If you've seen the show Silicon Valley you understand what RIGBY means. The acronym is used to saying something about disparaging about their friend Richard. "Richard is great but you (know)..."
In general, you need RIGBY for summer league player critiques because you're bound to get this retort: It's just summer league and none of it matters. I'm not so sure that's the case when you're watching Philadelphia 76ers rookie and overall No. 1 pick Ben Simmons.
While the competition features guys hoping for an NBA roster shot, the dazzling way Simmons impacts the game is beyond "summer league," even if he needs to address improvement in some areas while trying to become the Sixers' new star.
You see him troubleshooting how to be a scorer. He gets to the basket but doesn't seem have a plan when he gets there. He's also getting accustomed to playing again (hadn't played much for about three months) and learning that even summer league pros have consistent quickness and length he didn't see at LSU. His jumper looks smooth, though he's indecisive about taking it. The lefty tried a couple of right-handed runners in traffic, though none found the mark. He doesn't take many shots in a crowd. In general, scoring is a work in progress.
Simmons' feel for the game comes through in his passing. It's special, and figures to put him among the few NBA passers who electrify arenas by moving the ball. LeBron James, Ricky Rubio, Rajon Rondo (at times), John Wall and Chris Paul come to mind. That ability elicits effort from teammates and causes discomfort for defenses.
Simmons will end up being the Sixers' de facto playmaker, not because they don't have a traditional point guard, but because the ball in his hands will provide their best scoring chances.
"Let's label it," Sixers assistant Billy Lange said after Simmons worked at point forward in the first summer league game in Utah. "Everyone wants to put a label on it, but he's a basketball player. I think anyone that has watched enough basketball sees a skill set there that is really exciting and that skill set involves ball-handling, dribbling, driving, and looking to score."
Some scouts geeked out a bit over Simmons' floor vision and passing ability. Others wanted to make sure he corrected other stuff while still marveling at the way he manipulates a defense. And Simmons does it in the least expected moments. As soon as he's pushing the ball, his eyes are up surveying the angles available, the eventual positions of the teammates and defenders, and every calculation is being made.
Combine ample rebounding with his ball-handling and passing abilities -- and that's when his game becomes completely weaponized. Every skill works together. Get him in the open floor and he's going to find a teammate. And opponents are so worried about him scoring, even if it comes at a lower percentage right now, it discombobulates a scrambling defensive mind. He finds a teammate cutting to the hoop or flaring to the corner, wherever the defense least expects you.
It sounds cliché, but the buzz around the Sixers was these players realized they were going to get the ball if they ran harder with Simmons, and guys were working more to get open.
"He's amazing," Richaun Holmes said. "Anybody wondering, he's the real deal. I think [his passing], that's the one thing everybody noticed as soon as he stepped on the court is his vision and unselfishness. It's great to play with a guy like that."
It took Holmes a bit to get used to Simmons. There were a couple of moments in which Simmons saw the plays his teammates weren't ready for. Flashbacks of Jason Williams hitting Vlade Divac in the face with a pass or Kevin Love exclaiming Rubio passes the "feces" out of the ball were dancing around the basketball ether. Holmes adjusted and was ready with his eyes up if the Australian rookie had the rock.
Holmes or Jahlil Okafor or (fingers crossed) Joel Embiid can orbit the paint and wait for the pocket pass. If it's there, Simmons will throw it. If he can get a teammate going, he'll make it happen. It doesn't mean he won't be selfish at times, but he just wants to make plays.
This is all figures to coalesce in the ball movement coach Brett Brown craves on offense. Simmons finds cutters when most guys wouldn't dare fire a 25-foot chest pass through the middle of the floor. And if the defense swarms a drive by Simmons, he can find his teammates with those eyes strategically placed in the back of his head.
This is what that second pass looks like from court level.
That boy good pic.twitter.com/t21xNH9Xth
-- Hayley Byrnes (@HayleyByrnes) July 5, 2016
His great passes won't always find buckets. The Sixers will miss plenty of shots, but as you put more talented players around him and develop youngsters they have, Simmons will cultivate a scoring mentality that breeds confidence. That confidence manufactures buckets. And the buckets make spectacular finds like this from Simmons become ordinary plays.
"I think it will change," Simmons said of the summer league environment vs. the college game. "Obviously, it's not as easy as it was in college because these are professional athletes. I think there are going to be opportunities where I can find guys like I did today during the season."
Some scouts disagree with his assertion. The spacing the NBA game provides will allow Simmons to blossom even earlier and have a much bigger impact than he showed during an odd season at LSU. Sure, it's just summer league. We all know that. But that clarification only lasts so long and then you have to come up with another reason why the incredible things he's doing with the basketball aren't as impressive as they appear to be.
