Former 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie may be gone, but the new regime is already making decisions that could affect the development of No. 1 pick Ben Simmons.
Head coach Brett Brown said the team plans to play the 6-foot-10, 240-pound Simmons at point guard in the future. And he was very clear: Not point forward, point guard.
“When I say point guard I mean point guard,” Brown said, via Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com. You’ve got the ball. You could call him Isiah Thomas, the old Isiah Thomas of my generation. You could call him Chris Paul. I mean point guard point guard. There are times I think that he can be a point guard.”
He continued:
“Not Draymond Green. Not LeBron. Not Lamar Odom. That’s a point forward. I walk both lines at different moments. To start him off, we’ll play him as a point forward.”
Point forward makes more sense. Simmons can develop playing his natural position, and, most importantly, he’ll be able to work on his shooting, which he has a ton of room for improvement. Having him run the point will force him to expend more energy and is asking him to do too much.
Brown did say the change wouldn’t necessarily be happening this season, though.
“He would be all over the place,” he said. “It seems quite reckless to do it, almost unfair. I hope to continue to be ambitiously creative at tapping into what he really can do, and in my heart of hearts I think he can do it.”
It seems like the 76ers are asking the 19-year-old to do a lot, and we hope he’ll be able to clamp down and work on improving his shooting and playing big in the paint.
