The Sixer Sense
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How Jahlil Okafor and Ben Simmons Can be a Power Duo

By Josh Wilson

Nov 9, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; The Philadelphia 76ers logo on the warm up shirt of center Jahlil Okafor (not pictured) prior to action against the Chicago Bulls at Wells Fargo Center. The Bulls won 111-88. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 9, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; The Philadelphia 76ers logo on the warm up shirt of center Jahlil Okafor (not pictured) prior to action against the Chicago Bulls at Wells Fargo Center. The Bulls won 111-88. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jul 12, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Ben Simmons (25) directs teammates during an NBA Summer League game against the Golden State Warriors at Thomas & Mack Center. Golden State won the game 85-77. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 12, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Ben Simmons (25) directs teammates during an NBA Summer League game against the Golden State Warriors at Thomas & Mack Center. Golden State won the game 85-77. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports /

How this helps Simmons

All of these ways are mainly ways that Okafor can be helped by Simmons. For them to be a true power duo, and for Okafor to be considered anything more than a parasite to Simmoms and the Sixers, he needs to help Simmoms in return. Thankfully, even through these plays, he is helping Simmons.

Simmons heads into this season with the skill set to be a point guard, but the Sixers will be playing him in the four slot since the point guard spot is the hardest one to play in the NBA. Simmons’ high-level passing ability and incredible vision leads us all to believe that someday he will be the starting point guard of the Sixers, but we can’t say for sure until we see him succeed doing point guard-like things for the Sixers.

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Having Okafor on the floor with Simmons gives him a reliable person to dump the ball of to and demonstrate his passing to, thus moving his career along faster and getting himself in the point guard slot faster. One of Nerlens Noel’s biggest issues is that he has trouble catching passes, so anything from Simmons to Noel is at a liability of getting dropped. Okafor, on the other hand, has pretty solid hands.

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I think, although this duo does have defensive issues, and Noel may fit a little bit better, we shouldn’t knock the possibility of Okafor and Simmons being on the floor together at some point this upcoming season.