Philadelphia 76ers: Can Ben Simmons take next step from All-Star to superstar?

The Philadelphia 76ers need Ben Simmons to take the next step.

As we head into another offseason of chaos in Sixerland, it is the time of year when teams assess their assets to see what value they may be to the future of the organization — or perhaps if their future lies elsewhere.  The trouble is, the Philadelphia 76ers have too many question marks, and no one seems to know if the uncertainty lies with the players or with the style of their previous coach.

After four season with Ben Simmons, why do we still not know if he is merely an All-Star, or perhaps a  Superstar with MVP-level potential?  After this long, a franchise should have some sense of the ceiling of their players, but no one seems to have any answers.

The Philadelphia 76ers backcourt star is dependable, smart, tough, and lightning quick. He is a sure-handed floor general and a great defender, the type who could steal the hubcaps off a moving car. He is also a soft-spoken, introverted, pass-first point guard who tends to defer to the larger personalities on his team.  He is selfless to a fault, and could be a bigger star but seems to prefer leaving the spotlight to other players.  Did that sound familiar?  That was not a description of Simmons, it was of former Sixers great Maurice Cheeks.

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Mo Cheeks was a four time All-Star and made the NBA All-Defensive First Team four times while anchoring an ultra-talented 76ers team from 1978-1989.  His number 10 has been retired by the team and in 2018 he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.  For most players it would be a dream to be compared to a man like that and an even greater one to have a similar career to Cheeks.  But most players are not Ben Simmons.

The fate of team fortunes can often be decided by who is lucky enough to land the No. 1 pick in the draft.  Everyone knows that is where the studs are, where the magical beasts who are too talented to be contained explode out of the box and wreak havoc on the NBA, winning championships and filling highlight reels along the way.  The right pick can bring joy to a city of millions for a decade; the wrong one brings only misery.

When the lottery envelope was opened on May 17, 2016, revealing that the Philadelphia 76ers would have the No. 1 pick in the draft that June, it was a foregone conclusion that the Sixers would select Simmons.  He was described by many as a sure-thing superstar with the ceiling of “LeBron James lite”.  Big, strong, explosive, and blessed with amazing court vision and a surgical basketball I.Q., Simmons’ future seemed to be guaranteed.  In short, the team was hoping for a generational superstar, not just an All-Star.

It may not be fair to place expectations like that on the shoulders of such a young man, but he is about to become rich beyond his wildest dreams, and when you make the big money people will expect greatness.  Maurice Cheeks could be counted on for 16 or so points, around eight assists, and two steals on most nights while locking down his man on D.  Those are Simmons’ numbers as well.  The only difference is on the glass, where prime Mo only averaged three per game to Ben’s eight. But, in fairness, he was nine inches shorter than Simmons.  If anything, that gap should probably be wider.

If the fate of Ben Simmons is to be a multiple-time All-Star and possibly a Hall of Famer, shouldn’t the fanbase be happy with that?  Many media pundits and Simmons apologists say yes, but the simple fact is that Ben has not lived up to his enormous potential.

This fanbase survived The Process with the hope that a championship would be the prize for their patience.  All-Stars are nice, but alone they rarely win the big chip.  That is rarified air where the superstar players live, the kind of player who is not only be counted on to produce every single night, but dominate when teammates don’t have their best stuff.  A player who can read the defense every time down the floor, decide if the best option is the pass or their own shot, and aggressively keep the opposition on their heels.  Fair or not, that is what this team wanted when they drafted Simmons.

The Sixers are walking a tenuous tightrope this summer and may be at the crossroads of deciding to blow up The Process by trading Simmons or their other All-Star, Joel Embiid.  This same argument of not living up to his potential could be made of Embiid, except it’s starting to feel like he may lack the emotional maturity to be able to handle the ascension.

When Richard Jefferson recently tweeted that “Giannis might be a Pippen”, implying that Antetokounmpo needed someone else to show him how to win and close games, it didn’t take much imagination to feel that the same could easily be said of Embiid.  Which means it falls on Ben to accept more offensive responsibility and take the next step to superstardom upon his broad shoulders.

He has all of the physical tools to be an all-time great, the question lies in his mental ability to quiet the voices that mock his shooting skills and develop more of a selfish scorers mentality.  Ben has always tried to do what he thinks is best for the team, but failed to recognize that grabbing the game by the throat and scoring on his own three or four consecutive possessions, from a variety of places on the floor, is what this team is so desperately crying out for him to do.

There are 20-30 NBA players who are capable of being All-Stars.  There are maybe 8-10 who are capable of being a superstar-caliber player who can be the best player on the floor regardless of who is on the floor with them.  Ben has the talent and skill to be one of those players, mentioned in the same breath as Giannis, Luka, Harden, and LeBron.  With that type of ability, it seems shameful — wasteful — to allow him to settle for being a floor general, even one as terrific as Cheeks.

The hope for this Sixers team lies in the ability of the new coaching staff to convince Ben that he is more than what he has been so far.  If he wants to put this team first and do what is best for everyone he will have to be more selfish, take more jumpers, and look to score more often.  If that happens, the future is now and this team can be a contender for a long time.  If not, then The Process really is dead and it is time to trade one of their two stars and build for the future.  Again.