Sixers' Ben Simmons is nowhere to be found in series against Raptors

PHILADELPHIA — The playoffs started with Philadelphia 76ers fans booing Ben Simmons off the court, and it may end that way too.

Simmons was nowhere to be found as the Toronto Raptors walloped the Sixers 125-96 to secure a pivotal Game 5 victory. He recorded four assists against five turnovers, didn’t pose any threat to Kawhi Leonard on either end of the floor, failed to grab a single offensive rebound despite spending most of the night trawling the baseline, and attempted a grand total of five shots.

Jokes flew left, right, and center on social media about Simmons being Rajon Rondo from down under, but that’s not even being fair to Rondo, who at least has a history of stepping up in the playoffs. Joel Embiid didn’t contribute because he was sick for the third game out of five, but what’s Simmons’ excuse for shrinking?

The former No. 1 pick is averaging 9.4 points per game against Toronto, and has three more points in this series than career journeyman James Ennis. For all of his otherworldly athletic abilities, Simmons has only gotten to the line four times in total, where he has only converted one single foul shot, and he’s only shooting 55 percent from the restricted area despite only trying layups.

Part of it comes with the territory of running into a two-time Defensive Player of the Year winner. The majority of Simmons’ game is predicated on bullying smaller players, but Leonard is the freaking Terminator. Simmons can’t push Leonard on the block, isn’t skilled enough to dribble past without being stripped, falls short of the size needed to shoot over top, is unable to out-jump Leonard for rebounds, and lacks the shooting range to hit from anywhere outside of the paint.

Simmons has matched up with Leonard on 184 possessions through five games. For his efforts, Simmons scored a grand total of 25 points, and recorded 10 assists against eight turnovers. To put that into perspective, Leonard has 86 points in 195 possessions going the other way against Simmons.

Granted, the two players hold entirely different roles. Leonard is a go-to scorer, whereas Simmons is ... well it’s not clear exactly what he is. He is a point guard by trade, but his contribution to playmaking starts and ends with bringing the ball up and being the trigger man as other players come around screens. In terms of who’s actually creating offense, that title belongs instead to Jimmy Butler, who leads the Sixers in assists. Butler was conspicuously absent in Game 1, but has come back strong over the last four games to assert ownership of the team.

Butler’s emergence, however, has come at the expense of Simmons. In order to preserve spacing, Simmons spends most of the game parking and praying in the dunker spot for a loose ball to bounce his way. But this only plays into the Raptors’ hands, as it both allows Leonard to conserve his energy, while also putting Leonard in prime position to break up plays in the paint with his 12-inch claws. The only threat Simmons poses is that someone needs to box him out if Leonard does rotate over, but the Raptors aren’t exactly sweating his six total second-chance points.

In so many words, Sixers coach Brett Brown admitted that this is just what it is. Butler is the lead dog, so Simmons will just have to fall in line. Philadelphia’s winning formula in Games 2 and 3 came from Butler running pick-and-rolls with Embiid, and that’s the strategy that Brown will continue to employ.

“It is true at times we give Jimmy the ball, there is a portion of that where Jimmy is actually the point guard anyways. So I hope to, you know, help Ben, continue that aggressive open court mentality,” Brown told reporters Wednesday.

Consequently, that means the reigning Rookie of the Year will be relegated once again to doing the dirty work while the Sixers work to stave off elimination in Game 6. Simmons may eventually become a star in this league, but in this series against the Raptors, Simmons’ role — whether fans like it or not — is to be a hustle player.

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