With Simmons back in Philly, Sixers won’t change style
The Philadelphia 76ers got a bit of a surprise Monday when Ben Simmons showed up unannounced before their preseason matchup with the Brooklyn Nets to take a COVID-19 test to rejoin the team.
His appearance at the Wells Fargo Center, combined with undergoing a physical Tuesday, all but signals Simmons is ready to play nice until he gets his wish to be traded.
Meanwhile, the Sixers have been going through training camp and played three preseason games without Simmons. They have begun to implement a new system focusing on others, rather than one focused on Simmons and Joel Embiid.
As they move forward with reintegrating Simmons, coach Doc Rivers maintains that nothing will change, and the system the Sixers are running without Simmons is actually similar to last season.
“We didn’t change anything,” Rivers said Wednesday. “We practiced the same way, and even when Ben comes, our practice won’t change and what we’re doing won’t change. It’s easy right now. Our guys are playing, man. They’re competing. Today was a fantastic practice.”
A plus for the Sixers is that this is not Rivers’ first year with
the team. He already has implemented what he wants to do, and the team knows what they have to do in order to compete and be successful.
“I know what we want to do,” Rivers said. “This would be a lot different if this was the first year here and didn’t know how to use him or what we wanted to do, but it’s not and so we’re pretty much organized and we know exactly how we want to do it... What we run, you don’t change just because one guy comes on the floor. Everybody is positional. Everybody plays the same positions on this team other than Joel.”
The Sixers earned the No. 1 seed last season for the first time in 20 years with Simmons on the floor. Just because he has yet to show up does not mean that Philadelphia is changing anything for itself out on the floor.
“Nothing has changed since he’s been out,” said Danny Green. “We’re doing the same things and we’ll do the same things when he comes back, so we’ve been practicing and playing as if he’s been here or going to show up. He’s a part of our group, he’s a part of our team, when and if he does show up, we’ll do the same things we did last year.”
Simmons’ holdout has not been an ideal situation, but teammates said they are not going to change anything and make it awkward if Simmons shows up. It’s all about playing winning basketball.
“Our system hasn’t changed too much to what we did last year,” said Seth Curry. “Training camp was pretty smooth as far as putting plays in for guys who have been here since Day 1, so it’s not hard to pick up any of the new systems. Whoever was here last year should be pretty comfortable with the things we’re trying to do on the floor.”
The spacing for the Sixers has been good to start the preseason. That will change with Simmons’ return, but that should be the only noticeable difference.
“We’re calling a lot less sets, maybe,” Curry said. “Running some pick-and-roll stuff. Obviously, spacing changes with Ben out there, but we know how to adjust. Everybody knows how to play basketball. It’s not too different from the stuff we did last year. Just try to execute stuff better.”
The Sixers open the season on October 20 at the New Orleans Pelicans.
“We were very effective at it last year,” Green said. “We expect to do that again this year as well, so we’re just waiting for that time to come.”