Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Simmons shows form early
PHILADELPHIA » The first four players in the 76ers’ starting lineup had been introduced, each to an increasing level of applause. There was one more to come. And there he was, finally, after all that time, all that promise, all those injury reports, all those doubts. “And from LSU ...” With that, and even before Ben Simmons could trot onto the Wells Fargo Center floor, a larger-than-usual, loud-as-ever crowd of process-trusting Sixers fans went into a roar. Maybe it wasn’t an Allen Iverson level blast of adoration. But for a preseason game, it would generate a particularly sustained rattle.
Finally, fans of the Sixers and
Philadelphia sports and pro basketball would be seeing what they’d told would be special. And in the context of the moment, it was.
Though the Sixers would be belted by the Memphis Grizzlies, 11089, and while nothing has ever happened in pro-sports exhibition game that should be taken beyond the layers of entertainment and preparation, Simmons was about as advertised in 21:55 of captivating if sometimes flawed playing time.
Begin with his style, which is rare. He is a 6-10 point guard, and nothing other than a point guard. That was clear in his brief summertime appearances in 2016, and it has been clear in Brett Brown’s mind ever since. Though projected in some areas as a wing-this or a stretch-something, Simmons needed half a quarter Wednesday to puncture that discussion. He is a player who needs the ball, and who can handle it for 94 feet. He is a pass-first, shoot-seldom offensive value. He entertains. And that’s what he did Wednesday, contributing two field goals and four assists to the Sixers’ first 14 points.
“His breakaway speed,” Brown said afterward, providing a checklist of Simmons’ values. “His ability to get to the rim. The pace at which he plays, I love. His ability to see things, find corners. When defensive players just nudge a moment, he can find stuff well.”
Within nine seconds Wednesday, there was Simmons scoring on a layup on a pass from Markelle Fultz. A few moments later, there he was ducking into the lane and kicking to J.J. Redick, who deposited a looping threepointer. Before his first shift was over, Simmons was showing the ability to rebound at the defensive end, to push the ball and to feed Richaun Holmes for an alley-oop score.
Defensively? Well, he mostly stood around and waited to rebound. But it was an exhibition game, not a postseason Game 7. For that, he was giving the customers what they’d been waiting too long to see. He shot only 2-for-8 and was reluctant to shoot from anywhere not painted. But he had nine assists, including seven in the first half, and seven defensive rebounds, making just one turnover and blocking a shot.
“I had no legs,” Simmons said. “I could barely breathe. I think that was just the adrenaline. After the first few minutes, I got comfortable and took it all in, then settled and played my game.”
The plan, as has been building for more than five years, is for all of those skills Simmons showed Wednesday to help win enough games to rate the Sixers among the NBA’s Beautiful People. That will require assistance from Joel Embiid, who is not likely to appear in the preseason as he continues to play tennis and recover from a knee injury. It will require the basketball excellence of Dario Saric, who returned from a summer of international competition fatigued. It will require Fultz, the No. 1 overall pick in the last draft, to emerge as a consistent All-Star, and he was far from that Wednesday.
But as for Simmons himself, the skills he flashed Wednesday will be of deep value as the process continues.
“We are going to continue working with Ben on being able to finish at a high rate,” Brown said. “But I look at Ben Simmons and I look at Markelle and I am reminded of that year he spent with us. It helps, the familiarity of the NBA, the familiarity of the program.”
The Grizzlies played hard by preseason standards. But the exhibition was not gameplanned at a regularseason level, allowing everyone more freedom of movement. In that basketball environment, Simmons should frolic. That’s how smooth he is with the ball. That’s how willing he is to distribute. That’s how valuable he will be as a defensive rebounder. At some point, he will need to be a more aggressive outside shooter. But one exhibition game is too few to make that a point of crisis.
“I think the tempo was good,” Simmons said. “I just have to get my wind back and be game ready.”
Though just a preseason game, the announced crowd of 18,102 couldn’t make it through four quarters without booing as the Sixers continued to take poor second-half shots and allow easy ones. That’s the new reality. Their grumbling said so. But so, too, did that roar during the introductions.
To contact Jack McCaffery, email him at jmccaffery@21stcenturymedia.com; follow him on Twitter @ JackMcCaffery