Philadelphia 76ers: Ben Simmons turns in a vintage return performance

The Philadelphia 76ers looked lost in their four-game losing streak without Ben Simmons.

Their offense looked discombobulated, their defensive efforts were far more predictable, and the entire team effectively lagged behind their usual metrics sans their on-court general and his impeccably impressive two-way game.

Even with George Hill becoming more and more comfortable with each passing game in a red, white, blue, and occasionally “City Edition” boathouse row black uniform, the Sixers just couldn’t overcome the loss of Simmons at the one and sometimes four, and dropped a quartet of games they would have surely at least split had they been at full strength.

But fear not, for Simmons finally made his return to the court as the Sixers looked to right their losing ways against a team in the middle of a 16 game losing streak in the Oklahoma City Thunder, and you’d best believe Chief‘s owner/dad/friend put on a show for the fans in attendance versus George Hill and Danny Green‘s former team.

A healthy Simmons should surely supercharge the Philadelphia 76ers’ fortunes.

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Facing off against an incredibly young Oklahoma City Thunder squad sans their two best players, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and

Al Horford

Lu Dort, Ben Simmons came out hot in his re-debut for the Philadelphia 76ers, putting up four points, three assists, a rebound, and a steal in his first nine minutes of action.

Simmons looked smooth, smart, and decisive while running the show for Doc Rivers‘ club, all the while providing the sort of contagious energy at both ends of the court that the team had sorely missed over the last week. Though his individual statistics didn’t quite reach his usual totals of 14.8 points, 7.1 assists, and 7.6 rebounds, largely due to sitting out the entire fourth quarter due to the game’s blowout nature, his presence was felt all over the court, as evidenced by his +20 +/- and his three(!) steals.

The Sixers didn’t trail for a single second when Simmons was on the court, which isn’t particularly hard to do considering the team never trailed, period, but it is still noteworthy nonetheless.

When Simmons is on the court, the Sixers just play differently. No knock on Shake Milton or George Hill, but neither was blessed the same supremely elite court vision and court division to drop a perfectly placed dime to Furkan Korkmaz on the wings from right under the basket. He brings a unique energy to both ends of the court that very few other players can match at either end of the court, all the while producing some truly eye-popping points on fastbreak opportunities.

Granted, he was given a pretty darn perfect opponent to return against, as the Thunder are allowing the sixth-most points per game of any team in the NBA (114.7) versus the 28th most points scored (105.6), but Simmons has proven that he can do damage against pretty much any team in the NBA so I wouldn’t put too much stock into the Thunder somehow cushioning his return’s impact.

No, though this sentiment gets thrown around a lot, Simmons’ return could be key to the Philadelphia 76ers getting back into playoff form, as his presence makes the rest of the team better.

With Hill now in the fray and Tyrese Maxey playing his best basketball of the season, Rivers could pair up Milton and Simmons a lot more moving forward in an attempt to get the 24-year-old sixth-man sparkplug a few more easy looks where he doesn’t need to work for his own bucket. Rivers can also totally insert Simmons into his four guards-plus a center lineup as either the lead guard, the small-ball four, or in the Dwight Howard role under the basket. When both Simmons and Tobias Harris were out, Rivers experimented with that look, and for the most part, the minutes were good. Insert Simmons into that lineup, and it’s hard to imagine its efficiency wouldn’t skyrocket in no time.

Heck, even Joel Embiid, a walking bucket if there ever was one, can benefit from a healthy/locked-in Simmons, as he can’t initiate every play and has feasted on well-placed passes from his 6-foot-10 partner in crime all season long.

And to think, some overly critical outside observers didn’t think Simmons could play alongside Embiid long-term. I wonder what they think of the duo’s +325 +/- rating over 962 minutes and counting?

Jonah Bolden has transitioned nicely into post-NBA life. dark. Next

So Ben Simmons, welcome back from your “viral thing”. After watching your team muddle along like a darn bartender in your absence, it’s darn good to have number 25 back on the court dropping vintage performances in your first game back. If you can keep that up through the final leg of the regular season, the Philadelphia 76ers should be very well positioned to make waves in the playoffs regardless of whether they’re the first seed or remained locked in at the two.