Philadelphia 76ers: Has Ben Simmons hit the rookie wall?

After setting the world on fire out off the gate, Ben Simmons has started to come back to earth, but has the Philadelphia 76ers point guard hit a wall?

When the Philadelphia 76ers selected Ben Simmons first overall in the 2016 NBA Draft, I doubt they could have imagined just how good he would be right out of the gate.

After sitting out his first season in Philly with a broken foot, expectations were incredibly high to see how the 21-year-old Australian to fit into the team’s future, and so far, he looks like a truly transcendent talent. At 6-foot-10, 230 pounds, Simmons quickly proved himself a viable point guard in Brett Brown‘s scheme and has become a matchup nightmare on both the offensive and defensive side of the court.

Currently ranked the third best defensive point guard in the league by ESPN’s real plus-minus, all of the worries about Simmons ability to cover smaller, more shifty point guards in the backcourt while also holding his own against stronger power forwards, were quickly silenced by Simmons play on the court.

And on the offensive side of the court, Simmons’ unique skill set has also pad immediate dividends.

Averaging an impressive 16.9 points, 8.4 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game, The Fresh Prince has proven himself one of the leagues premier slashers even without a functional jump shot and is a legitimate triple-double threat on any given night.

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Simply put, Simmons looks like a future star, who very well could be named both the 2018 Rookie of the Year and an NBA All-Star this season, but after finding so much success so quickly, has the former LSU Tiger hit the rookie wall?

After averaging an incredible 18.5 points, 9.3 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game over the months of October and November, Simmons came back to earth slightly in the month of December.

Following the Wizards‘ Hack-a-Ben strategy on the team’s November 29th trip to Washington, Simmons’ confidence appeared to have taken a hit. Over the month of December, Simmons’ statistics took a noticeable drop in a number of different categories, only averaging 14.1 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game through that stretch.

While these struggles could be linked to a more selective approach on the offensive side of the court, there were times where the former Tiger looked visibly frustrated on the court when his shot wasn’t falling and may have resulted in fewer attempted drives to the basket.

Whether it be his prolonged absence from the game due to his foot injury, or the normal struggles many young players experience as they transition into the league, Simmons looked and played visibly different in December than he did over the first 20 games of his still young NBA career.

But hey, things may already be looking up for the first pick in the 2016 NBA Draft in 2018.

Over the first two games of the year, Simmons’ scoring output improved considerably, highlighted by his 26 point performance against the San Antonio Spurs at the Wells Fargo Center. If Simmons can continue to put up points and go shot-for-shot with opposing stars point guards like he did in the Sixers’ Thursday afternoon affair in the United Kingdom against Kyrie Irving and the Celtics, it’ll go a long way to reestablishing Simmons as the best rookie in the league.

Every shooter in NBA history has fallen into a shooting slump from time to time, and even though Simmons struggled to match his November output in the month of December, I’m sure the team was more than happy to receiver double-digit points from their rookie point on a near nightly basis.

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If over 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists a game are Simmons floor in the NBA, then so be it, but once he works through his current issues and takes the next step in his development as a player, Ben Simmons could finally join Joel Embiid as the Philadelphia 76ers’ second bonified superstar.