Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons is not a guy who will take a game over on offense with his scoring. He is a guy who will set up his teammates for their own success and he will do the little things to get them some open looks while also playing some elite defense.
Recently, the star out of LSU has taken on a different role within the offense. Instead of looking solely to set up his teammates when he goes downhill and into the paint, he is thinking score. He is looking to get his own and it’s shown in his stats as he is averaging 19.3 points while shooting 61.1% from the floor on 12.3 attempts per game.
Simmons recently credited assistant coach Sam Cassell for helping him with his free throws and Doc Rivers adds to Simmons’ assessment of Cassell.
“I think Sam’s been amazing,” said Rivers. “He’s done it everywhere he’s gone. He has a great ability to communicate. He’s extremely direct and I think he’s one of those guys, there’s guys around the league that have a way of telling you the truth, and not offending you. I think Sam does a great job of that.”
One area on offense that has been noticeable with Simmons has been the team posting him up more often. While Joel Embiid is the one who owns the paint and the post-up spots for Philadelphia, there is a way to post Simmons up as well. Rivers has been wanting this from Simmons and Cassell has helped him with that as well.
“He really works on his post game, because that’s an area where we think by the end of the year, even now Ben’s great, but we want him by the end of the year to be almost unstoppable down there,” Rivers added. “We work on it every day.”
The Sixers have two home games left before the All-Star break starting Monday against the Indiana Pacers.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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