Ben Simmons is unique. This is about the only agreeable element for a particularly polarizing player. (thread jawn)
Some see the atypical nature of his flaws and conclude his path to effectiveness in high-leverage moments appears nearly impossible.
Some see the atypical nature of his gifts and conclude his path to effectiveness in high-leverage moments is a matter of time and development.
The truth, as the cliché demands, is likely somewhere between these points of the spectrum. It's rarely so binary as the loudest voices make it feel.
I'm partial to the optimistic side. Spending the past decade writing about the NBA on a near daily basis during the season, I've generally found the special ones figure it out.
Scouring @bball_ref, you find his rookie year wasn't just good, it was by some analytic standards the seventh-best rookie campaign since Michael Jordan was drafted. 
To explain: we've never really seen a player like Ben, one who proves immediately effective by measures of net rating, def. win shares, off. win shares, TS%
We've never seen a player pass so well, shoot so poorly, refuse to shoot, make 80-foot outlet passes and win the glass on many nights.
We've also never seen a player run 24 MPH and shot a sideways layup like someone trying to throw a snowball from a Porsche.
He has it all -- the mega-loud peaks and the deeply ominous nadirs
And yet, in the middle, is one of the league's best transition creators, most versatile defenders and flawed endgame options all at once
we've never seen this player, a new archetype of the Anetekoumpoian phylum
so many are willing to say this player can't make it work, especially with another atypical prodigy in Embiid.
I just don't think precedent or even current league conditions will define how this plays out.
This is a weird talent for a weird franchise and weird fans in a weird era of the game that remains more fluid than we might imagine
I am comfortable not knowing what the ceiling is for Ben, but I do know the floor is a guy who can capably defend a wide spectrum of players while creating for others on O
I completely can envision an outcome where this doesn't work to the optimal endpoint, where Ben and the team can't figure the "fit" out
I completely can envision an outcome where this works out to an optimal endpoint, where Ben and team dunk on your soul
Unicorn got played out quick. This guy is an actual unicorn; a player who befuddles in the worst and best senses. One seemingly adamant to play it on his terms.
Maybe Ben needs to listen to more outside critique. Maybe he needs to block it out. I'm assuming listening to Twitter for counsel isn’t on the script.
I believe in the concept of superstar sensitivity. Works with QBs and NBA stars (at least for me): only a few prove capable of converting a replacement-level roster into a threat
Premise being the ilk of Aaron Rodgers and LeBron James will hide more cracks than you'd ever imagine
Ben isn't one of these immune stars and might never be. For now, it's clear he's quite sensitive to the lineup around him; needing complementary spacing to make it work
When the roster "diet" isn't properly furnished, things can get ugly (he's like a Mogwai who can turn ugly against Boston when playing with G-Leaguers)
In a somewhat small but riveting sample, Simmons thrived when provided a few savvy shoot-first Euro vets, with their and his flaws and all.
There was a limit on the ceiling of the 2017-18 Sixers that the Celtics help create. It'd be nice to see what Simmons might do with an even more capable and dynamic group of shooters going forward.
This is a long thread for not being about international espionage
I'll end this at No. 25, not because it's his #, but because Ben is going to be a fucking problem when he is 25.
Antetokounmpian was the goal
