Brown no longer forward thinking with Simmons

PHILADELPHIA » As recently as the middle of March, not a throw-away idea from the distant past, Brett Brown had a vision for Ben Simmons. That vision included some time as a forward.

“I think it’s going to be a ‘one’ or a ‘four,’” Brown said, before a regular-season game in New York. “That’s where I see him. He’s 6-foot10. You could see where there could be other advantages with ‘four’ men, a slower four man trying to guard him.” That’s what he said. But is that what he meant? By Saturday, two days after Simmons settled for one point in an Eastern Conference semifinal playoff loss in Boston, Brown was offered a reminder of that plan. With it, there was the question: Might playing Simmons for a few shifts at power forward be helpful, given the Sixers’ early disadvantage in the series?

“You guys ran with that,” Brown said, in a friendly tone. “And fair enough, a little bit. My point may be taken a little bit too literally. Maybe I didn’t do a great job of explaining. He’s a basketball ‘player.’ We see his greatest skill in the way he can impact the game now is to get him the ball. That doesn’t really change in my mind. That’s kind of who he is.

“And I feel like having said that, if your question is, ‘Can we give T.J. McConnell the ball and make Ben the four?’ I don’t think so. I think you’re reaching a little bit. I think you are reaching a lot of bit. I don’t see that happening tonight.”

Though Simmons remained at the point in the Sixers’ 101-98 overtime loss Saturday, he was more of a presence inside, where his assortment of fundamentally sound around-the-basket moves and ability to finish with both hands resulted in 16 points.

Even though he will occasionally defend a big man, as he did at times Saturday, Simmons has aggressively and repeatedly said he wants to be a point guard, and only a point guard.

“I just have to be more aggressive,” he said before the game. “I’ve got to run the team. My goal is not to go out and score 30 every game. My goal is to go out and facilitate and help us get the best shots we can.”

*** Through the first two games of a series defined by physical play, one of the Sixers’ most physical players played a total of five minutes. And Justin Anderson did not play in Game 2 at all.

“It’s a physical game,” Anderson said before Game 3. “This is the playoffs. It’s not the regular season. Adjustments will be made. And every man from the top to the bottom needs to stay ready. A great testament to that is T.J. McConnell the last game, getting his number called and going out there and producing and playing hard for whatever time that you get.”

*** Sixers assistant coach Lloyd Pierce is a candidate to be the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks.

“It’s a no-brainer,” Brown said. “If a team came in and said, ‘We want to rebuild,’ I can’t think of a more appropriate program that has gone from where we were to where we are than us. He has a story to tell. Look at him. He’s a young coach. He’s in great shape. He’s connected to the league. He’s defensively oriented. It’s a no-brainer in my eyes. And I feel thrilled to be able to help him. And I don’t think it’s a far-reaching push. All you have to do is pay attention.”

Pierce has had coaching experience with Memphis, Golden State and Cleveland.