pairing would be with a center like Myles Turner.

[Kobblehead]

If a postscorer tried attacking Ben in the paint, just swarm him with double and triple teams. The only reason Draymond doesn't play the 5 full-time is because he's like 6'6".

Short arms or not, Ben is a legitimate 6'10" athlete with leaping ability.

[76ciology]

Now it has the the team’s attention. Just want to tell you that you heard it first with me.

If you’re reading this Sixers, I’m the Same guy who suggested putting Embiid on Siakam and valuing Ingram over Ben.

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[youngcrev]

If a postscorer tried attacking Ben in the paint, just swarm him with double and triple teams. The only reason Draymond doesn't play the 5 full-time is because he's like 6'6".

Short arms or not, Ben is a legitimate 6'10" athlete with leaping ability.

Yeah, you could. I would still think it would be preferable to have someone that can body those guys up and have Ben be a guy that do the doubling. He's our best perimeter defender. Even if it was just more of a stretch 4 type thats willing to bang.

Tjarks had an article on The Ringer after that playoffs outlining something similar to what your proposing with Ben at center.

I'd be interested in seeing them experiment with it. Particularly on load management nights.

Maybe roll with something like:
Richardson/Ennis/Harris/Scott/Simmons

Spread the floor, have him play some pick and roll with Harris and Richardson, have guys cut off his post ups. Defensively you run a switch heavy scheme and try to swarm teams.

[VDT]

If a postscorer tried attacking Ben in the paint, just swarm him with double and triple teams. The only reason Draymond doesn't play the 5 full-time is because he's like 6'6".

Short arms or not, Ben is a legitimate 6'10" athlete with leaping ability.

The problem is that Simmons hasnt shown much rim protection ability and that he plays soft for his size. It might work offensively with the right players around him, although he would be overpaid for what you want him to do, but defensively, other than his ability to switch, he doesnt offer much. No size, toughness or rim protection, particularly when you surround him with 4 perimeter oriented players. If you are gonna sign a rim runner why not sign someone that can also protect the rim, you can even get these players without giving much a lot of the times.

More importantly though i dont think Simmons is willing to play that role long term, particularly defensively.

[76ciology]

Nah.. ben doesnt have that draymond green toughness and motor to play 4 or 5. I find him to get abused most times against bigger player at the post.

[Kobblehead]

So short of trading Joel Embiid for Karl-Anthony Towns, we have no solutions for maximizing Ben Simmons. What a clusertef.

[agiaco]

Ben's defense has been very good this year.

[Eyeamok]

Now it has the the team’s attention. Just want to tell you that you heard it first with me.

If you’re reading this Sixers, I’m the Same guy who suggested putting Embiid on Siakam and valuing Ingram over Ben.

Read on Twitter

If Brandon Ingram had shown this level of play while he was a Laker he would probably still be a Laker. Even with the AD trade and all. BI is playing for a contract playing to prove he is durable and playing to prove his blood issue is a non issue. If we had taken BI and we're in a win now mode, based on his past performance he would have been traded by now.

Although I have somewhat soured on Ben I will say that I like the way he is putting up shots even though he is missing. And Ben missed out on a whole year of development his rookie season. It's not an excuse just a fact. At 23 you'd hope he does get better.

[FlyingArrow]

Pelle's 4 blocks in 12 minutes was pretty good. But Ben's 3 steals in 15 seconds tonight was pretty good, too.

[ConstableChaos]

I'm most impressed he got to the line 7 times and converted them all. This is how he's going to live in the 1/2 court imo

[cool93]

So short of trading Joel Embiid for Karl-Anthony Towns, we have no solutions for maximizing Ben Simmons. What a clusertef.

It's like if Bucks traded Giannis to maximize Middleton. Seems smart.

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[Lou_23]

I loved his game last night.

Yeah, he didn´t score some easy layups, but if he plays with the same aggressiveness every night... good news for us

[Negrodamus]

So short of trading Joel Embiid for Karl-Anthony Towns, we have no solutions for maximizing Ben Simmons. What a clusertef.

It's like if Bucks traded Giannis to maximize Middleton. Seems smart.

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Except Middleton doesn’t have a sizable fit issue with Giannis.

[kio80]

Ben had shown aggression, hitting all the free throws, amazing defensive efforts, good game.
I appreciate this guy, I like his game, it’s frustrating when he doesn’t shoot the open look, but he has other things we should be praising him.


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[shlo]

I'm most impressed he got to the line 7 times and converted them all. This is how he's going to live in the 1/2 court imo

Nice performance, but until Ben shows me he can do that consistently, I don't get too excited. I've seen enough games where he flashes what he could be only to revert to his usual, passive, poor free throw shooting self for weeks on end.

[VDT]

As i said in the game thread, i liked that he was aggressive. He has a a bad touch around the rim at the moment, but trying to force his way to the rim and not fade away as before is the first step to becoming a more dominant offensive player. And it is actually a part of the game that you need in game repetitions to improve it so i am ok with these low efficiency nights from him for the time being.

[Kobblehead]

It's like if Bucks traded Giannis to maximize Middleton. Seems smart.

I agree that it doesn't make sense to build around a guy that probably isn't even good enough to justify it. I would never want to move Embiid for a lesser player that fits better. Which is why it would be great to find an equal player to Embiid that fits better (like Towns).

Obviously this whole thing is hypothetical and we're actually stuck just rolling with Embiid/Simmons until one of them requests a trade.

[agiaco]

Simmons gets too much crap for not trying hard enough. Dude was hustling his ass off all night. That play where he came back to stuff Brogdon was great.