Philadelphia 76ers Off Season Grades
By Bret Stuter
NBA Draft: Point Forward Ben Simmons
It’s never an easy matter to select from a universe of options. The most difficult decision of the 2016 NBA Draft rested upon the shoulders of the Philadelphia 76ers and their selection with the first pick of the 2016 NBA Draft. With that pick, the Phildelphia 76er selected Ben Simmons, point forward from Louisianna State University.
They made a very wise decision.
Ben Simmons is not a shooter. He won’t put up 40 points on his first night in the NBA. In a league that judges a players contribution on a weighted scale of 50 percent points per game, Simmons doesn’t really have much of a chance of winning NBA rookie of the year.
But he will be the most valuable rookie to their NBA team regardless.
We focused on rebounds as a contributing factor to the Philadelphia 76ers struggles last season. In that article, we summized that the Philadelphia 76ers losing the battle at the boards contributed to losing games.
Ben Simmons is a natural rebounder. In fact, in just two games, he has already established his rebounding forte’ as a tangible asset that he brings to the team. But his most significant skill is his circus like passes from virtually all angles that end up on the mark.
The only drawback so far? He gets the ball to the shooter, but the shooter doesn’t always hit the clean shot. As he is rolled into the Philadelphia 76ers starting line-up, the team will have incredible scoring opportunities formed just from that ability alone.
Areas Addressed by Transaction: Point Guard, Cohesion, Rebounds, Defense
Tranasaction Grade: A+ – not only did team select player with highest potential, they selected a player who will contribute to quality of overall team.
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