Ben Simmons is not going to score 30 points per game, so get that idea out of your head. It's not that he can't do it — he did it three times last season, including a 34-point, 12-rebound, 12-assist gem against the Nets — but considering he has hovered between 15.8 points and 16.9 points per game over the past three seasons, it's an unrealistic expectation. And he can't shoot. And the team depends on him for facilitation of the offense. And Joel Embiid should be the primary scoring option. And he is only a ~60 percent free throw shooter. And so on.
So it's not that he should score 30 points per game, according to Gilbert Arenas. But he should be in that mindset if the Sixers want to open up the offense, as the 11-year NBA veteran explained on "No Chill with Gilbert Arenas."
"If I'm Philly, I'm gonna be pushing Be to at least try to average 30 this year," Arenas said. "And I need him to go into that mindset of averaging 30 because, if he's trying to average 30, that means he's aggressive. When he's aggressive, his playmaking is a lot better. And then it takes a lot of pressure off Embiid to be great every game."
Arenas explains that he thinks Embiid will be great regardless of the game script, but when he tries to do too much for his own sake, it makes things for the rest of the team a little worse off. However, dominance on the offensive end from Simmons doesn't correlate with Embiid having a reduced role in performance, because what Simmons' drives will do is open up the lane for the three other members of the five-man rotation: the shooters.
And as we all know, shooting is the key factor of this 76ers team that was nowhere to be found last season and is a huge determinant of their success in 2020-21. Tobias Harris is looking for a career resurgence under former coach Doc Rivers, especially from beyond the arc, and new acquisitions Seth Curry and Danny Green shoot better than they do anything else on the more glorious half of the court.
By having the mentality of scoring 30 per game, Simmons would, due to the lack of a jumper, need to drive in order to score in the way that best suits his style. And when Simmons drives, as Arenas explained, defenders on the outside need to be pulled in.
"If [defenders have to] close the lane up, you have those guys that are gonna spot up and shoot," Arenas said. "With those guys on the floor, everything is wide open so now you can use your athletic, 6-11 frame to just Greek Freak it. And with your vision, with your IQ, everyone else gets those easy open shots."
In turn, if Simmons starts dishing to teammates for wide open threes thanks to the defense coming to the lane for help — and if those three-point attempts go in, obviously — the defense is in a sticky situation. Then they have to stick to their assigned man on the outside, leaving the lane open for Simmons and allowing him to reach that 30-point goal with his signature flashy dunks.
It's a perfect formula which is obviously easier said than done, but it goes to show why the Sixers were so honed in on adding outside shooting this offseason, and why so many analysts are high on the Sixers this year despite a disappointing 2019-20 campaign.
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