76ers HC Sees Ben Simmons as a Legit PG

[CablexDeadpool]

Simmons got near elite handles.

His handles elite for his size. He doesn't have the ball on a string like Durant or Tracy. It's better than Blake's. Lebron's is better. I think Lamar Odom might be better.

Simmons uses some dribbles that we really haven't seen a guy use. Simmons inside out dribble is nasty. The pace and speed he with the ball in transition in nasty.

Again, halfcourt, he's meh.

[Prez]

Simmons got near elite handles.

His handles elite for his size. He doesn't have the ball on a string like Durant or Tracy. It's better than Blake's. Lebron's is better. I think Lamar Odom might be better.

Simmons uses some dribbles that we really haven't seen a guy use. Simmons inside out dribble is nasty. The pace and speed he with the ball in transition in nasty.

Again, halfcourt, he's meh.

Durant is extremely turnover prone, his sloppy handle is one of the big reasons OKC lost this year. He doesn't have the ball on a string at all imo. Simmons' natural feel as a ballhandler is much better than Durant's coming in imo, he's going to be a clearly better ballhandler than Durant in his prime.

[CoreyGallagher]

Simmons got near elite handles.

His handles elite for his size. He doesn't have the ball on a string like Durant or Tracy. It's better than Blake's. Lebron's is better. I think Lamar Odom might be better.

Simmons uses some dribbles that we really haven't seen a guy use. Simmons inside out dribble is nasty. The pace and speed he with the ball in transition in nasty.

Again, halfcourt, he's meh.

I disagree about his handles not being better than Durant's, but regardless, he's much better at passing and at creation in the half court than advertised. Scoring himself in the half court does need work, however.

[random_hero891]

Considering he is tremendous at rebounding, why would he be a point guard? He is a point forward.

Rondo is a pretty impressive rebounder, I don't think your position should dictate your stats. As long as you can guard your position it's all good.

[Duke4life831]

Through his first 2 games he's looked exactly how I thought. The good, he has amazing vision, flashy passer, great in transition, good but not great rebounder. The bad, no jumper but when he does its not pretty and it's slow, is lost defensively when not guarding the ball and can't score in the half court. Teams are just going to give him the Tony Allen treatment, put a big on him and just have him sag off. He does have amazing vision and great IQ, but I do think people get a little caught up on his flashy passes. I still think Simmons is going to average about 12/7/5 this year. I don't think he's a transcendent talent, but I do think he makes a couple all stars.

[jangles86]

I think he is the best prospect since Anthony Davis.
His court vision and passing as a player that has not played an NBA game is something special.

I believe when he plays for Australia he will play a very similar game to how Lebron plays. It will be a great tool for him to learn how to be the best player on the court.

I can see him averaging being around the 15/7/7 mark in his rookie season.
Lebrons Rookie season 21/5/6.
Magics 18/7/7
Odom 16/8/4

[Unbreakable99]

Semantics. Bottom line is Simmons facilitates the offense just like PGs do. He can set the offense up and run the show. Call him whatever the hell you want but he can control the flow of the offense and facilitate with the best of them.

It's not semantics, it's deliberately just making stuff up to hype up a player on fans and media's part and on coaches part trying to sound innovative when this has been going on since Rick Barry and Bill Walton (having a larger sized player run an offense).

Just because someone is the point guard, doesn't necessarily mean they run the team.


And Ben Simmons is alright. His inability to shoot and create shots off the dribble and post up and his rather rudimentary handle will limit his ability to do anything useful on offense other than pass in the half court.

His dynamic play comes when he can run in transition where he does look special.

He should play PF and model his game after Blake Griffin in regards to post play and high post passing.

What are you talking about? He's been running the offense his first two games so far. He's been playing the point and directing the offense. He's setting people up.

[CoreyGallagher]

Yeah, I'm not sure how if you've watched these 2 games you could have come away believing anything other than that he is running the offense for us - call that role whatever you want to - Point Forward or Point Guard. He is given the ball and is expected to create scoring opportunities in the half court, he's given the ball or rebounds it himself and is expected to create scoring opportunities on the break - both.

[Upperclass]

He's been heavily overrated here.. Slow feet, average first step and has great vision, but poor pass placement.. Throws a TON of sloppy passes that will be picked off in the regular season. He's also fairly timid when pressured at the hoop. He reminds me less of Odom and more of what Boris Diaw was supposed to turn into.. Maybe Phoenix Suns era Boris. He's not a pg by any stretch.

[Fico92]

Simmons got near elite handles.

His handles elite for his size. He doesn't have the ball on a string like Durant or Tracy. It's better than Blake's. Lebron's is better. I think Lamar Odom might be better.

Simmons uses some dribbles that we really haven't seen a guy use. Simmons inside out dribble is nasty. The pace and speed he with the ball in transition in nasty.

Again, halfcourt, he's meh.

This is the first time I've heard Durant mentioned as someone having the ball on a string...considering his struggles in the playoffs with turnovers I'd say it's the exact opposite.

[CoreyGallagher]

He's been heavily overrated here.. Slow feet, average first step and has great vision, but poor pass placement.. Throws a TON of sloppy passes that will be picked off in the regular season. He's also fairly timid when pressured at the hoop. He reminds me less of Odom and more of what Boris Diaw was supposed to turn into.. Maybe Phoenix Suns era Boris. He's not a pg by any stretch.

Slow feet, based on what? At Simmons' Cleveland workout, that Chad Ford himself attended, he reported a 3.05 sec 3/4 sprint and 10.61 sec lane agility. Both are elite by any standards, let alone for a big man.
[tweet]https://twitter.com/chadfordinsider/status/738046985534574592[/tweet]

Spoiler:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/PompeyOnSixers/status/738307292593061888[/tweet]

I don't agree about his passing, but it's all conjecture at this point, anyways. I haven't seen anything in SL to support it though, seems to be quite on point with his deliveries.

[Fico92]

It will be a great tool for him to learn how to be the best player on the court.

He plays for the sixers. I think that comes with stepping on the court.

[mksp]

I don't know what game some of you guys watched.

His handle and vision and passing ability is more advanced than I think most expected at this stage.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMWMdYtXGXU[/youtube]

He obviously has to develop a jumper and learn how to finish better at the rim, but I can't see why those skills wouldn't eventually be there.

[Upperclass]

He's been heavily overrated here.. Slow feet, average first step and has great vision, but poor pass placement.. Throws a TON of sloppy passes that will be picked off in the regular season. He's also fairly timid when pressured at the hoop. He reminds me less of Odom and more of what Boris Diaw was supposed to turn into.. Maybe Phoenix Suns era Boris. He's not a pg by any stretch.

Slow feet, based on what? At Simmons' Cleveland workout, that Chad Ford himself attended, he reported a 3.05 sec 3/4 sprint and 10.61 sec lane agility. Both are elite by any standards, let alone for a big man.
[tweet]https://twitter.com/chadfordinsider/status/738046985534574592[/tweet]

Spoiler:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/PompeyOnSixers/status/738307292593061888[/tweet]

I don't agree about his passing, but it's all conjecture at this point, anyways. I haven't seen anything in SL to support it though, seems to be quite on point with his deliveries.

He's plenty fast when given an open court.. But lacks explosion. He absolutely has heavy feet. Its not an indebtment.. By it's going to affect his effectiveness with the rock, when the game slows down

[baldur]

I don't know what game some of you guys watched.

His handle and vision and passing ability is more advanced than I think most expected at this stage.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMWMdYtXGXU[/youtube]

He obviously has to develop a jumper and learn how to finish better at the rim, but I can't see why those skills wouldn't eventually be there.

it will be so fun to watch him. His vision is great.

[TheProdigy]

You are what you can defend. If he can defend point guards, then that is his position. Summer league is the perfect time to experiment... I haven't been able to watch the entire summer league games yet, only highlights. Can someone who has watched the games say whether Simmons has been consistently guarding pgs on defense?

[ItsThatEasy]

I have no dog in this race other than being a huge Magic Johnson fan.

If anybody could come close to replicating Magic's playing style it's LeBron and Simmons.

We'll see how the 76ers play this one out.

[Ballerhogger]

i hope it works out . He must have great ball handling skills . wonder how his passing is

[CoreyGallagher]

You are what you can defend. If he can defend point guards, then that is his position. Summer league is the perfect time to experiment... I haven't been able to watch the entire summer league games yet, only highlights. Can someone who has watched the games say whether Simmons has been consistently guarding pgs on defense?

He has not and I would personally consider him a point forward myself.

[76ciology]

He's been heavily overrated here.. Slow feet, average first step and has great vision, but poor pass placement.. Throws a TON of sloppy passes that will be picked off in the regular season. He's also fairly timid when pressured at the hoop. He reminds me less of Odom and more of what Boris Diaw was supposed to turn into.. Maybe Phoenix Suns era Boris. He's not a pg by any stretch.

Slow feet, based on what? At Simmons' Cleveland workout, that Chad Ford himself attended, he reported a 3.05 sec 3/4 sprint and 10.61 sec lane agility. Both are elite by any standards, let alone for a big man.
[tweet]https://twitter.com/chadfordinsider/status/738046985534574592[/tweet]

Spoiler:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/PompeyOnSixers/status/738307292593061888[/tweet]

I don't agree about his passing, but it's all conjecture at this point, anyways. I haven't seen anything in SL to support it though, seems to be quite on point with his deliveries.

He's plenty fast when given an open court.. But lacks explosion. He absolutely has heavy feet. Its not an indebtment.. By it's going to affect his effectiveness with the rock, when the game slows down

He's really quick and has good explosion. The problem lies with his lack of shooting that allows his defender to sag off him and prevent getting left behind that leaves you the impression that he's "heavy feet". But nevertheless, even when sagged off, he can still get into the paint shown by his FTr.