The Sixer Sense
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Ben Simmons is at Huge Disadvantage for ROY if He Doesn’t Sit Out

By Josh Wilson

Jun 23, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Ben Simmons (LSU) reacts as he walks off stage after being selected as the number one overall pick to the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 23, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Ben Simmons (LSU) reacts as he walks off stage after being selected as the number one overall pick to the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports /
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Philadelphia 76ers top overall pick Ben Simmons is now at a huge disadvantage for winning Rookie of the Year unless he sits out for the whole season.

Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers were both looking forward to opening a new chapter in the 2016-17 season. The Sixers were looking to start building their roster for the future led by Simmons, and Simmons was looking to enter his professional career as a basketball player.

While Simmons will still be collecting his money as a pro athlete, he won’t be starting the season playing with the rest of the Sixers. Simmons fractured a bone in his foot, and he just had a successful surgery done on the foot. What comes next is what actually determines success or failure though — the rehabilitation.

In some respects, Simmon’s absence can be good. It gives Brett Brown more room to breathe in regards to the big man logjam, and also, it keeps the Sixers from debuting four unexperienced rookies at one time.

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At the same time, there are a ton of negatives. For one, fans have to wait to see Simmons, who seems to be the type of player that could be generational. Simmons also has to sit around waiting for his career to start.

Another thing both Sixers fans and Simmons were looking forward to was the competitiveness for the Rookie of the Year Award. That will be something that Simmons will almost certainly not be a front runner for anymore, given that he will be missing at least the first few months of the season.

Coming into the season, Simmons was a front-runner. Now, it seems certain that he won’t get the award unless he comes in and completely tears it up for the entire rest of the season once he comes back from injury. That seems unlikely since he will be coming right off of an injury that the Sixers will want to be careful with.

That being said, Simmons could potentially be a Rookie of the Year Award winner, just not this season.

Bob Cooney recently reported that intel from a trusted NBA executive believes that it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Simmons was going to sit the whole season, per instruction from his agent. This does a lot of things for Simmons.

For one, it gives him the entire year, and then the offseason to ensure he’s completely healthy. Second, it gives the Sixers a chance to sort of get their ducks in a row before Simmons joins their team.

And lastly, and most pertinent to the Rookie of the Year issue, it allows Simmons to be considered a rookie alongside next year’s class, where he can compete to be the Rookie of the Year with (hopefully) a full, fair season to prove himself.

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Unfortunately, the only problem with the ROY Award next year is that the class coming into the NBA seems much more competitive. Still, Simmons should be up to the challenge.

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Simmons, his agent, and the Sixers shouldn’t be putting an award that isn’t an NBA title at the forefront of their decision to play or not play Simmons. But if ultimately, the team decides it’s best to push Simmons’ regular season debut off until next season, it would be an added bonus to have him competing to be Rookie of the Year.