The legend of Philadelphia 76ers Ben Simmons is growing. Literally.
Listed at 6’10”, the point forward is apparently even taller now. Best of all, this news comes via World B. Free. Yes, him.
Here’s SB Nation’s Kyle Neubeck with the deets:
World B. Free was recently honored by the Cleveland Cavaliers during a game against the 76ers, and after he was honored he took some time to talk to the Cavs broadcast team. As it turns out, he claimed young Sixers forward Ben Simmons and his size.
Free was asked about Simmons’ potential to play point guard at his size, and he claimed that Simmons is now bigger than when he entered the league:
“It seems like Ben Simmons grew about two inches since he’s been here. I told him that the other day, I said Ben, you look like you’ve grown another two inches since you’ve been here.
“He’s long, he’s lean, he’s in shape. When I watch him in practice — just in practice — he’s like a baby Magic Johnson. He’s practiced with LeBron, he has worked out with LeBron, so LeBron is probably going to beat him up and make him strong.”
And guess what?
We now have confirmation this is true:
Can confirm Ben Simmons is just under 7'.
— Jon Johnson (@jonjohnsonwip) April 6, 2017
So yeah, this is terrifying. Simmons is basically a seven-foot Draymond Green. Which is absurd. If he ever develops a consistent jumper, we’ll run out of adjectives to describe him and players to which to compare him.
Granted, he needs to actually take the court first. He’s missed his entire rookie season while recovering from a fractured foot. The Sixers have been non-committal, at best, about whether he’ll play in the summer league, and it’s safe to say they’ll treat him with kid gloves, knowing what’s transpired with Joel Embiid.
In the meantime, we get to marvel at his growth, while wondering whether he’s done or if we might soon have a Kristaps Porzingis-sized Draymond on our hands.
