Doc Rivers wants Ben Simmons posting up more in the Sixers offense
Before Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons suffered a left calf strain in Wednesday’s win over the Charlotte Hornets that caused him to miss Thursday’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, the team was working in a new spot on the floor for him on offense.
There were a few possessions in the opening quarter against Charlotte where the Sixers had him post up on the block and it was running smoothly. He was able to overpower the Hornets down low and he was then able to set up his teammates with his elite passing out of that spot in the post.
“We’re adding it in for sure,” said coach Doc Rivers. “We came out of a lot of timeouts doing it. He’s such a great passer and they were switching, we knew that before the game, we talked about it before the game that they were going to switch. I think the first play of the game they switched.”
In that game against Charlotte, Simmons was able to pick apart their defense and he was able to find his open guys. There is a lot to like about having him down in that spot. He can either score over a smaller defender or if a team doubles, he will move the ball and find an open shooter.
That is something they missed on Thursday.
“You have to pick your poison,” Rivers added. “If you’re doubling Ben, you’re asking for trouble with his passing ability. What he’s doing now is scoring down there, so it’s a great benefit for us.”
Another obvious area where they missed Simmons was on the defensive end. They missed his ability to make his teammates better and they missed his ability on the other end to take on the challenge of Carmelo Anthony or Gary Trent Jr.
“He spearheads our defense,” Rivers added. “The bottom line though, we still have to be a decent defensive team when Ben’s not on the floor. We were a bad defensive team tonight, but I thought we were worse offensively. I thought our offense contributed to a lot of our bad defense as well.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
