Shortly after the Philadelphia 76ers selected Ben Simmons with the first overall pick of last year's draft, the team made the proclamation that he would make the transition to handling the point guard duties in the offense.
It doesn't appear that this game plan has changed as head coach Brett Brown has told Tom Moore of The Intelligencer that the 21-year-old will be the team's primary ball handling and playmaker this upcoming season.
Brown: 'I am' locked in to Simmons playing point guard on offense 'when it's a static situation.' Fultz will handle ball in open court, too.
— Tom Moore (@TomMoorePhilly) September 20, 2017
Although Simmons will be listed at small forward, he has shown to possess some tremendous passing ability and court vision that has drawn the comparison to the likes of Hall of Famer Magic Johnson. This should create an interesting dynamic that will feature rookie point guard Markelle Fultz, who the 76ers had moved up to the first overall pick to take in this year's draft.
It is likely that Fultz will focus primarily on utilizing his scoring ability with the ball in his hands while Simmons should assume more of the distributor role when he's running the offense, which could quickly prove to be the best way to use his unique skill set.
More importantly, this may provide an effective game plan that has the potential to help increase the efficiency of the team's other top scoring options in Joel Embiid and J.J. Redick with more high percentage scoring opportunities.
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