Portland Trail Blazers: 3 pros and cons of trading for Ben Simmons

Portland Trail Blazers trade for Ben Simmons – Pro 2: Professional Playmaker

As limited as he is on offense, Ben Simmons’s defensive prowess alone doesn’t make him the star he already is. His best asset coming out of high school and college was his playmaking.

His ability to read the floor, while standing 6’10 and navigating the court like a guard, makes him one of the best table setters in the league.

For his career, he averages 7.7 dimes per game. What makes that stat truly impressive is how he’s able to find those assists while virtually being a non-threat to score.

The Portland Trail Blazers are notoriously bad at moving the ball. Adding a passing virtuoso like Simmons should exponentially increase the flow in the offense—even if it means watching him “over pass” at times.

The Australian oversized point guard would actually be the best pure passer on the Portland Trail Blazers, Damian Lillard included. While Dame racks up plenty of dimes himself, his ability to command double and triple teams constantly creates easy assist opportunities.

If you think that’s a bit of an exaggeration, watch this eight-minute compilation of Ben Simmons being a wizard with the rock:

It’s not just that Simmons can find open guys or make tough passes; he creates space for his teammates by leading them open, identifies plays before they happen, and can make any pass possible. There’s a reason he drew LeBron James comparisons as a prospect and it wasn’t for his scoring ability.

Portland Trail Blazers trade for Ben Simmons – Con 2: Clutch Liability

Ben Simmons is a fantastic player for the regular season and 90 percent of each individual game. Where his weaknesses really become appalling is when it comes to clutch time and in the playoffs. Every single one of his offensive deficiencies is magnified and emphasized as teams will change their game plan to expose him.

Defenders sag off of Simmons more, knowing that he’s unable and unwilling to create offense for himself. Some teams will result to the “Hack-a-Shaq” strategy, taking a chance on Simmons’s career 60 percent free-throw average rather than try to stop Joel Embiid possession to possession, and the same would happen if he’s playing next to Damian Lillard. Why take a chance at being on the wrong end of a Dame Time highlight when you can instead send Ben Simmons to the line?

Simmons becomes a dilemma for his head coach when it comes to crunch time. His passing and defense are still extremely valuable assets down the stretch, but on offense he’s mostly a decoy and honestly, a liability to touch the ball.

This clip has been passed around the internet more than Ben Simmons dishes off open shots in the fourth quarter.

One play does not make a player’s career, but in this case, it does raise a viable cause for concern. If Simmons is a zero on offense when it comes down the stretch, how valuable can he really be as an asset and a player?