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“I’ve played (Ben Simmons) exclusively as a ‘four-man,’” Brown said Monday afternoon. “And he’s so dynamic.”
On Tuesday morning, Brown elaborated that in this very early stage — with nothing certain about what will happen Aug. 1 against Indiana — he has played Simmons all over the floor. The key thing to focus on, though, is that it hasn’t been 100% at the point guard position, handling the ball.
“I’m a basketball player. At the end of the day, if you know me, if you put me on the floor, I’ll make anything happen,” Simmons explained.
Since entering the NBA, Simmons has played point guard, despite being an incredibly athletic 6'10" downhill player who doesn’t shoot much from the perimeter. Defenses have backed off Simmons at times because of his decision not to take outside shots, specifically three-pointers.
Some have questioned whether the games of Simmons and fellow All-Star Joel Embiid can exist together. Not to mention, 2019 free agent acquisition Al Horford — who recently said he wasn’t as physically healthy during the season as he is now — has struggled to live up to the lucrative contract he received from the 76ers during the 2019 off-season.
Maybe playing Simmons off the ball more will help in multiple facets.
“You just got to work, work with different things,” Simmons said. “You got to try different things out, see if they work, because we’re not in a stage where we can be comfortable yet. I’m still trying to figure it out myself to where what feels comfortable, what’s right for this team, how we’re gonna win. And if it’s this way, then I’m all for it.”
On Monday, Brown talked about why he decided to make Simmons the starting point guard during his rookie season.
“It’s not like Ben came in (to the NBA) and we had (Thunder All-Star) Chris Paul on the team or (Trail Blazers superstar) Damian Lillard on the team,” Brown explained. “We were young and really not that good, and so it was my decision — 'You take the ball. We're gonna make you the point guard.' It’s not like he came in (and) there was an established point guard that you had to bump out. There are zero regrets on doing that, but it’s important to understand the segue into where he was and now where he is.”
Now, the Sixers are a very good team that was underachieving at 39-26 before the coronavirus forced the NBA to suspend its season on March 11. If they can figure things out and up their game during this hopeful restart in Orlando, they can make a run in the postseason. Maybe playing Simmons at power forward more will help that.
“There’s nobody faster in the NBA, and so to always have Ben have to have the ball and dribble it up against five guys, after made baskets especially, to do that, I think, dilutes some of his potent weapons — speed.”
Embiid is happy Simmons has been getting some practice time off the ball, and is encouraged by his teammate possibly being a point-forward rather than exclusively point guard.
"I feel like this role is actually gonna be even better than being the starting point guard, because he’s so great defensively and offensively when he has a chance. He’s probably one of the fastest guys in the league. So, just get a rebound and just push it in transition, and find the shooters and then in half court play, we can use him in a lot of ways.”
Shake Milton, who was playing very well in place of an injured Simmons before the lengthy pause, was getting reps at point guard.
“He’s been amazing,” Embiid said Monday. “He’s been the starting point guard, and I think he has a huge opportunity to help us accomplish what we believe we can. And he’s been doing an amazing job and just running the team. And we gonna need him to knock down open shots, which he did before the league basically got shut down. He was on a roll, so we gonna need him to keep it going.”
Simmons is also impressed by Milton’s emergence and development.
“He plays really well. He can shoot the ball. He has a high IQ. He can get to the rim. He can finish. He’ just somebody you can play with and say something to him and he’ll put in a play.”
Brown is convinced the 23-year-old Milton, who has very little NBA experience, will be able to stay poised in a playoff basketball setting (at least from the game standpoint, because there will be no fans) if he’s thrust into that position.
“I do believe how he’s wired, from a human perspective, can help him deal with that environment, I think, in a more calm way.”
If this ends up being the regular starting five when games officially resume for the 76ers on Aug. 1, it remains to be seen what it means for Horford, who remains a pro’s pro with whatever role he’s been given this season.
“He’s a player. He just plays,” Simmons said. “That’s all of us. Once you put us out there, it’s just basketball at the end of the day. I don’t think guys are worried about too much with the positioning names or anything like that. But, at the end of the day, you got to just play.”