Simmons’ strengths enough for Brown
With a chance to finish a perfect road trip with a message victory in Toronto Wednesday, the Sixers found themselves in a fourth quarter of a tight game. In that quarter, Ben Simmons would score two points. Two of ‘em. One, two. A deuce.
So it’s not going to change, is it? It’s not going to change even with Joel Embiid out and the Sixers desperate for more. If it were going to change, Simmons would not have had repeated recent scoreless fourth quarters, then the two-point barrage in Canada.
Instead, the same straits the Sixers have faced for more than a year, are not going to go away. When the fourth quarter arrives, Ben Simmons will penetrate and dish. Or he will be presented with an opportunity for an outside shot and instead barrel into a wall of defenders. Or he will drive, aware that defenses are likely to foul, better to have him beat them with his below-average foul-shooting than his legendary ability to finish around the rim.
Yet, Simmons does other things late in games, too. He rebounds. Very well. He provides valuable length at the defensive
end. He makes steals. He delivers long and accurate and meaningful entry passes. He plays four positions, center included. And when he does revert to his drive-and-kick default position, he consistently finds the right teammate, there for a clean look.
So that’s not going to change either. Ben Simmons is different and he will remain different. With that, Brett Brown and the Sixers have one choice: Celebrate what he is, not dwell on what he should be.
“Let’s start with a place that nobody else sees, but I do: A locker room,” Brown said. “He is an emerging voice in his own way. It’s clear to me, without direction, just sort of through his judgment, his instinct, that without Joel, he’s going to find ways to contribute more. And from a leadership perspective, you can hear him, you can feel him and what he is trying to do to help better lead the team.”
Brown was saying that the other day in Brooklyn, just before Simmons would go for 34, 12 and 12 in a 117-111 victory. “Ridiculously dominating,” is how Brown described the effort. And it was. For that, the Sixers appear to have made their choice. They will take what Simmons can provide, dunks and new leadership included, and will hope the other stuff goes away. It even reached the point of self-effacing comedy recently when Brown was reminded that he publicly urged Simmons to take one 3-pointer per game, just one, and that he hasn’t attempted one since.
“And this is true,” the coach said, breaking into a grin. “Evidently I have failed, and it’s something that we’re all mindful of. And this is one of these things that will never go away. But I guess I helped fuel it. I own it and I’ve got to help him find this. And most importantly he has to find himself”
The Sixers thought it would go away two years ago, when they were smothered by the Celtics in the playoffs, Simmons consistently being met with a walled-off defense. It didn’t. Instead, it continued the next year, to the point where Jimmy Butler was so exasperated that he first took the ball and commandeered the point guard position, then openly scolded Simmons, telling him to shoot.
More recently, Brown has made a more widespread plea, both in the locker and media rooms, for the Sixers to attempt more three pointers. The thought was that perhaps Simmons would feel as if he was not being targeted for such instruction and could quietly be swept up in a new three-point mania. But no. In fact, the Sixers fired a stunning 46 three-pointers in Toronto, not one from Simmons.
So … they deal. And they deal pretty well. They will roll a 20-2 Wells Fargo Center record into a game Saturday night against the Lakers, and they are on a pace to win 52 games. They have not been outclassed without Embiid, and in most possessions, Simmons has been productive. But, can any team win consistently in the spring if the point guard won’t score after Minute 36?
“The Ben Simmons Judgment World is bizarre to me,” Brown said. “Often times, it is amazingly unfair and often inaccurate because it is driven out of a stat sheet. You look: ‘Did he shoot a three tonight? No, he didn’t. Did he take two shots in the fourth period or 10?’ And what I do as a coach is take it holistically. Did he defend? Did he create for others?
“For me, it’s ‘Did he play defense, did he lead the team, did he help the team get shots that it needed to get?’ And for me, it’s, ‘Yes, yes and yes.’”
The Sixers can and have won with Simmons being unselfish to the point of defiance. So they committed to him financially. If they had the courage two years ago to move him for Kawhi Leonard, they would have had a process-sealing parade last June. They didn’t. So … they have an All-Star level player adept at numerous positions, one emerging slowly as a clubhouse leader.
“He does what he does,” Brown said, “to help us win.”
If that’s not enough, it will show in the postseason.
If it is, it will show there too.
Either way, it’s not going to change.