Ben Simmons era set to launch

Ben Simmons’ net worth of $US70 million is based on nothing but potential. After a false start it’s about to be realised.

Philadelphia 76ers’ Ben Simmons goes in for a dunk in a pre-season game against Boston Celtics.

A man was sitting alone in his gloom outside the Wells Fargo Center last year after paying a considerable sum for a 76ers singlet with Ben Simmons’ surname on the back of it. He’d done his dough on the NBA’s No 1 draft pick — Simmons had broken his foot the previous day and according to the back page of the Philadelphia Inquirer, his rookie season was already on the scrapheap.

The aggrieved young fellow was kicking stones and saying this was typical of the 76ers, the worst and unluckiest team in America. He took off his singlet and tossed it in the rubbish bin near the box office on South Broad Street before having second thoughts, grumbling about the foolishness of rash decisions and wasting money, grabbing the singlet out of the trash can and shoving it into his backpack. “Next year,” he said.

Next year has become next week: Simmons will make his much-awaited NBA debut when the 76ers hit the road to face the Washington Wizards on Thursday morning (AEDT). Australia’s Shane Heal has experienced the mad, mad world of the NBA and yesterday predicted that when Simmons finally steps onto a globally recognised stage he could become Australia’s greatest/richest/most recognisable sporting export since Greg Norman.

“There’s no ceiling on what he can do,” Heal told The Australian. “He’d be disappointed that he’s missed a whole year through injury but I think it might actually help him. He’s been able to see the NBA first hand. He’s been able to digest it. He’s seen everything he’s about to walk into. He would have evolved as a player even though he’s been off the court. It’s something to get excited about. He’ll be hungry to prove why he was the No 1 draft pick. He’ll want to show that he can get results. Potentially, there’s no doubt he’s in that Greg Norman sort of field. Andrew Bogut has won a championship, Patty Mills has won a championship. Luc Longley has won three championships, which is unbeatable from a team perspective. But as far as an individual dominating at the highest level, Ben has the capability to do that more than any other player we’ve had in the NBA.”

GRAPHIC: Aussies in the NBA

A visit was made to Philadelphia last year on a reporting assignment that did the company’s dough and led nowhere other than a hospital where the seriousness of Simmons’ injury was confirmed. It was clear that everyone from the proprietor at Cookie’s Tavern to the sports editor at The Inquirer had pegged Simmons as the saviour of the labouring franchise. A larger-than-life, wig-wearing supporter at Wells Fargo named Big Daddy said results, and results alone, would determine whether Simmons was hero-worshipped in the City of Brotherly Love, or howled out of town.

Big Daddy wanted the jokes to stop. The jokes like these. What’s the difference between the 76ers and a dollar bill? You can get four quarters out of a dollar bill. What do the 76ers and possums have in common? They play dead at home and get killed on the road. How many 76ers players does it take to change a tyre? One. Unless it’s a blowout, in which case they all turn up. Why do birds fly upside down over the Wells Fargo Center? There’s nothing in there worth crapping on. What’s the 76ers’ favourite wine? We can’t beat Boston!

Simmons is being paid serious money to affect serious change. The 2.08m, 104kg, Melbourne-born, Newcastle-raised 21-year-old will attempt to rescue an NBA side that ESPN commentator Jeff Van Gundy yesterday said had done a “historic amount of losing” in recent years. Simmons’ net worth of $US70 million ($89m) is based on nothing but potential. He’s yet to play a single second in the NBA and he’s financially set for life. The flip side of potential is the immense pressure. The hype is whirring into gear. Every nuance will be scrutinised. As America’s widely read Bleacher Report wrote this week: “Here Comes Ben Simmons.”

Heal was adamant the 12-month wait would be worth it. “He’s going to get every opportunity,” said the four-time Olympian and former point guard at the Minnesota Timberwolves and San Antonio Spurs. “When you’re the No 1 draft pick, they need you to do well. They’re encouraging you to do well. He’ll be great and Australia is going to jump on board when they see more of him. His world in the NBA is totally different to anything we could imagine over here, and he’d be enjoying it, but there’s a lot of pressure that comes with it. I think he’s a pretty level-headed kid who can deal with it and make the most of it.”

Simmons is a giant 21-year-old with quick hands and feet, freakish no-look passes, swarming defence and ambition to burn, burn, burn. He’s an oddity in that his jump shot — the bread and butter of dominant NBA players — was a weakness for Louisiana State University but the complete package of athleticism and instinctive playmaking was so strong that the 76ers pounced on his signature. Hall-of-Famer Shaquille O’Neal gave him the ultimate compliment after the NBA draft by likening him to four-time MVP LeBron James. “He’s a LeBron-type player,” O’Neal said. “What I mean by that, LeBron does a nice job of making everybody else around him better — passing the ball, doing the small things — and Ben is that type of player.”

Simmons told the Bleacher Report: “I want to go in and make sure everybody remembers my name. I want to get out there and play where everyone’s talking about me. I came to the States and no one knew who I was, then they kind of do, then I get injured and no one talks about you for a while. So it’s kind of like now, I’ve got to build myself back up. It got frustrating not being able to be out there. You have people saying things about you — whatever it is, could be negative, positive, but you can’t control it. You just have to sit back and wait. I feel like it’s all going to come together. It just takes time.”

Visiting Australia last month, he told ESPN: “My goal is to be the best in the league. I’m not worried about other rookies. I’m worried about the guys at the top. That’s where I want to be.”

There’s a unique component to this. Twelve months after being touted as the lone saviour, Simmons is playing second fiddle at the 76ers to Joel Embiid, the injury-cursed No 3 draft pick from 2014 who’s back in action after two years of foot and knee injuries. Embiid has just signed a four-year, $US125m contract extension that confirms him as the 76ers’ main man. The upside of the rousing pre-season form of the 213cm, 113kg Embiid is that Simmons shares responsibilities with the teammate he calls “a beast”. He no longer has to save the 76ers alone. “We talk a lot in practice and see things other guys don’t see,” Simmons told reporters. “Our chemistry is only going to keep on building.”

Simmons is the son of Dave Simmons, the American-born former Melbourne Tigers player. Tim Mallon coached with Dave Simmons at the Newcastle-based Hunter ­Pirates in 2003 and has seen Ben grow from a seven-year-old to the towering figure he is today. Mallon has described Simmons as the “perfect storm” of basketball player. The 76ers’ rookie has rated his pre-season performances as good but not great and The Inquirer was not totally impressed by his showing against the New York Nets this week. “Ben Simmons does not look very comfortable off the ball,” was one report. “Multiple times during the game, he looked stagnant and showed very little movement when the ball wasn’t in his hands. This is something that he’s done throughout the preseason and it continued against the Nets.”

Yet ESPN analyst Mark Jackson, a former No 1 draft pick and NBA rookie of the year, said in a conference call yesterday that Simmons had “superstar written all over him”. Van Gundy will call Simmons’ debut for the network and told The Australian: “I love Simmons’ ability to impact the game with the rebound and the pass. That’s a hard combination to find, a guy who can handle, pass and rebound. He should be an outstanding defender with his length and athleticism. Right now he takes a little bit of a back seat, notoriety wise, to Embiid, but his development is every bit as important as Embiid’s development. Hopefully he has great health and I’m sure his shooting will continue to improve. His talent is unquestioned.”