Philadelphia 76ers: Ben Simmons at center just hit a breakthrough

For fans of the Philadelphia 76ers, there is one hypothetical lineup as elusive as it is evocative: Ben Simmons at center + shooters.

The concept is as old as time… or at least the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors. Place an undersized but athletic playmaking forward at center surrounded by four shooters and hope that the offensive upside of such a lineup outweighs the lost defensive size on the inside.

From 2014-2018, both the Warriors and LeBron James‘ Cavaliers rode similar ‘death lineups’ straight to the Finals, and even now, many a team will turn to the look when they need a little extra oomph in a “power-play” situation.

So, if the Warriors can run such a lineup successfully with a player like Draymond Green, why can’t the Sixers do the same and do it better with Simmons?

Simmons is 6-foot-10, long, and hyper-athletic, with the speed to contest any shot, the size to maintain position against even the biggest foe, and the length to protect the net like he’s Dikembe “No No No” Mutombo – why wouldn’t that player be able to defend at the five spot a la James Wiseman for a half dozen minutes a game surrounded by shooters?

Ben Simmons at center is finally starting to work for the Philadelphia 76ers.

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Though they’ve only been on the court together for 11 games, Doc Rivers‘ starting five has played the ninth most total minutes (218) and the fourth most average minutes (19.8) of any five-man combination in the NBA.

Why is this relevant? Well, because the Sixers ride their starting lineup so heavily – accounting for 41.25 percent of the team’s full-strength minutes and 44.7 percent of their average points (50.9/113.9) – that they really haven’t developed that many reserve unit formations that provide a similar pop at either end of the court.

Seriously, the Sixers’ second and third most utilized lineups are just the starting lineup, but with Shake Milton (44 minutes) and Tyrese Maxey (39 minutes) subbed in for Seth Curry. Through 21 games, the Sixers don’t have a single lineup with more than 100 points scored featuring less than four members of their “starting lineup” and only two other lineups that have scored more than 50 points regardless of their composition.

Okay, that’s all well and good, but how many minutes have the Sixers played with Simmons at center? Surely the look has to be one of the ‘subpackages’ the team turns to most, right? Not really.

In the 19 games Simmons has appeared in so far this season, Rivers has deployed the do-it-all-except-shoot-a-3 guard/forward in a lineup without a true center for 25 minutes, with no individual pairing accounting for more than five total minutes of overall action.

Call it an unfortunate byproduct of only having Mike Scott available for eight games, but the Sixers really haven’t had the personnel needed to run a lineup with Simmons at center unless they opt to go super small or play Harris at the power forward position – which, unfortunately, isn’t always available considering Harris also anchors the team’s most effective bench unit alongside Dwight Howard, Shake Milton, Tyrese Maxey, and Matisse Thybulle.

However, in the Sixers’ win over the Indiana Pacers – their first win of the season without Embiid – Simmons at center minutes came roaring back in a big way to very encouraging results.

While the look surely got overlooked when compared to the 2-3 “John Chaney matchup zone” defensive look that unleashed Simmons and Thybulle onto an unsuspecting Pacers squad, Simmons actually played five minutes at center in the first half, with the look earning a +/- of -1. Though the team didn’t return to the look in the second half, except for a few seconds in the waning moments of the fourth quarter, the look, which initially featured Tyrese Maxey at the one, Shake Milton at the two, and Furkan Korkmaz/Matisse Thybulle playing hybrid forward roles, before cycling in Harris, Green and Curry looked pretty good.

Not elite, mind you. Even with Korkmaz, Milton, Curry, and Maxey all paired up with Simmons, the look didn’t really start to click until Harris was cycled in to provide additional size at the four spot, but the results were encouraging and allowed Philly to play a faster brand of basketball that is unavailable when Embiid is on the court.

In games where Howard isn’t on or the Sixers need to manufacture minutes at the five either due to foul trouble, injuries, or a combination of the two, this option could be an intriguing look, especially against teams like Boston who lack an elite interior presence in the post.

Alternatively, Daryl Morey could finally stop sitting on his fingers and actually make a trade for P.J. Tucker, who is an ideal frontcourt partner for Simmons at center looks and could easily fill the role initially envisioned for Scott and then some moving forward.

Either way, giving Simmons some additional track as a point center is just another look in Rivers’ bag of tricks to help them steal a game when needed – much like the 2-3 zone.

When asked about using Ben Simmons at center, Doc Rivers said the team did give their multidenominational-ly talented two-time All-Star some additional time at the position in practice but has yet to give it enough run to really “make a difference yet.” The keyword of that semiquote? Yet. While I’m not one of those “Ben Simmons is a center”-type people, the Philadelphia 76ers’ win over the Indiana Pacers showed even the most skeptical onlooker that such a lineup can be successful when constituted correctly in small bursts. While it may not be turned to every game, having that option on the table certainly makes the Sixers a harder team to guard and an even harder team to prepare for regardless of Joel Embiid’s game-to-game status.