The Philadelphia 76ers Should Take Simmons Over Ingram

The Philadelphia 76ers have a big selection ahead of themselves. They will be best set up for success if they take Ben Simmons over Brandon Ingram.

Brandon Ingram is 18 years old, has a height of 6’9”, weights 196 pounds, and has a wingspan of 7’3”. His competition, Ben Simmons, is 19 years old, has a height of 6’10”, weighs 239, and has a wingspan of 7’0.25”. Ingram averaged 17.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2 assist, 1.1 steals, 1.4 blocks, and 2 turnovers per game. Simmons averaged 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2 steals, 0.8 blocks, and 3.4 turnovers.

Ingram’s biggest advantage over Simmons is 3-point shooting. Ingram made 2.2 of 5.4 3-pointers per game. Over 36 games, he made 80 3-pointers, while shooting 41 percent, and 40 percent of all of his shots were taken beyond the three point line. Simmons only took three 3-pointers over his 33 game career and made one of them. Simmons is so against attempting 3-pointers, that only .008 percent of all his shots were taken beyond the three point line.

Ingram’s shooting is one of the main reasons people suggest he should be taken over Simmons and it’s the key reason people believe he is a better offensive player. While Ingram is definitely the better shooter, he isn’t a better offensive player than Simmons. If you compare Ingram’s stats in the previous paragraph to Kevin Durant’s only season at the university of Texas, you’ll see Ingram’s production isn’t close to the player he is usually compared to.

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College Durant averaged 25.8 points, 11.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.9 steals, and 1.9 blocks per game. Another important part of figuring out who is the better scorer between Ingram and Simmons is free throw attempt rate. Using sports-refence.com’s definition for free throw attempt rate, it’s the number of free throws attempts per field goal attempt. It’s basically how often a player draws a foul every time he takes a shot.

Ingram’s free throw attempt rate was 35 percent and Simmons’ free throw attempt rate was 77 percent. One of the best players at drawing fouls in the NBA is James Harden, and during his two seasons at Arizona State, his free throw attempt rate was 60 percent. Simmons’ potential to be better at getting to the free throw line than Harden combined with his superior passing, should make him a better offensive player than Ingram.

Defense is another area Ingram is supposed to have an advantage over Simmons, but it’s possible Ingram and Simmons are close to even in this department. Ingram gave consistent effort on defense and there were times Simmons seemed uninterested in playing defense, so it’s understandable people would assume Ingram would come into the NBA as the better defender, but Ingram is very undersized for his position and would likely be pushed around by most NBA players.

Simmons, on the other hand, already has an NBA-ready body and has more lateral quickness than Ingram. While I’m not sure Simmons is quick enough to guard point guards every game, he should be able to stay in front of most small forwards and power forwards. Ingram’s superior reach will always allow him to better at blocking or affecting his opponent’s shot than Simmons, but Simmons’ superior quickness should always allow him to be better than Ingram at getting steals. If a good coach can convince Simmons to give full effort every time he is playing defense, I don’t believe there will be that big of a difference between the two.

The last big reason to take Ingram over Simmons is the success of their college teams. Ingram’s Duke Blue Devils team made it through two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, while Simmons’ LSU Tigers team didn’t win enough games to enter it. This fact can be used to say Ingram is a better player than Simmons, because Ingram got his team to the tournament and Simmons couldn’t, but this is a somewhat unfair and overblown talking point.

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There probably isn’t a person not related to LSU head coach Johnny Jones that believes he is as good, or even the same league, as Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, and watching LSU and Duke play several of times, it’s clear that Ingram had significantly better teammates than Simmons.

The question that anyone that uses college success to decide who is better between Ingram and Simmons should ask — If Ingram went to LSU and Simmons went to Duke, would LSU make the Tournament and would Duke miss the cut?

In order to answers yes to this question, you would have to believe Simmons’ bad shooting and attitude would’ve singlehandedly derailed Duke’s season to the point that they fail to qualify for the tournament and that Ingram’s superior shooting, but worse rebounding, passing, ball handling, and scoring, would have been enough to over come bad coaching and teammates. I don’t believe Ingram would’ve had more success at LSU and that Simmons would have made Duke a worse team, so I don’t believe college team success matters.

"When you analyze the top two prospects, as far as all the reports go and the media speculation, you’ve got two guys that are very talented players but very different players. One who is a ballhandling four, who actually would be in a position to initiate the offense. Very versatile. Plays multiple positions. He could actually play some three, some four and probably some five in some situations the way the league is playing right now. But, again, the notion that he’s a ball-handling four puts him in a unique position with our team, to be a distributor, etc. As you look at a Brandon Ingram, more of a shooter, a silky smooth small forward type. Probably can play multiple positions as well. I think you have to look at his versatility. But, the one thing that stands out is his ability to shoot the basketball, above all else. There is obviously two very interesting candidates there. — Bryan Colangelo"

This quote from Bryan Colangelo shows that adding Simmons could cause fit issues with the current roster. While people have suggested that Simmons could play point guard for the Sixers, Bryan’s comments imply that is not even under consideration. Ingram’s shooting would give Jahlil Okafor more space to operate in the post and would allow 2014 draft pick Dario Saric to run the offense of as point forward. Simmons doesn’t fit with Okafor. Okafor needs the ball in his hands to be effective on offense and is a liability on defense. While Simmons would be a good off-the-ball player on offense, his scoring would still involve him driving towards the basket where Okafor is likely standing, making it easier for the defense to guard both of them. If the Sixers draft Simmons, they should consider trading Okafor.

Saric and Simmons would work great together. Most people describe both Saric and Simmons as ball handling forwards that are good passers, so it’s understandable to think the Sixers do not need both of them, but there are significant differences between them.

Simmons is a better scorer near the basket and playing defense, while Saric is a better shooter. It’s likely that Saric would play the role of a stretch-four, or a power forward that would hang around the three point line, when he is playing with Simmons. The Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs show the benefit of having great passers and ball handlers at small forward and power forward, and a Saric and Simmons lineup could potentially copy this. If a healthy Joel Embiid joins the Saric and Simmons lineup, the Sixers would have above average shooters at the center and power forward spots and it’s easier to find a good shooting point guard and shooting guard than a good shooting center and power forward. Simmons only becomes a fit issue if the Sixers are dead set on building around Okafor and Nerlens Noel.

It’s possible Ingram does become a better player than Simmons. If you draft Ingram over Simmons, you are betting that Ingram will improve his passing, ball handling, ability to draw fouls, and rebounding. You also are betting that Simmons will never learn how to shoot.

Ingram is a year younger than Simmons, but is one year really enough time to catch up to Simmons in almost every skill that doesn’t involve shooting? While Ingram would be the perfect Robin to Okafor’s Batman, the Sixers are still in the looking for Batman stage of the rebuild and Okafor isn’t good enough to be the Sixers’ Dark Knight.

I don’t dislike Ingram. I think he’s a better prospect than Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Jahlil Okafor, and D’Angelo Russell. If the Sixers received the second pick and took Ingram, I would be happy. But since the Sixers got the first pick and I believe Simmons is the better player, I would be disappointed if the Sixers took Ingram ahead of him.

Sixers’ head coach Brett Brown coached Simmons’ father and has known his family for years.

Brown believes it’s possible for Simmons to become a good shooter. In an interview with ESPN Radio Brown said, “I’m aware of his junior coaches throughout Ben’s entire life, and when you look at his form – no differently to when we drafted Kawhi Leonard with the Spurs – one of the assessments we had to make was, was this shot transferable to the NBA? Was it a total rebuild or was it a little bit of a makeover? I think that his form isn’t one that you have to blow up and start over. I think it can translate.”

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If Bryan agrees with Brown’s assessment of Simmons’ shot, choosing Simmons over Ingram will be the easiest decision the Sixers make this offseason.