What makes Ben Simmons ‘invaluable’ to the Philadelphia 76ers

At first glance, it looks like Ben Simmons is a year down.

The two-time All-Star averages a career-high 13.5 points on a 54.5 percent shooting. His rebounds (8.3) and assists (8.0) per game are right in line with his career average, and he gives a slightly higher three-point lead than ever, but he’s providing clear backing to Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris both of the Philadelphia 76ers offensive pack order.

That doesn’t make it as valuable to Sixers ’title hopes, though. As head coach Doc Rivers has reaffirmed time and time again in the past few days, Simmons ’value to the team goes far beyond the basic box score numbers.

“He’s playing well,” Rivers said after the Sixers defeated the Los Angeles Lakers defensive champion on Jan. 27. “It’s funny – on the nights with his low scores, you watching the film of the game and it flies all over the place, it does for us to help us win, the things it wins, it’s hard to put in numbers, and unfortunately , we are in this generation of numbers where everything is numbers, and sometimes many people miss it. “

The great praise of the Simmons rivers was again very special last week.

When Simmons sat out Thursday night against the injured Portland Trail Blazers, Embiid put the Sixers on his back with 31 points in the first half. However, the rest of his players came together for just 26, and the game was knotted at halftime, 57-57.

The Blazers – who were without Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic – then led the Sixers 40-19 in the third quarter on the way to a 121-105 blow.

“You have to watch the game to see how many times you miss it on each end,” Rivers said after the game referring to Simmons. “How many times did we get the ball off rebound, press someone it, went into the paint and we followed to three? We couldn’t get to the paint tonight in disgrace. That’s what Ben does. Ben’s ability makes us take threes. It is not necessarily to take them; he creates them. “

Rivers are shown in that assessment. Simmons leads the league with 93 assists on three points, seven ahead of the next closest player (Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic). He also runs seventh league nationwide in total points generated from his supporters (427).

With Simmons on the floor, the Sixers are firing 40.7 percent from depth, which would have tied the Utah Jazz for the second best mark in the league. When off the floor, they shoot 29.0 percent from a three – point range, nearly five percentage points lower than the Dallas Mavericks league ‘s worst 33.8 percent drop.

Simmons’ three-point formation is not just an anomaly of small sample size. Going back to the start of the 2017-18 season, he leads the league assisting with three points (881), just ahead of Washington Wizards point guard Russell Westbrook (870). While Simmons is well known as a hunter – he is only 1-of-6 from three points this year – his ability to push the ball into transition, pull in defenders and kick out to the open man who makes Sixers offense a hum when he’s not running through Embiid.

That put him on full display Saturday night against the Brooklyn Nets, especially with this unseen franchise to Seth Curry late in the second quarter.

Simmons also helped break the opening game in the third quarter with his work in transition. After grabbing a rebound off Jeff Green’s missed three-pointer, he ran down the floor, drove into the paint and kicked out Danny Danny, who was wide open, who a three-point drive to push the Sixers ’lead to five.

Simmons ’value isn’t limited to his three-point creation, however. It is just as essential on defense.

After leading the league with 2.1 steals per game last season, Simmons is in a four-way tie for sixth in that division this year (1.8). He is also tied for the lead of the league in discounts per game (4.0) with Miami Heat swingmaker Jimmy Butler and Toronto Raptors guarding Fred VanVleet, and is tied with Butler for the lead in loose balls obtained on back (1.6) among regular rotation players.

With Simmons sidelined against the Blazers, Gary Trent Jr., Carmelo Anthony and Rodney Hood came together to score 62 points while shooting 9-of-15 from deep. Web guard James Harden got off to a very hot start on Saturday, picking up 13 points on a 5-of-13 shooting, seven assists and five rebounds in the first half when Rivers Simmons chose to hold off.

Halfway through the third quarter, Simmons turned to Harden for the first time of all game, and Brooklyn’s offense quickly prevailed.

After Harden tied the game at 79-79 on a free technical throw with 5:15 left in the third quarter, the Sixers returned from a 20-4 run that led to Simmons stealing and slamming.

“You try to use anyone else as much as you can, which will benefit Ben, especially as far as athletics is concerned,” Rivers said after the game about why he didn’t put Simmons on. Harden faster. “And I thought once we made the turn, that was one of the big turning points, for sure. I didn’t want him to start out on it. Harden just pulls too many fowls, creating too much stuff. Our goal was to try and get to the second half, we did that, and it worked out really well. “

Simmons will be an essential tool for the Sixers once the playoffs turn around, as they seem to have to go through Harden, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and the Nets; Giannis Antetkounmpo, Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and the Milwaukee Bucks; and Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics to get through the Eastern Conference only. It will be necessary to have someone who can make life difficult for an elite who is against guards and shields.

The Sixers reportedly considered sending Simmons to the Houston Rockets as Harden ‘s main trading heart, as Harden would contribute to the creation of elite individual shots that they do not currently have. But as the Sixers would gain from Harden’s scoring ability, they would have lost the glue that holds them together at each end of the floor.

“I think you have to coach [Simmons] and being around to see his worth, but he is invaluable to a basketball team with what he does, “Rivers said Saturday.” Not only with his defense and passing, but just so many little things he does that are just incredible. . “

Unless otherwise stated, all stats will go through NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the glass no Basketball reference. All salary information through Spotrac.