The Philadelphia 76ers figure to look much different in the 2020-21 season than they did in the previous season. While the 2019-20 version went big with Al Horford next to Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, this new version wants to get the ball moving.
New coach Doc Rivers is excited to use the talents that he has on his roster and that means letting Simmons off the leash and letting him run wild with a quicker, faster team.
“Just being a terror playing going downhill, making guys guard you being aggressive, being a facilitator,” said Rivers on Monday. “In transition, we want to open the floor and get the ball to Ben. Tell him to go make something happen. He had a good practice yesterday, he had an ultra charged practice today.”
Being a facilitator means Simmons goes back to having the ball in his hands. He was the team’s point guard prior to their time in the bubble before former coach Brett Brown moved him over to the power forward spot to get him closer to the rim.
Rivers will have him back to being the team’s facilitator and having him make plays.
“He’s our facilitator for sure,” the coach added. “I haven’t have a true point guard since a Chris Paul or a (Rajon) Rondo. I really don’t think I called anybody a point guard for the entire season last year, but Ben is clearly our facilitator, and Ben is special, man. When he gets the ball in the open floor, there are very few like him and we want to get the ball in the open floor to let him be special.”
With Simmons back to having the ball in his hands, the team does want to get out and run, spread the floor with shooters such as Seth Curry and Danny Green, and let the dynamic star play his game. The game then comes easy and natural for Simmons from there.
“The majority of the time, if I get a board or get an outlet, I’m gonna push the ball,” Simmons explained. “So far, during this training camp, I’ve made a number of assists from guys just run the floor, and that’s the first three seconds of the shot clock. Once you start getting that, guys are wanting to run down the floor. People know my game. They know I’m not scared to give the ball to the open guy, and make the right play so I’m going to do that most of the time.”
It does help that the team has decided to surround Simmons with shooters rather than more big men to clog the lane. It will give him much more room to operate on offense.
“The spacing is huge,” said the All-Star. “It also comes down to us, knowing where to be and in the right spot and following our guidelines. If somebody’s in a certain position, and we know that the other man needs to cut. That’s just going to make it easier and we’re going to read and play off each other, and just continue to make the right plays.”
Not only playing faster with the ball in his hands, but Rivers is also looking to make Simmons effective off the ball.
“When Ben has the ball, he’s very effective in open space, I think we all know that right?” said Rivers. “When Ben doesn’t have to ball, we have to make someone guard them every single time. What that means is cuts, his flashes, his setting picks, he was so active doing that today. It was amazing. Today, Joel had four or five post-ups where Ben got a dunk or someone got a three, because we have to work against traps with Joel every day. Ben’s going to have a fun year this year.” [lawrence-related id=39952,39934,39929]