Summer League offers first look at budding Brown-Simmons rivalry

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SALT LAKE CITY – The idea that a rivalry can be established in Summer League is just plain crazy talk.

But there doesn’t appear to be a whole lot of love between Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons and Boston’s Jaylen Brown who were selected with the No. 1 and No. 3 picks, respectively, in last month’s NBA draft.

Celtics assistant coach Micah Shrewsberry recognized early on that Monday’s 102-94 Celtics win over the Sixers was a game in which Brown was focused – maybe too focused – on playing his best against Simmons.

Brown still managed to finish with 16 points, six rebounds, two assists and a pair of blocked shots.

“This is a hyped up matchup,” Shrewsberry said. “He (Brown) gets a chance to guard Ben Simmons the number one pick. He was trying just a little too hard.”

Prior to the game, Simmons talked about dealing with players who see him as a measuring stick and try their best to out-perform him.

I asked Simmons what does he do to guard against trying to do too much against players who may be looking to make a name for themselves against him.

“Win” was Simmons’ initial response to my question.

He then added, “We have to build chemistry and win; that’s the biggest thing for me. I’m not focusing on anybody in particular that we’re playing.”

Still, that didn’t prevent the two of them from having an occasional verbal exchange on the floor in Monday’s game prior to Simmons having to leave with two cramps in each calf.

He still managed a near double-double of 10 points and eight rebounds, not to mention dishing out five assists with just one turnover.

“Everyone wants to put a label to it but he’s a basketball player,” said Sixers assistant coach Billy Lange who is coaching Philadelphia’s summer league squad in Salt Lake City. “He’s a really good basketball player and this is Summer League, so there is still a long journey ahead. I think that anyone that has watched enough basketball sees a skillset there that is really exciting and that skillset involves ball-handling, dribbling, driving and looking to score.”

Brown acknowledged Monday’s game had a little more riding on it in his mind in part because he would be facing off at times against Simmons.

It’s not all that surprising to hear Brown speak like that about his fellow 19-year-old.

Last week at a Celtics community relations event, Brown dunked on a youngster whom Brown said told him that Ben Simmons was a better player.

“I didn’t see that until now,” Simmons, grinning, said when told about Brown’s dunk. “It is what it is.”

Brown is an extremely confident player, but after the game he was quick to praise the play of Simmons.

“He had a good game,” Brown said of Simmons. “He played well.  But we got the win today. We’re the better team.”

When asked about his approach to playing Simmons, Brown said, “just play hard, lock him up. Try to keep him off the glass. Try to attack him on the offensive end. He doesn’t like to guard, so try to attack on the offensive end, things like that.”

This is going to be a lot of fun to watch in the coming years.
 

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