The Philadelphia 76ers ‘process’ has come to a screeching stop. The e-brake has been pulled, the eject button has been pressed, and a team that was potentially fighting for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference pulled all their best pieces off the table. Ben Simmons season was officially declared to be over before it even started, Joel Embiid’s rookie campaign ended only 31 games into his debut and the Sixers traded Nerlens Noel essentially for Justin Anderson and two second round picks.
‘The Process’ has stopped, for now, but when it restarts this summer, Philly faces some interesting scenarios. The primary question being, who the hell is the starting point guard? Has T.J. McConnell done enough to lock up the job or will Jerryd Bayless be the starter given his veteran pedigree? According to 76ers head coach Brett Brown, neither of them will get the first shot. Ben Simmons will be given the keys to the Sixers kingdom right away.
Following from Keith Pompey of Philly.com.
“I feel that the team has to try that immediately,” coach Brett Brown said. “In my eyes, we are going to try that. I feel that it’s something that I doubt you say, ‘That didn’t work,’ and you just move on quickly.
“There has to be a body of work that you judge him on.”
Since his high school days, Ben Simmons was viewed as a dynamic playmaker. He’s not a sensational shooter, but his length, court vision, basketball IQ and passing ability is fantastic. At LSU Simmons was the primary ball-handler, partly due to LSU’s lack of talent on the roster, but he did excel in his role. He averaged 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 2.0 steals in his lone season with the Tigers. The 6’10” Simmons just needs the proper pieces around him to succeed, and he just might live up to the LeBron James comparison.
With a healthy Simmons and Embiid paired whoever they get in the draft playing alongside them, it might just be the best young roster in the NBA. The Ben Simmons point guard NBA experiment is a long-time coming, but it could be a welcome test.
