Brown wants to see Simmons be an elite defender
PHILADELPHIA » While Ben Simmons is a threat to rain triple-doubles on the NBA almost nightly, evoking comparisons to Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson, it’s his work on the defensive end that impresses his coach.
Simmons entered a game against Golden State Saturday night tied for second in the league with 27 steals. He added another one early in the game against the defending champion Warriors, who would post a remarkable third-quarter comeback and a 124116 conquest at Wells Fargo Center.
Nevertheless, Brett Brown has coached some special defensive players. In a 14-game sample size Brown said before the game that he sees those same qualities in Simmons.
“With Ben, he’s got the ability to be an elite defensive player,” Brown said. “I think he’s got a better chance to stand out on that side of the ball than he does the other side. He’s really surprised me with what he’s done offensively. I’m on him all the time. Defensively he’s responded.”
Simmons also looks like he could lead the league in assists. He had five in the first five minutes as the Sixers — spreading the floor and draining three-pointers — constructed an early 19-point lead.
Simmons kept pouring it on in the second frame. His defense didn’t quite catch up with the rest of his game, difficult as the challenge is against the frenetic Warriors, who go this way and that in the blink of an eye.
Simmons nodded his head when Brown’s “elite defender” remarks reached him in front of his locker.
“He’s right,” Simmons said. “I’ve just got to do it. It comes down to me putting in the effort every time I come down on defense. I’m learning every day. It’s a never-ending process.”
Simmons is cool with the steals numbers. And he’s flattered to be mentioned in the same breath with Hall of Fame guard Oscar Robertson, who averaged a triple-double over a season.
“It’s amazing to be compared with somebody like that,” Simmons said. “It’s amazing. I have a long way to go to stay there. It takes time.”
There
*** are contract extensions, and then there is the reworked deal the Sixers gave Robert Covington.
Covington’s clutch threepoint shooting and work ethic made the four-year, $62 million deal the Sixers put in front of him a nobrainer.
“I think Robert is the poster child for everything we try to do,” Brown said. “Find people that really haven’t been given a chance and give them a chance and grow them and make them ours. You’re not going to find a better example of somebody that we’ve had in the program where somebody has just continued to work, seized the opportunity and got rewarded.”
Covington did his Klay Thompson imitation in the first half with five straight three-pointers to lead the Sixers to a 74-52 lead by the intermission.
Entering the evening Covington averaged 16.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals in 31.1 minutes. He’d also made a team-best 50 treys.
“Rob’s growth as a player on both ends of the floor makes him one of the most versatile and effective wings in the league, while his contributions of character and professionalism feature prominently in our evolving organizational culture,” Sixers president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo said. “This extension is both well-deserved, and a really great story.”