The Original Sin, or Why We Should Keep Ben By princesparkhoops on Jul 6, 2021, 10:29pm EDT 27
Prelude
Ben Simmons is perhaps the most polarizing player in the NBA. His 2016 summer league debut rightly drew comparisons with Magic Johnson and Lebron James – incredible playmaking and size, but with a below average elbow jump shot and a reluctance to shoot 3s.
After breaking his foot and redshirting, he had an incredible rookie season in 2017/18 playing with Joel and 3 shooters. When Joel went down, he led a 16 game winning streak against weak opponents as a point guard with 5-out spacing and great shooters. He led a strong series against a Heat team with Joel returning from injury, only to struggle against the Celtics building a wall with two bigs – Horford and Baynes. Roster flaws showed in the series, with RoCo unable to attack closeouts against the strong rotations of the Celtics big wings; Dario being exploited at the 4 with his lack of athleticism; JJ and Bel