The Brooklyn Nets are heading into the new season with a fresh start. While Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving will be looking to lead the franchise forward, they will require considerable help from Ben Simmons. The Australian point guard is often praised for his ability to find teammates even in a crowd of p[layers. While it is a very tough skill to develop, it comes naturally to the former Sixers man.
Point guards are generally the game controllers as they control the pace of the game for their respective teams. They also possess great passing and court vision to find out movements made by their teammates. While there are many high scoring guards in the league right now, their primary responsibility is to control the tempo and create for others.
Recently in the podcast “The Old Man and The Three’, Simmons revealed that point guards require a great level of court vision to pick teammates when the defense is set. However the Australian possesses the natural talent of pulling off great passing.
“It’s very difficult. But for me it’s natural. Like, it’s easy to be, like, ‘Yes, it’s hard,’ but for me it’s easy. Some passes I make, it’s just, it’s a feel and the way I move in my body and just seeing, like, a space in the game where I can you know make a bounce pass or lob it over,” Ben Simmons highlighted.
He shares how he just trusts his instinct and that way even though it is a tough skill to acquire it happens easily for him. “It’s just a read, and it’s a feel for me, so it’s, I love to say, you know, it’s so hard, but it feels easy for me,” the Nets All-Star added.
SImmons then dived deep into a more of a role of the point guard and how the player is supposed to keep the ball safe from the opposition and also make right passes, helping in the flow of the offense for his team. He shared how he never understood this trait until he was into his second or third year in the NBA.
“It’s a responsibility. It’s like you’re given a lot of responsibility to take care of the ball, which I didn’t really realize until probably my second, third year, like, how important that was. And then controlling the pace, too. That’s something else, you know, I was able to kind of learn,” Simmons pointed out. “Like, controlling the pace, reading the game, looking at the clock, knowing what’s going on, what plays I need to run, who needs to get a shot, who needs to get going.”
Simmons, who is considered as one of the most gifted passers in the NBA, may not play at his usual point guard role with the presence of Kyrie Irving in the Brooklyn Nets teams. There are rumours that the Nets may run a small ball with Simmons playing as a center and adding more dimension to their ball movement and offense. Simmons is also a very able defender and all that will be needed from him as Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving handle the offense. If used well even as a center, Simmons can easily elevate the team as a major title contender in the coming season.
