When Donovan McNabb was in his heyday as the Eagles’ quarterback, he often did this thing where he would escape the pocket and find himself on the perimeter, with seemingly acres of open space in front of him.
At this point it only sounded like every fan in Lincoln Financial Field would scream the same thing: Run!
Only that’s not what McNabb would do. He would stop short of the line of scrimmage, search for an open receiver and then fire. Often it was into traffic. Often the pass fell incomplete. And then it only sounded like every fan in Lincoln Financial Field would scream things that would make a longshoreman blush.
There was a racial element to McNabb’s approach, to be sure. He did not want to be known as a running quarterback, a damning-with-faint-praises label that had long been attached to many African-Americans who played the position. Rather, he wanted to be known as a quarterback, period. Many of the best plays he made with his feet came early in his career; as the years passed, he all but shelved that aspect of his game.
By nearly every statistical measure he remains the greatest QB in Eagles history. But he is regarded coolly by the fan base, because he maintained an arm’s-length relationship with the paying customers (owing, no doubt, to the fact that a busload of them showed up to boo his selection in the 1999 draft), because he failed to Win The Big One and because of quirks like the above.
He is judged, in other words, on what he failed to do, rather than what he did.
I wonder if that’s how it turns out for Ben Simmons, too.
He’s hurt again, having suffered a knee injury Wednesday against Washington. He left the NBA’s Orlando-based bubble Saturday, and will undergo surgery that will likely end his season, according to ESPN.
What it means in the short term is that the Sixers will be more Joel Embiid-centered, which is far from a bad thing. They seem to have enough shooting around him (Shake Milton, Tobias Harris, Josh Richardson, Alec Burks, Furkan Korkmaz), and Al Horford appears rejuvenated after the long layoff. (ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan reported in February that Horford was battling an Achilles issue, something he confirmed to me before a subsequent game).
So they should be OK, though Simmons’ loss is considerable. He is an unusual talent — a 6-10 guy who is swift, unselfish and adept at finishing at the rim. He also plays hard, and his defense has been such this season that he is routinely mentioned as a candidate for the league’s All-Defensive Team (that 53-point night enjoyed by Indiana’s T.J. Warren, largely at Simmons’ expense, notwithstanding). Moreover, Simmons was playing power forward alongside Embiid (while maintaining ballhandling responsibilities), a promising experiment that was long overdue.
Yet the discussion continues to hover around what Simmons is not. How for all the video we see of him shooting 3-pointers in the offseason, he seldom pulls the trigger in games. How that makes him easier to guard, since defenders routinely sag off him, routinely take away his driving lanes.
Stan Van Gundy, a former coach who now does commentary on NBA telecasts, argued the other day on “The Full 48” podcast that Simmons’ work from the arc is actually beside the point. The greater issue in Van Gundy’s mind is his mediocre free-throw shooting (62.1 percent this season, 59.3 percent through three years), since Simmons does not attack the basket as readily in the late stages of close games, out of fear of being fouled.
At the same time Van Gundy expressed admiration for Simmons’ game, for many of the reasons listed above. And that’s what should be kept in mind: There’s a lot there, and a lot more that may emerge as Simmons’ career unfolds.
Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com wrote Saturday of a league executive who believes the Sixers will break up the Embiid-Simmons nucleus, if the Sixers don’t make a deep playoff run — hardly a novel point of view.
Fedor also wrote that the Cavaliers have interest in Simmons, and are prepared to make what he described as an “enticing” offer. Then he mentioned a roster brimming with former first-rounders, the fact that the Cavs will have a top-six pick in the upcoming draft and the fact that they own a future first-rounder from Milwaukee. (The caveats are many. All those first-rounders enabled Cleveland to compile a dazzling 19-46 record this season, this year’s draft is suspect and Milwaukee’s future No. 1s don’t appear all that appealing, given the Bucks’ stellar play.)
Also, there’s this: The Sixers tanked three seasons to put themselves in position to draft Embiid and Simmons. Embiid is 26, Simmons 24. Wouldn’t a little more patience be in order? Would it not be a sound idea to, ya know, Trust the Process (again)?
Certainly the clock is ticking on coach Brett Brown (and one of his potential successors may well turn out to be — wait for it — Stan Van Gundy). Certainly some tweaks are in order, given the fact that the Sixers, for all the big personnel swings they have taken in recent years, are just sixth in the East.
But from where I sit, you should really think long and hard before parting company with a talent like Ben Simmons. Consider, once again, McNabb. The Eagles held on to him until 2010, when they dumped him on the foolhardy Redskins. He was out of football by the end of the following season. For all his foibles, for all his quirks, the Birds got the best out of him.
Granted, it is a different era, organization and sport. But the Sixers would be wise to do the same with Simmons. To give this power-forward experiment a far longer look. To fully explore his uniqueness. To accentuate what he does well, rather than allowing themselves to get bogged down by what he does not.