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Ben SimmonsThere is a new phenom taking over college basketball, his name is Ben Simmons and he will soon be a top 3 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. But first, the 6’10” power forward from Lousiana State University (LSU), must pass through or, more rightly so, destroy America’s minor leagues before he takes his talents to the top league in the world.And what talents he possesses! Describing him as a power forward doesn’t do justice to how he actually plays on the court, a mixture of high-end passing, close to elite rebounding, a dash of driving ability, and some solid defense. Simmons really plays like a point forward, taking the ball up court a lot for the Tigers, and doing a lot to initiate the offense and set his teammates up for scoring chances. In some ways, he looks like a bigger Boston Celtics Rajon Rondo. In short, what Simmons looks like is the best college freshman since 2006-2007 when Kevin Durant came out blowing the doors off as a freshman. They are two vastly different players that can greatly affect the game, trapped with average teammates who could eventually short circuit their freshman season before any of us want to stop watching. After watching highlights of Simmons in his first four games, I decided to sit down and watch his most recent game against North Carolina State, and while I would have liked to see some more assertiveness from the young gun, I came away thoroughly impressed with the potential next NBA superstar.
#1 Scoring
One word, rudimentary. This is where the Celtics Rondo comparison first popped into my head because sometimes it seems like Simmons is reluctant to even look for his shot. It’s one thing to not be great at scoring at the precocious age of 19, but you would like to see someone this talented look to get some points on the board.
In the NC State game, he did not take his first shot until under 3 minutes into the first half, and when he did, I could see why taking jumpers is something he is loath to do. The jump shot looks somewhat unnatural, almost like he isn’t totally comfortable with how the shot is coming off of his hands.
This was taken to another level when he went to the free-throw line, a place where you can usually tell if a person with a below average jumper has the requisite skills to get better quickly. In the NC State game, I didn’t see a guy who felt confident in getting to the line, knowing he is going to cash in on the freebies with great regularity.
Now don’t let this come off as a “This guy will never be able to knock down jump shots”, but more as “this guy is going to have to put in some serious work in order to get his jumper to where it needs to be.” But as it stands right now, he has taken zero threes and only seven two-point jumpers (all according to Luke Winn of Sports Illustrated) and it is evident when he plays the game that he doesn’t trust his jumper. Even when Winn charted his pregame three point jumpers, Simmons only hit 5/23.
Good thing for Simmons, jump shots aren’t the only way to score, and the reason he is still averaging 16 points per game, including his four points against NC State, is because he has the athleticism to overwhelm people at the college level. He has the ability to break down a defense with his dribble and put a lot of stress on the defense in the paint with his ability to rise above the defense and finish. This is the ability that can translate early to the next level, if he so chooses to look to score.
Which brings us to our last point on Simmons’s scoring. As noted earlier, he seems much more in his element when looking to set his teammates up than looking to put in points. By no means is it the end of the world that a freshman doesn’t look to take over scoring-wise at ever turn, remember it took Anthony Davis and Andrew Wiggins a while to show assertiveness with scoring and even they didn’t exhibit that fully by the end of the year.
Simmons can look to score a little more than he did. At some points he seemed more than comfortable to drift among the edges and watch others take care of the scoring duties, but when you are the projected number 1 pick in the draft, you are going to have to work on becoming more assertive.
#2 Rebounding
Simmons has a great knack for finding boards, as evidenced by the 14.4 rebounds he is averaging, highlighted by a 20 rebound game. He does a good job of working to find his position as the ball goes up, then looks to make contact and use his quick jumping ability to beat the opponent to the ball. You can see the special knack needed by all good rebounders when Simmons locates and follows the track of the ball, setting himself up in the best position to gobble up the rebound.
The other thing he shows when he going after rebounds is the motor and desire to come up with the loose ball. It might seem like he just floats through the game, never having a “fire” in his eyes, but when watching him go for boards, you can see that that just isn’t the case. I feel the fire he plays when going for the rebound will begin to translate into scoring as well, where he will use his rebounding assertiveness to look more and more for his shot.
#3 Passing
And now we get to my favorite part of Ben Simmons game, the sublime passing that I have only seen two people from the forward position exhibit, LeBron James and Chris Webber (I was too young to watch Larry Bird or Rick Barry but I’m sure they would look the same).
The LeBron comparison comes from his ability to whip low chest and hip passes to shooters everywhere on the court. And when I saw every where, I mean every where. Top of the key to either wing, check. Top of the key to the baseline, check. Wing to wing, check. Corner over the top of the defense to the other corner, check. This guy can literally pass anywhere and every where on the court and do it with top notch skill. Have you ever seen a forward average over 6 dimes a game in college? I certainly haven’t.
Where the Webber comparisons come from is watching a 6’10” guy grab a rebound and not need a guard to pass it to because he can take the ball up the court and run the break just as good as the guards. This opens up the LSU offense, allowing their plethora of athletes to get out and do what they do best, run and score.
Then you get into the half court, and watch a guy, much like Webber, operate from the high post and have the ability to hit cutters and shooters while scanning from a vantage point few have. Combine this with his ability to put the ball on the deck and get to the cup, much how he tied the game late against North Carolina State, and you see how much his passing opens up the game for everyone who shares the court with him.
I saw a highlight package of Simmons the other day that featured all dunks and layups and it made me sad because his passing is what truly makes him special. This is what people need to see more of because when he gets to the NBA next year, this is the first skill that will pop off the screen. Oh, and on top of being his team’s lead ball handler, he only has six turnovers compared to 31 assists on the season.
Let that 5:1 assists to turnover ratio sink in for a second because that is just uncommon. I cannot stress just how good this kid is at setting up teammates, he had four assists missed because his teammates just couldn’t finish off the wide open shots.
#4 Defense
Just like almost any young player, Simmons has some work to do on this end. He isn’t the thickest player, and so he struggles sometimes to keep his position when competing with thicker bodies down low who have a lower center of gravity.
You could see it in the NC State game, as several times he got moved around down low, allowing the NC State player to get in better rebounding position or better postion for a shot. There were other times where he gets lazy in his defensive stance, which, in turn, doesn’t allow him to react as quickly as one would like to drives or change in direction by an offensive player. Granted, this is something players tend to do when they are needed heavily on offense, but it is something that he can improve on.
Another thing that Simmons needs to start curtailing in his fouling. He is averaging three fouls per game right now, including a crucial foul out in the game aginst NC State. Many of the foul problems seem to stem from the “laziness” in his defensive stance and his propensity to reach like any young kid.
For example, in the NC State game, he got his fifth foul by a reckless reach in in the paint. Now, the opponent was already losing the ball and Simmons didn’t even hit the guy, but you have to know that whenever you swipe down in the paint, you are at a high risk to get called for a foul. This becomes especially important when you are the best player on court for your team and you are in the midst of a crucial overtime battle.
With this said, he is not a bad defender by any stretch of the word. He seems to understand defensive schemes and get himself into position more often than not as a backline defender. He has good feet and seems much more comfortable when being able to slide with a defender on the perimeter than banging in the post, something that can serve him well in the NBA as it trends towards a smaller, more perimeter oriented game. He also has good off ball instincts, checking passing lanes constantly and doing a good job of poking a hand or arm in at the opportune time, as evidenced by his 11 steals in five games so far.
#5 Overall
In conclusion, Ben Simmons is going to be a beast this year in college and is setting up nicely to be a beast when he gets to the league that matters. As Chad Ford, ESPN’s resident draft expert, has reported, general managers around the NBA are saying that Simmons is the number 1 player on the board and there isn’t really a close number 2.
It is not often a kid comes along into college and has the ability and opportunity to dominate the minute the first game tips off. The plethora of amazing freshman Kentucky has had in the last six years (three number 1 overall picks) have had to share responsibilities with other talented teammates, Harrison Barnes and Andrew Wiggins had to deal with other talented teammates and weren’t quite good enough to take over, and many other just faced unrealistic expectations. Even Duke’s recent run of freshmen, Jabari Parker and Jahlil Okafor, were really good but not quite this good.
If you remember watching Kevin Durant's freshman season, you’ll know what I mean when I say it is quite the experience to watch a freshman bring the pain to every team he faces, night in and night out.
And while KD did his damage through ungodly scoring and rebounding ability, Simmons is going to do it his own way, by touching every part of the game and setting his teammates up for more success than they ever could have dreamed of. So before the season is over, check out Simmons one time or 10, and familiarize yourself with his game before the rest of the world catches on.
