Wednesday night will be the much anticipated debut of the 2016 NBA Draft First Overall Pick Ben Simmons on the court in NBA regular season.  Simmons, who LeBron James described as a "great young talent - he has all the tools", is expected to be the primary ball handler for the 76ers offense.  His skill set as a multifaceted basketball player along with his team first mentality may be the perfect compliment to the super talented Joel Embiid.

RealGM and FanRag Sports NBA Contributor Keith Smith joined The Sports Bash on Tuesday and discussed what he has seen from Simmons heading into the 2017-18 season:

“(Simmons) really showing he is what we thought he would be last year but with a better body.  He’s in better shape, he looks stronger, he looks even a little quicker than he did before he got hurt which is great to see, that means he worked on things while he was out.  I think he is an extremely intelligent basketball player, high level ball handler and passer; shot still needs work but if he’s elite in other things the shot being not great is something you can work around along as he brings elite levels of play is other facets of the game, (Sixers) are going to be fine….For him to have the ball so much it makes sense, you can see the way they have built the roster around him, getting shooters like JJ Redick.  That’s why Jerryd Bayless is an important part of this team because he knows how to play off somebody.”

Hear what Smith had to say about Joel Embiid, the new look teams in the Western Conference, the Eastern Conference playoff picture, and more NBA talk.

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