The Philadelphia 76ers are facing a tough situation right now. Some reports claim that Ben Simmons doesn’t want to play there anymore but there aren’t any takers for him at the price they expect.
That most likely means that they’ll have to figure things out. Simmons will need to showcase his talents to take his trade value up, or he’ll need to make amends with the team to try and run it back.
But, in reality, losing Simmons would be a massive blow for the team in terms of defense and playmaking. At least, that’s what Danny Green seems to believe:
“That’s going to be tough to say man because we don’t know what we’re going to get back for him. We may get a point guard, we may get wings. That may change a lot: I might be playing with a different type of point guard, I might be playing with different types of wings, I might be coming off the bench. I don’t know who we’re going to get,” Green explained.
“And also defensively, I probably become the primary defender. Not saying it’s an issue or a problem for me, but we have one less wing defender with him. Now it’s me and Matisse [Thybulle]. Not saying that the other guys don’t play defense, but you talk about our main defenders. That was a big part of that and a big part of our defense. … Ben, you know, was DPOY for us this year. … We thought Ben was able to guard 1 through 5 and set the tone for us. If he’s gone, that changes a lot not just offensively but defensively as well for me.”
Green is right, Simmons’ defensive impact goes beyond measure. He can guard one through five and, albeit offensively limited, he’s one of the best wing stoppers in the game.
Simmons’ future at the City of Brotherly Love seems like a big question mark right now. Hopefully, this will work out for everybody involved.
