The Philadelphia 76ers made noise last week when they shifted Ben Simmons from his usual point guard spot to the power forward position.
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Brett Brown discusses Ben Simmons’ transition to the power forward position.
Shake Milton will be starting at that spot for the forseeable future.
At 6’8 Ben Simmons is a triple double threat; almost Magic Johnson or LeBron James-like.
Crazy enough, James and Simmons are built similarly and some may argue that at times during points in his first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers and even during his tenure with the Miami Heat, James moved off the ball as a primary ball handler and shifted to small forward and power forward duties.
On today’s zoom call, I asked Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown if he seems similarities in James’ shift to Simmons’ shift, he was honest in his assessment. Brown tells me that Simmons has an ability to ‘see over things’ and he loves Simmons’ ‘ability to impact the game from a scoring perspective.’
“You can connect your own dots” Brett Brown told me.
“His ability to impact the game from a scoring perspective, finding Ben Simmons at an elbow, you can’t sag and elbow”
“He’s a one dribble dunk away from that floor spot” Brown speaking about Ben Simmons working in a screen and roll.
“It opens up a variety of ways he can score.”
“He’s a two time all star, a max player and he’s 23.”
Appearing on today’s episode of the Scoop B Radio Podcast, Keith Pompey who covers the Sixers for the Philadelphia Inquirer weighed in on Simmons’ shift to the pwer forward. “There were a couple of games this season where they had him playing like, center and they had him playing like, power forward,” he tells Scoop B Radio.
“And I’m telling you, I was blown away so much at one time I saw his dad at the airport and I had to like, basically say to him, “Look. I apologize if I said some things that were hateful in the past or whatever I wrote. I’ve seen a different Ben when I see him at the four and at the five.” I mean, the difference is Scoop, is one of those things where if you have a traditional big on him, Ben is too fast for the guy to cover, right? If you got a small guy on him, it’s one of those things where Ben is too big and too strong. And no one talks about the three-point shot when he’s down there. Like, you don’t have to. It’s just that he does a lot of different things. So when you see that, that’s why everybody is salivating because it’s like an instant mismatch. It’s like a cheat code. You know, now again; people are going to slow things up in the playoffs, so it’s gonna take a little bit of that away, but I’m telling you; like him playing point guard is good, but he’s really a point forward so to speak, and I’m telling you I believe that it’s going to be a much improved team with him at that spot.”
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76ers Coach Brett Brown Compares Ben Simmons & Lakers’ LeBron James [VIDEO]