Ben Simmons is already destroying pre-draft narratives about his defense

Philadelphia 76ers rookie Ben Simmons has received national attention for his early offensive dominance, however , his defense has been largely underappreciated and deserves more attention.

Since his high school days, Philadelphia 76ers rookie Ben Simmons has been tabbed as a LeBron James type player due to his freakish creativity and guard-like qualities for a 6-foot-10 player. His ability to combine these attributes has led to early season All-Star level play, averaging a near triple-double with 18 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 8.2 assists through ten games.

While Simmons was universally viewed as the top prospect in the 2016 draft, many scouts doubted his ability to become an all around superstar because of his shooting and defensive effort. While questions remain about his jumper- I would like to go on record now saying Simmons will be knocking down threes next season- his defense through ten games has been greatly underappreciated and deserves recognition.

Before the season, I talked about how if Simmons could remain locked in and was able to focus on using his length and athletic abilities to create turnovers, he could be a solid defender off the bat. So far, he has done that and much more.

First of all, Simmons is presenting MUCH more effort on the defensive end then he ever did at LSU. This was expected, but it defeats many lazy pre-draft narratives on his lack of care.

Not only has Simmons been checking forwards, but in recent games he has begun guarding opposing teams point guards. Now, I’m not saying he has locked these guys down, but even being able to try him on them was not expected to be in the plan for a while. It was assumed before the season that Simmons would be guarding forwards, but his quick development has led to Brett Brown sticking him on guards such as Darren Collison and Dennis Schroder. On the following play, Simmons uses his length to recover and block a much more agile Collison.

There was much debate before the season over the ‘point guard’ title being given to Simmons by reason of his anticipated inability to guard other teams point guards. While it has not been perfect so far, Brown already having the faith to stick Simmons on a true point guard, even occasionally, ten games into the season is extremely encouraging for what he could be doing later in the season and throughout his career.

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Out on the perimeter, Simmons 7-foot wingspan is an absolute nightmare for smaller guards. The following play is another example of Simmons using physicality and length to create a turnover on the smaller Schroder. His defensive instincts combined with the athleticism and length are absolutely horrifying for enemy passing lanes.

In Tuesday night’s win over the Utah Jazz, Simmons did not match up very often on their starting point guard, Ricky Rubio, however, he played his best defensive game of the season, finishing with three steals and blocks each. There were some beautiful highlights on that end of the floor, such as this monster block.

On this next play, Simmons is a little delayed on his switch, but, once again, his length and athleticism lead to a clutch block on Rubio.

LOOK AT THAT LENGTH. 

LOOK AT IT. Last one, I promise.

Someone tell Thabo Sefolosha not to jump next time. Nobody is safe.

Turning defense into offense is another quality Simmons has frequently displayed in his young career. Once he gets out in transition off a turnover, he is near impossible to stop–dare I say, LeBron esque.

Statistically, Simmons has improved at a steady rate thus far in his career. In the Sixers previous four games, all of which are wins, Simmons has an average defensive rating of 94.48. Compare this to the first six games of the season, where the team went 2-4, where Simmons had an average 108.13 defensive rating (via NBA.com).

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Context and match-ups factor in, but there is no denying this is an encouraging trend and matches what the eye test says: Ben Simmons is improving, on both ends, at a scary rate.