Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown has lofty expectations for No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons in the coming years. Among other things, he says he expects Simmons to play point guard, though he made it clear that won’t be happening this upcoming season.
“He would be all over the place,” Browns said, per Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com. “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.”
Based on further comments, it doesn’t seem like Brown envisions this being a part-time or every-once-in-a-while deal for Simmons, either. Furthermore, the coach threw out some big names to compare what he expects from the rookie.
“When I say point guard I mean point guard. 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.”
Brown did make sure to clarify what Simmons would not be, as well.
“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.”
As if there wasn’t already a heavy load of pressure on this young man’s shoulders. Essentially, what Brown envisions is an even bigger version of what Magic Johnson brought to the NBA back in 1979 when he entered the league. Johnson was 6-foot-9, 215 pounds, and he was a true point guard who could also play other positions.
Simmons enters the NBA at 6-foot-10 and 240 pounds, so it’s not too much of a stretch to see where the coach is coming from here.
Furthermore, Simmons does possess the skill set, athleticism and basketball IQ to take on the role of point guard for the 76ers in the coming years. Will it be a locked-in position for him? Likely not. But having that flexibility gives his team a huge advantage, in theory.
This will be an interesting development to follow in the coming year. Simmons could potentially be a game-changing player, not only for the Sixers, but for the rest of the NBA as well.