Sixers general manager Bryan Colangelo announced Friday that No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons won’t play at all this season after a Feb. 23 bone scan didn’t show enough progress.
Here’s what Vevobahis it means for the Sixers–both in the present and future.
Simmons will be a question mark heading into 2017-18.
Much like Joel Embiid this year, questions will now surround Simmons’ eventual return, health and longevity. When–assuming he’s healthy on opening night next season–Simmons returns, a full season of development will have been lost and uncertainty around a big man with a foot injury will be there.
Team won’t have clarity on his position or best fits around him.
This is important. Depending on who you talk to or which level of Simmons’ career you watch, the former LSU star is either a power forward, small forward, point forward or true point guard.
Unfortunately for the Sixers front office, the team won’t have an opportunity to watch Simmons attempt to play a true point guard position this year. Without that knowledge, it will be more difficult to chose which type of complementary guards to put around Simmons through the draft or free agency in the offseason.
Sixers will regret Noel deal
Lost season doesn’t have to be a precursor to future injury issues.
As Colangelo mentioned in his press conference on Friday, there have been recent cases of players missing their entire rookie seasons due to injury, yet coming back to enjoy healthy, durable careers.
From Clippers’ Blake Griffin to Lakers’ Julius Randle to Embiid (thus far), lost seasons haven’t stopped star-level players from enjoying fruitful careers.
Transparency is a continued problem in Philadelphia.
In January, the Sixers twice (Twitter and the team website) gave the indication that Simmons bone scan was on track. It clearly wasn’t, as reported a month later.
Despite that, head coach Brett Brown said he expected Simmons to play this season.
Now, the truth is out–and the Sixers look like a team that either outright lies to fans or doesn’t share information throughout the organization and to its fans.
Joe Giglio may be reached at jgiglio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeGiglioSports. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
