Philadelphia 76ers: Pros And Cons to Drafting Ben Simmons

The Philadelphia 76ers have the top overall pick. They could select Ben Simmons, but what exactly is the upside and downside of that decision?

Anytime a player gets traded, drafted, or signed to a team, there will be effects that result from that decision. If the Philadelphia 76ers decide to draft Ben Simmons of LSU, there will be huge effect that will occur in the aftermath. Here are the pros and cons to drafting Simmons:

Pros:

The team will gain an amazing facilitator.
There will be no more need of getting a star point guard. While Simmons isn’t classified as a point guard or any one position for that matter, he is more than capable of being the main initiator, playmaker, or facilitator of an offense. Take the Cleveland Cavaliers for example. Kyrie Irving may be listed as the starting point guard, but at the end of the day, LeBron James is the one setting the table for his teammates and leading the team in assists. Someone like Isaiah Canaan would be a great fit next to Simmons. He has the body of a point guard, but does not play like one offensively. He’d defend point guards on defense and let Simmons be the playmaker on offense while spacing the floor for him with his shooting. While Ish Smith is probably a better player than Canaan in a vacuum, a lineup with Smith and Simmons both in it wouldn’t work nearly as effectively as one with Simmons and Canaan.
The 76ers will add a terrific rebounder to a team that is horrible at rebounding. In fact the 76ers finished dead last this past season in rebounds per game. Simmons finished in the top six of rebounds per game (of players that played 20 games or more) with 11.8 and did it as a freshman. Four players ahead of him on the leaderboard were seniors and the other was a sophomore. He averaged a great number of rebounds for a center while being a small forward/power forward. Simmons will help the team get more boards from day one and will only get better at it as the years go by.
Would add an extremely versatile and potentially elite defender to the team. While Simmons has shown to have a lack of concentration on the defensive end at times, he is an elite lockdown defender when focused. As far as versatility, Simmons with his physical tools could guard positions one through five. He will cover threes and fours most of the time in the NBA but if he needed to cover a one, two, or five for a short spurt, he could definitely do it. He has great height at 6’10”, passable length with a 7’0″ wingspan, amazing lateral quickness, great instincts/anticipation, and is very strong with a 240 pound frame. With tools like that it would be hard for anybody in the league to dominate him one on one when he’s locked in. When he hits his prime it will be even harder for anybody to score on him.
Gives the team an amazing driver/penetrator and finisher. The closest thing the team had to that this past season was Ish Smith and he came later in the season after the squad was already in a deep hole in the loss column. No one else besides Smith on the team except for maybe Jahlil Okafor could consistently get in the paint with their handle and athleticism from the outside. It was great that Okafor had the talent to do that, but he should not have to be doing that considering he is a big guy who should be down low most of the time. If Smith could get into the paint with some sort of ease at only six feet tall and 175 pounds, imagine how well Simmons would do being 10 inches taller and 65 pounds heavier while having comparable speed and handles. There is a reason Simmons was one of only four players to average nine or more free throw attempts per game last season (min. 20 games played).
The team would be adding another great scorer. For a guy not seen as a scorer Ben Simmons is very good at that scoring thing. Simmons averaged 19.2 points per game on only 11.7 attempts per game with a true shooting percentage of 60 percent. He scores as much on 11 shots as some players need 17 shots to do. Simmons is very efficient.

Cons:

Does not seem to be the best fit on paper for the 76ers
Would not help the spacing issue at all. With Simmons shooting ability as it is now, it would only make the spacing worse.
One of the other core players would probably have to be traded if Simmons is drafted.
Might have his heart set on playing in Los Angeles instead of Philadelphia. Could lead to lethargic play until his rookie contract expires.
Might have some character and motor issues.
Does not seem to be the hardest worker. Seems to rely heavily on natural talent and has had academic issues. Jump-shot has not improved like it should have since his high school days.

Overall:

What makes Brandon Ingram a great prospect is the same thing that makes Simmons a great prospect. They both have pros to drafting them that heavily outweigh their cons. They both also have weaknesses in their game that are simple to fix if they are willing to put the work in. As far as prospects go, it doesn’t get much better than Simmons. Outside of some possible character issues which are debatable and his shooting, he is probably the perfect prospect.

Okafor supposedly wanted to go to Los Angeles as well in 2015 but fast forward a year later and he seems to love his teammates and Philly. I think the same would happen with Simmons after a year with this team. I mean he’d have to really bleed gold and purple to not want to play in a big market like Philly (although not as big as Los Angeles) where he could help spearhead a dynasty along with young guys like Okafor, Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel, Dario Saric, and many more.

Next: Could the Sixers Pursue Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram?

When looking at the pros and cons of drafting Ingram or Simmons, you can’t go wrong picking either one.

Philadelphia 76ers: Pros And Cons to Drafting Ben Simmons

By Jaylen Young | May 20, 2016

The Philadelphia 76ers have the top overall pick. They could select Ben Simmons, but what exactly is the upside and downside of that decision?

Pros:

More from The Sixer Sense

Cons:

Overall: