The Potential of Ben Simmons

Ben Simmons’ ability to play multiple positions can make him one of the best players in the NBA despite his team’s disappointing season.

Before he played a single game for LSU, Ben Simmons was seen as the top player in college basketball and was projected to be a lock as the number one pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. After failing to lead an 19-14 team to a spot in the NCAA Tournament, and in the face of the impressive play of fellow freshmen Brandon Ingram, and questions about what position he should play in the NBA, Ben Simmons is no longer a lock to be the top pick in the upcoming draft.

Ben Simmon’s father, David Simmons, was a professional basketball player born in New York. He had moved to Australia to continue his career after college, where he ultimately spent several years playing basketball and raised his family. While Ben Simmons was born in Australia and will play for the Australian National team in the Olympics, he did play high school basketball in America for Montverde Academy in Florida. Simmons’ family connections from Australia played a role in his life because the main reason Simmons went to Louisianna State University, instead of the University of Kentucky or Duke University, was a personal connection to LSU assistant coach David Patrick. Patrick is Ben Simmons’ godfather who had become close to the Simmons family when Patrick played professional basketball in Australia. The LSU Tigers have only made the NCAA Tournament once during the three years head coach Johnny Jones has coached the team, before Simmons joined Jones’ fourth season, and LSU lost the one game they played in the 2015 NCAA Tournament.

Before watching at least five LSU Tigers basketball games this season and did hours of research, I didn’t understand the hype around Simmons. He was simply a great passing big man who struggles to shoot, which didn’t sound like a player who could be good enough to build a franchise around. During Simmons 33 game college career, he averaged 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game. His numbers combined with his 6′ 10″ height, 225 lb. weight, and incredible quickness and ball handling ability makes him even more impressive. But the real thrill happens when I began watching all the different skills Simmons possesses, and imagining ways it could be used in the NBA. That artistic skill-set convinced me that Simmons could someday be in the conversation for top player in the NBA despite LSU’s disappointing season.

Below is a video from my favorite NBA draft site draftexpress.com showing Simmons strengths coming into college.

Most of the strength shown in the video above is an accurate depiction of the players I watched in college, with the exception of Simmons being a better rebounder and a worse defender due to a lack of attention or effort on that side of the court. Knowing his skill sets and watching him in college, I realized that LSU’s coaching staff didn’t use all of Simmons abilities often enough. LSU’s frontcourt was bad with the exception of Simmons, so often Simmons would post-up on offense allowing the opposing team to easily double him or use defensive schemes to keep him from touching the ball. LSU also didn’t utilize the pick-and-roll enough when Simmons had the ball to take advantage of his elite passing and ability to get to the basket and draw contact.

One of Simmons biggest criticism is his inability to shoot and occasional refusal to even take jump shots. While it is true Simmons is a horrible three point and midrange jump shooter, he can make shots as long as he is within ten feet of the basket. In Matt Moore’s article comparing Simmons to Draymond Green there is a graphic showing Simmons shooting ability from different distances on court, and you’ll notice that he shoots above average from what I consider hook shot range. Below is a video featuring highlights of Simmons highest score game in his short college career.

In the above video you’ll notice the many different ways Simmons scores. Simmons is the rare player who is capable of driving past his defender in isolation and pick-and-role situations, can set good screens, then roll to the basket for an easy dunk or layup. He can use post moves to score on a hook shot with impressive accuracy whether with or without contact. Adding all of these skills with his elite passing and ability to draw contact is what makes him a truly special player. No NBA coach’s job should be to find a way to use some of Simmons’ skills to fit their system or team, but to makes use all of his skills to ensure Simmons reaches his full potential.

If the Sixers draft Simmons, how should they use him? Recently fellow SixersSense writer Jaylen Young wrote an article suggest Simmons play point guard if he is drafted by the Sixers. While I personally agree with the points he made in his article, playing Simmons at point guard at a majority of the time would be a mistake. If you view Simmons as a point guard, Brandon Ingram should be picked ahead of him. I simply fail to see how Simmons ever lives up to the high expectations members of the media set for him in that scenario. A best-case scenario for point guard Simmons is a taller John Wall. While Wall is a great player, what has a Wall lead team accomplished? Six years after being selected first overall in the 2010 draft, Wall has managed to lead his team to the playoffs twice and is yet to get past the second round. This season Wall is averaging 20.1 points, 10 assists, and 5 rebounds per game, yet his team’s record is 34-35 and currently out of the playoffs.

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Regardless of how good his ability to get to the basket or to feed his teammates easy buckets with precision passes is, as Michael Carter-Williams failed year and a half experiment showed, it’s hard to build a championship caliber team around a point guard that is no threat to score three to mid-range shots. This is why Simmons best position in the NBA is a LeBron James style small forward. James has the ball handling and passing ability to be a top 5 point guard in the NBA, played the position for several games during his rookie season, and looking at this scouting report from nbadraft.net, high school James sounds very similar to Simmons. At that time, people thought he would simply be a tall point guard, so why does he play small forward? Small forward allows him to be a ball handler that can drive to the basket to score, be the screener on a pick-and-roll, or post up at any point during a possession.

If Simmons is a point guard, the opposing team knows he’ll be controlling the ball majority of the game and can plan for that. If Simmons is a power forward, the opposing team knows he’ll spend majority of the game in the post and can plan for it. If Simmons is a small forward, the opposing wouldn’t know what position Simmons could be playing that game and it could change at any moment. Small forward is just his official position, and he can still play other positions when considering Sixers personnel and game situations.

If the Sixers need to play their best defense, a lineup featuring Nerlens Noel at center and Simmons at point guard would make sense. Simmons passing and ball handling should have similar results to the Ish Smith Noel connection on offense with Simmons potential playing better defense than Smith. In a lineup design to get the most out of Jahlil Okafor, Simmons should play power forward. Simmons should be able to do what Noel is yet to do consistent well and guard power forwards allowing Okafor to play center and be less of a defensive liability. The other reason for this move is rebounding. Okafor is currently 50th in rebounds per game this season among all NBA players regardless of position with an average of seven per game. At Duke, Okafor averaged 8.5 rebounds per game compared to college Simmons 11.8, so keeping Simmons close to the basket could help Okafor a lot and he could still handle the ball as a power forward on offense. For the final example, imagine the Sixers being down 20 points entering the fourth quarter and need to find away to catch up quickly. A line up of Isaiah Canaan at point guard, Nik Stauskas at shooting guard, Hollis Thompson at small forward, Robert Covington at power forward, and Ben Simmons at point center would be the Sixers best lineup to get back in the game.

Next: Bringing In Ish Smith Made Backcourt Uncertain

With the possible exception of Joel Embiid, the Sixers could finally have someone with the potential to be the best player on a championship team, if they draft Ben Simmons.