Philadelphia 76ers: Ben Simmons should study Paul Pressey

Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons should model his game after the NBA’s original point forward.

A common refrain this offseason as the Philadelphia 76ers added Daryl Morey, Doc “Call me Glenn” Rivers, and a much more compatible supporting cast, was “but what position will Ben Simmons play?” Joel Embiid is a generational talent, but the key to the Sixers future lies with trying to unleash the limitless potential that Simmons has teased us with, but has yet to fully deliver.

If this team is to take the next step to contender status the answers we seek might just lie in the past, with a team that Rivers competed against as a young player: the mid-1980s Milwaukee Bucks. With very little squinting, the Sixers may find that the blueprint for their success has already been written.

Don Nelson was one of the most brilliant, revolutionary coaching minds of his time. Gregg Popvitch may pass him soon, but his 1335 career victories is still the best in league history. He came up with the idea of small-ball three decades before it became popular and was running and pushing the pace long before speed merchants like Mike D’Antoni made it sexy. He was creative and innovative to the extreme, but despite all of his regular season success his teams always faded in the playoffs and without a ring, even greatness is forgotten. The reality is that he had a gift for changing his style to best suit the players on his team. One of his most interesting innovations, particularly now for Sixer fans, was the point forward.

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In 1984-85, Nelson looked at his Bucks team and felt like it had a lot of talent but didn’t know who his lead guard would be. He had toyed with Marques Johnson at point forward a little bit the year before but an offseason trade left the team looking very different. He had three good shooting guards, a terrific power forward, and a slew of big (talentless) centers.

He also had a little used small forward who used to play some point guard named Paul Pressey, so he rolled the dice and decided to make that the season of the “point forward”. Without a good center to battle Robert Parish and Moses Malone, the Bucks were never able to overcome the powerhouse Celtic and Sixers teams of that era, but those mid-80s Milwaukee teams were consistently exciting, dangerous 50+ win teams. With a talented big man things may have gone very differently. This is where the Sixers come in. Handled properly, the Sixers could potentially look an awful lot like those Bucks teams, but with a superstar in the middle.

Nelson had a defensive stud named Sid Moncrief at one guard and sniper extraordinaire Craig Hodges at the other, who are similar to Danny Green and Seth Curry. He had a mobile, athletic power forward in Terry Cummings who played like a smoother version of Tobias Harris. (The Sixers actually almost traded Julius Erving for Cummings a year later). His sixth man was high scoring combo guard Ricky Pierce, whose role could be a goal for Shake Milton. Their trio of centers was jokingly referred to as a “three-headed monster”, which really just meant they had 18 fouls to spend hitting you if you rolled into the paint. Embiid is ten times better than anything that Bucks group threw out on the floor. The key to making it all work for the Bucks was Paul Pressey.

Pressey was long and rangy with great court vision, a smooth handle, and a brilliant mind for defense. This should be the tape that Simmons is studying. Surrounded by shooters, Pressey never had to be the offensive focal point and could pick defenses apart with his passing and drives to the basket. As his confidence grew he added an outside shot and became a respectable 3-point shooter, but he was surrounded by so much offensive talent that he never had to press. On defense he frequently guarded the opposition’s best player one through three, which allowed his teammates to shift over to more manageable assignments.

Simmons is already better than Pressey ever was, but this is the ideal role for him this season. Putting two dangerous outside threats at the guards, next to a forward capable of hitting the e or driving to the hoop, alongside the post-up and pick and roll monster that Embiid should be will allow Ben to relax and slowly gain confidence in taking more shots, but without the pressure he has felt in the past. Being the facilitator and fifth option on offense will allow him to guard the best player every game and focus his attention there, while helping to hide the defensive inefficiencies of Curry and Harris.

In the past, Brett Brown and Ben Simmons used to spit out the term “point forward” as if it was a slur of some kind, while stubbornly insisting that Ben be called the “point guard”. That obstinacy only set back his offensive development, while the media and fans howled for skills he wasn’t ready to display. Playing him at the point forward is the ideal answer, allowing him to take full advantage of the wondrous skills that he does possess, while slowly developing the ones that are still a work in progress.

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Paul Pressey is the blueprint for how they should begin unlocking the potential of Ben Simmons. If they can do that, the sky is the limit for both Simmons and this Sixers team.