Evaluating Ben Simmons Performance in the Blue x White Scrimmage

After  missing the 2016-17 season with a Jones fracture in his right foot, Philadelphia 76ers rookie Ben Simmons flashed his dominance in his first 5-on-5 performance available for the public eye since injury.

All eyes were on Ben Simmons during the Philadelphia 76ers Blue x White scrimmage at the Palestra Sunday afternoon, where the rookie made his much anticipated return to live action since his injury. Simmons did not disappoint, finishing his day with a 23 point, five assist performance.

Some very encouraging things I noticed from Simmons:

• As he eased into the game, Simmons showed his abilities to takeover during the third period. He became more aggressive and used his body to get into the lane, scoring the majority of his points during this stretch.
• Simmons once again showed how dominant he can be in the open court and on the fast break, displaying an ability to confuse a defender and get easy looks for his teammates.

• In the half court, Simmons advertised his capability to take a defender off the dribble with some sweet moves on Dario Saric. Also, with many questions about his ability to finish with his left hand, it was promising to see him use both on numerous occasions.

• Cutting off-ball is a feature the Sixers offense has heavily relied on under Brett Brown and I would expect the amount of plays they design around that would increase with an abundance of playmakers coming in. Simmons showed countless times during his 2016 summer league performance he could deliver dimes on those plays, here we get to see him moving off-ball and creating an opportunity with his astonishingly quick feet for his size to escape Markelle Fultz. Shoutout to Amir Johnson for the dish.

https://twitter.com/tbone_3/status/914607824315052032

• Since his early days of college, Simmons’ defense has been in question. With his frame and quickness, I believe he can prosper in a situation where he is not counted on to check the opposing teams best wing, guard, or even big. Playing on a weaker threat while Robert Covington and Joel Embiid worry about the dynamic scorers will allow him to play a “free safety” role where his main job will be to prowl around in the paint, block shots, create turnovers, collect rebounds, and get out in transition. In the play below, you see Simmons emerge out of nowhere to strip the ball from Saric and create a breakaway for himself. Although he may get beat on it sometimes, this will quickly become a trademark play for Ben in his rookie season.

Simmons showed only a small sample of his abilities during Sunday’s scrimmage, but he was able to display why so many are intrigued by his potential to come in and make an immediate dynamic impact, similar to that of Joel Embiid last season. While it is unlikely he will be as two dimensionally dominant as Embiid was right off the bat, do not be surprised if he is able to effect the game more than your normal rookie.

After the game, Simmons said “People get caught up in the looks of the passes… but at the end of the day I know how to get to the rim and score and finish and I feel like I open up a lot of doors for other players, for them to score too.”

Next: 5 things to watch for as the season begins

While, as my colleague Christopher Kline mentioned, it is a dangerous move to take too much away from an intrasquad scrimmage, it would be hard to come away with anything but excitement after watching Simmons performance today.