The Sixer Sense
Fansided

Philadelphia 76ers’ Ben Simmons deserved to be an All-Star

By Rusty Gorelick

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 31: Ben Simmons #25 of the Philadelphia 76ers looks down the court in the third quarter against the Brooklyn Nets during their game at Barclays Center on January 31, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 31: Ben Simmons #25 of the Philadelphia 76ers looks down the court in the third quarter against the Brooklyn Nets during their game at Barclays Center on January 31, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Fans gave Ben Simmons the third-most votes among Eastern Conference guards. The Philadelphia 76ers‘ star still doesn’t have the spot he deserves even with three injured All-Stars.

Kevin Love, DeMarcus Cousins, and John Wall will not play in February’s All-Star game due to injury. Common sense indicates that the next-highest vote getter would replace the injured players, and that player would be Ben Simmons.

Well, two backcourt players with lower weighted scores, which is the metric that averages fan, media, and player votes, received an All-Star nod before the Sixers rookie.

Ben Simmons’ weighted score is 4.5, which means his average finish between the three groups of voters was between fourth and fifth place. Five All-Stars finished with a lower score, as you can see in the chart below. Paul George, Andre Drummond, and Goran Dragic, who commissioner Adam Silver selected to replace the injured players, also finished with lower weighted scores than Simmons. Dragic didn’t even finish in the top-10 in voting.

This atrocity shows that the fan vote really does not matter and that Adam Silver is still mad about the Process. When it concerns a player like Zaza Pachulia, who finished second in last year’s Western Conference frontcourt fan vote, coaches and the commissioner have every right to vote him out of contention for a reserve spot on the All-Star team, because Zaza Pachulia is trash. Ben Simmons, on the other hand, is not trash.

More from The Sixer Sense

Simmons’ vote discrepancies between the fan, player, and media categories are not as stratified as Pachulia’s were. Simmons finished third in the fan vote this season, and he finished sixth in both media and player voting. Pachulia finished second in fan voting but 12th in player voting and 10th in media voting, giving him a weighted score of 6.5. Coaches may not have seen enough of Simmons to vote for him in confidence to a reserve spot, but his numbers don’t lie.

Statistics are the main thing that should put the Australian redshirt rookie into the All-Star game. LeBron James earned a spot on the All-Star team when he was the same age as Simmons, and every statistic of theirs other than points is comparable.

At 21-years-old, James averaged 31.4 points, while the 21-year-old Simmons averages a little more than half of that at 16.7. James’ rebounding and assist numbers that season were seven and 6.6, respectively. Simmons averages 7.8 boards and 7.3 assists. The rookie scores much more efficiently than LeBron did in his third season: Simmons has shot 51.8 percent this season, whereas the King shot 48 percent.

LeBron already had two years of NBA experience by the time he turned 21. In his rookie season, the LSU product has proven that he has the most well-rounded skill set of any other rookie. Although he’s not putting up the same numbers as LeBron in his early years, he has come close so far this year.

It makes some sense Silver selected Paul George and Andre Drummond ahead of the rookie. George has averaged 21.8 points and a league-high 2.2 steals per game, and Drummond has posted 14.8 points and an astonishing, league-leading 15.3 rebounds each night. Dragic, on the other hand, has no reason to be an All-Star ahead of the 6-foot-10 point guard.

Must Read: 2018 NBA Mock Draft 3.0

Dragic’s 17 points per game barely exceed Simmons’ average tally of 16.7, and the 31-year-old Slovenian averages just 4.1 rebounds and 4.8 assists. Simmons posts 7.8 boards and 7.3 dimes each night. The only possible explanation of the commissioner’s arbitrary decision is that since the Miami Heat sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, they deserve to have as many All-Stars as the eighth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers.

There are plenty of reasons behind why Silver could blantantly diss the Sixers like this. Maybe he hates Australia. Maybe he loves Slovenia. Maybe he thinks that two versions of LeBron James in the All-Star game are too many. We already know he dislikes the Process, but this obvious disrespect of the best rookie in the league is simply larceny.

Philadelphia 76ers fans won’t see their beloved point guard on Sunday night during All-Star Weekend, but they will have a chance to see him in action during the Rising Stars game on Friday, Feb. 16.

Next: Can the Sixers grab the 4th seed?

Ben Simmons said that he worries more about standing up against the established stars in the league than winning Rookie of the Year, so hopefully the young guard uses this as motivation for a dominant second half of the season.