Although head coach Brett Brown indicated earlier this week that Ben Simmons‘ recovery is progressing at a deliberately slow and careful pace, the Sixers still expect to get their No. 1 pick on the court at some point this season.
“Our plan is to still see him on the court, playing games,” Brown told ESPN’s Jeff Goodman on Wednesday. “We just don’t know when. … I fully expect him to play this season. He thinks that, and he’s motivated to play.”
Of course, as Goodman notes, even though Simmons and Brown are on board with the 20-year-old making his NBA debut this season, that decision will ultimately be made by Sixers management. Despite some promising stretches this season, the Sixers aren’t currently close to a playoff spot, with a 21-35 record placing them 13th in the East. As such, it makes sense for the franchise to be careful with Simmons and Joel Embiid in the season’s final two months.
Let’s round up a few more Sixers notes…
- Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link) has been told that the Sixers remain active in trade talks on “almost anyone not named Embiid or Simmons.”
- Sixers general manager Bryan Colangelo hasn’t looked all that good lately, having been evasive about the nature of Embiid’s knee injury and then not completing a Jahlil Okafor deal as the team held him out of the lineup for two games due to swirling trade rumors. In separate pieces, John Smallwood of The Philadelphia Daily News and John Gonzalez of The Ringer examine Colangelo’s recent performance.
- January was the Sixers’ best month in three years, but February has been dominated by off-court headlines so far, and Philadelphia fans deserve better, writes Mike Kern of The Philadelphia Daily News.
Simmons will be a superstar, I see him averaging 20-23 ppg with 10-12 rpg and 8-10 apg in his prime. His rebound and assist numbers will be insane, he’s 6-10 and has Lebron and Magic vision coming down court and is built like a tank already. Sixers need to go for Malik Monk in this draft and slot him at the 2, and try and bring back Holiday to Philly.
Holiday-Monk-Covington-Simmons-Embiid
So you think he’s going to be Oscar Robertson. Nice.
Idk about Oscar but Simmons is going to be fun to watch
I expect at least Lamar Odom’s age 24 – 27 seasons. 14-17 points, 9-10 rebounds 4-5 assists.
link to basketball-reference.com
How’s he going to average 20 points a game when he can only shoot 3 footers?
LeBron averaged 20 shooting 29% from 3 his first season. Just saying.
Simmons has a jumpshot he just had no need to shoot in college because he was bigger then anyone who basically guarded him, he will be everything Lamar Odom was projected to be and more.
That first part is not even close to being true. Just look up “Ben Simmons Jumpshot” and there are plenty of articles citing that it’s a huge flaw in his game. In fact, his shooting is such a weakness thet people think he’s shooting with the wrong hand. Teams purposely gave him space to shoot and he still struggled. The logic that “he’s bigger than everyone else” and didn’t have to shoot applies to HS, not college. I don’t disagree that he won’t be a Lamar Odom, or even better, but Simmons’ jumpshot needs a whole lot of work.
I don’t want them to pay Jrue big money to come back here. Need a PG that isn’t going to break down and one that has been on a legit winning team before (50+ Playoff Starts). If I’m ranking the FA’s that I’d pursue over Jrue – UFA only – Teague and Hill.
It’s not a huge issue ATM, but they need to figure out what they are going to do with Bayless. I’d like to see him on the court with this group. And I’d like to see him at the SG slot along side TJ since, whomever they draft/sign will be the primary PG.
I would love to see them clear out some roster spots and trade… Noel, Ilyasova, Stauskas, Rodriguez. None fit into the Sixer’s long-term plan. Noel isn’t worth the money to them as a back-up and he isn’t a stretch 4. Holmes fills his role at 1M a year. Illyasova will probably command another deal similar to his 5/40M, less years, but probably 10-15M per. Sixers will have to re-up Embiid, and have enough space to potentially sign a big time FA 30 yrs or younger PG13, Westbrook, Klay, Wall.
I want to see more of TLC, Saric and showcase Okafor for the rest of the season as your primary offensive option for the upcoming draft.
Those FAs are 2019 btw. And this is all contingent upon Embiid and Simmons being on the court and everything we expect them to be. PG13 and Klay would fit the best with those two. Realistically it’s a 10-15% chance of happening.
Less than that. Neither of those guys r coming. Would love it, but they aren’t gonna do it.
Its very wishful thinking, but if Embiid and Simmons are both all-star players, there’s at least a possibility. If they aren’t, it’s 0%.
Also, why doesn’t anyone see the value in retaining ilyasova? The dude can ball!
Age and contract, more than anything. He has more value as a trade piece this year than a long term fit.
Saric is the future piece there, is 7 years younger, and is under a cheaper contract until 2019-2020.
Excatamundo! He’s going to be 30. How much do you want to commit to him? He’s going to possibly double his salary.
Certainly wishful thinking on Simmons, considering we’ve yet to see him actually play in a regular season game and just 1 year of college.
Can’t shoot, never come close to these ppg numbers
The NBA forced the Colangelos on the 76ers and us fans. And now we’re in a holding pattern cause of it
They could have avoided some headaches by trading Noel on draft day. Okafor is under contract for 3 more years at that point, no rush to get rid of him. So far they’ve fumbled:
1. Noel trade.
2. Okafor trade.
3. Simmons injury & updates.
4. Embiid injury.
I have little faith they won’t mess up trading Ilyasova and Rodriguez. I’d hate to hear what they have to say about Bayless. They probably amputated his hands, but are hopeful he can return this season.
Just released news that Simmons’ foot is not fully healed when he had a MRI Jan 23… sixers lie again… I don’t expect him back until next season… he gets that 2 million dollar bonus from Nike if he wins ROY so he and his agent are prolly happy about this
I think it’s more than 2M. If he gets ROY he’d also get All-Rookie Team. Two-fer.
If it wasn’t healed a month ago it doesn’t mean it can’t be healed now. Why would they play him when we’re not contending anyway, especially after Embiid reimbursed his foot by coming back too fast.
Yea that’s true but they shut him down a month ago… so he would have to get back to activity and I think he’s a month away
Goes for a MRI Monday in NYC so that will show