Saying that Ben Simmons is a lock for the NBA Rookie of the Year if he maintains form and health is a bit like saying I’m a lock for continued life if my heart keeps beating and I keep breathing. The Aussie young gun is taking all before him in his rookie year, and the numbers he’s been able to put up in his first 25 games are simply staggering.
Not only is Simmons outstripping every other rookie in recent memory, but his efforts across the start of the season put him in a bracket only seen by some of the all-time modern greats.
In Simmons’ first 25 games of his career, he’s managed to put up 449 points, 229 rebounds, 192 assists, 52 steals, and 29 blocks.
No player since 1983 has been able to put up 400+ points, 200+ rebounds, and 150+ assists in the first 25 games of their career. And, in fact, since the 1992-93 season, only four players have been able to put up numbers like that in the first 25 games of a season at any point in their careers.
Those players? LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Garnett, and Scottie Pippen.
Ben Simmons is the only player since 1983 to have 400+ points, 200+ rebounds, and 150+ assists in his first 25 NBA games. In fact, since 1993, only KG, LeBron, and Westbrook have put up those numbers in the first 25 games of a season at any point in their careers pic.twitter.com/rJZBB8M7pD
— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) December 11, 2017
If you look seasons in which a player was also able to exceed 20 blocks and 50 steals in their first 25 games, then only Scottie Pippen’s 1992-93 season compares to what Simmons has been able to do thus far in 2017-18.
These are absolutely ridiculous numbers, no matter what way you look at it.
Coach Brett Brown is obviously full of praise for the young buck, too. Brown gushed at Simmons’ innate passing ability while speaking on a recent edition of the Woj Pod.
When you just give him the ball and you just watch him, especially in early offence, his ability and his instinct to pass is elite.
That’s what he wants to do. We all know that growing and being an elite point guard is lots more than that and those peripheral areas are the areas that I think most stand out and the areas that I need to keep growing him in.
But his ability to pass, his desire to make other people better, his vision line at 6’10”, his breakaway speed, those types of things have been elite.
We’ve got ourselves something special here, no doubt about it.
