Who really is Ben Simmons’ closest comparison?

Using both the eye test and analytics, we try to determine which other player in the NBA is the most similar to the Philadelphia 76ers‘ Ben Simmons.

Ben Simmons is a tough player to compare with anyone else because he is so incredibly special. I regularly do our Philadelphia 76ers game recaps, and I never am completely sure what positional designation I should give to Simmons.

He handles the ball and brings it up the floor like a point guard typically does. Yet he also posts up often, which isn’t very common for a point guard. On defense, he usually covers the opponent’s power forward, so I usually have used that as reason enough to call him a power forward.

However, sometimes he plays in lineups with Dario Saric alongside other wings, and sometimes he plays with both Saric and another big man like Joel Embiid or Amir Johnson. Sometimes he guards the opposing center, sometimes the opposing small forward.

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This is really a long-winded way of saying “I don’t know exactly what he is.” You could make a convincing case one way or the other, but someone else could bring up equally convincing counterpoints.

His versatility is what makes it difficult to give him a true “player comp,” as is common to do with relatively unknown players. Lauri Markkanen is similar to Dirk Nowitzki, De’Aaron Fox is similar to John Wall, Jayson Tatum is similar to Carmelo Anthony, etc.

None of these are perfect comparisons, but they give you a pretty good idea of who the player is. The problem with Simmons is that he’s so unique that I don’t know who else I would really say he’s most similar to.

So, I endeavored to figure it out. I took shot charts of the players I inherently thought were most similar to him, and now we can compare them (and use one or two other stats) to see who’s really the closest to the Philadelphia 76ers stud.

By the way, huge thanks to Austin Clemens. His NBA shot-charting website made this article possible.