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Philadelphia 76ers should trade Ben Simmons

By Alec Liebsch

PORTLAND, OR - DECEMBER 30: Ben Simmons #25 of the Philadelphia 76ers smiles against the Portland Trail Blazers on December 30 , 2018 at the Moda Center Arena in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images)
PORTLAND, OR - DECEMBER 30: Ben Simmons #25 of the Philadelphia 76ers smiles against the Portland Trail Blazers on December 30 , 2018 at the Moda Center Arena in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Philadelphia 76ers should trade Ben Simmons … if they want to destroy everything The Process stood for. Trading Simmons shouldn’t even be an option.

Fewer than 120 games into his career, Philadelphia 76ers point guard/forward/demigod Ben Simmons is already on trial. A man with elite speed and athleticism, a superb handle for his height and deity-like passing vision is being jeered out of town by fans and pundits alike.

That’s right, folks: people across the country, from professional analysts to casual watchers, want Ben Simmons to be traded, all because of one specific weakness in his game.

I’m not here to say his lack of a jump shot isn’t a problem. It will always be a problem, especially as the league gets smarter and schemes around him in important matchups. But to punt on him this early is just ludicrous.

Allow me to bring you to a simpler time, a time where Simmons was loved for who he was, and not what he wasn’t. His freshman season at Louisiana State University was one of the best in the history of college basketball. He was the best player in the country and no one was disputing that.

A 6’10” athletic beast with the skills of a guard doesn’t sound real. Simmons had all the tools to be a great NBA player from day one.

For these reasons, he was selected at No. 1 overall in the 2016 NBA Draft. He earned this right; he was the most talented prospect the NBA had seen since LeBron James. There was almost no chance for him to bust.

He sure didn’t disappoint in his rookie season. Redshirted by a broken foot for his true rookie season in 2016-17, he made up for it with his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2017-18.

All the skills he flashed at LSU came to life, highlighted in his mastery during the Sixers’ season-ending 16-game win streak.

If you can recall, the Philly finished last season with 52 wins. The team’s second-best player was a rookie point guard and its best player missed 19 games.

Yet somehow, some way, people find a way to scrutinize him. Yes, the Boston Celtics basically nullified him in last year’s playoffs, but that group also took LeBron James’s Cleveland Cavaliers seven games in the next round.

They were very deep and well put together and should be credited for that.

Meanwhile, the Sixers trotted out a bench unit led by two buyout additions, Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova. Up until that Celtics series, those two had well outperformed the “buyout” status, but it’s no secret that the Sixers bench was incredibly weak.

Surprisingly enough, this team has similar depth issues now. The fifth starter, Wilson Chandler, is practically a corpse out there. T.J. McConnell is arguably the best bench piece. Mike Muscala gets over 20 minutes a game. Furkan Korkmaz is being asked to create for himself and others.

Yet despite these blatantly crippling flaws, the guy averaging Russell Westbrook-esque numbers is the problem. Makes sense.

Again, this is not to downplay the legitimate issues with a non-shooting guard. Simmons does need to expand his range eventually, but do those who want to trade him think he’s not going to? Is it truly 100 percent impossible for Simmons to be effective without a jump shot?

Doubtful. He’s one of the most skilled players in the league, and he’d still be in college if not for an early exit to the NBA. He’s too talented to not figure it out.

Next. The 50 greatest NBA players of all time (updated for 2017-18). dark

While Simmons has some work to do, he’s certainly not the problem with this team right now. The point of The Process was to get stars, and he is one. Offloading him for spare parts would compromise the team’s upside going forward, and shouldn’t even be a thought among Sixers fans.