Can Ben Simmons average a triple double this season? It’s actually very possible

Ben Simmons finished his first game of the 2018-19 NBA season with 19 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists, four steals and two blocks. Yeah, the 76ers got whooped by the Celtics in the season opener, 105-87, but Simmons’ performance was a reminder just how dominant and transcendent a talent he projects to be for the rest of his career.

Simmons was so good and impacted so many areas of the game that it’s easy to wonder: Can he be the next player after Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook to average a triple double for an entire season.

After what we saw from the Sixers’ young star on Tuesday night, it’s entirely possible, so long as certain things go his way.

Can’t average a triple double without at least 10 points, and that shouldn’t be a problem for Simmons, who can get to the rim virtually whenever he wants.

Much like with LeBron James, Simmons is so powerful on the break that there aren’t very many things a defender can do to slow him down. Even if teams throw two defenders at him, he’s liable to split that double team, then throw it down at the rim.

He still has limitations in his game. Shooting jumpers isn’t a thing yet, and defenders will sag off him until he earns their respect from beyond 15 feet. But if Simmons wants to average a triple double this season, scoring should be the least of his worries.

This one is a little tricky. Simmons snagged 15 boards in the first game of the season, but how likely is he to continue ripping rebounds from the sky when he shares the floor with Joel Embiid, another ruthless rebounder who finished with 10?

Actually, there are only a handful of teams in recent memory we found that had two players to average double-digit rebounding on the same teams. Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins were on pace to do so last season before Boogie’s torn Achilles sidelined him for the season. The most comparable to Simmons and Embid? The 1996-97 Rockets that had Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley on the floor at the same time.

Some other examples.

1984-85 and 1985-86 76ers: Charles Barkley and Moses Malone
1993-94 and 1994-95 Spurs: Dennis Rodman and David Robinson
2011-12 Lakers: Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol
2014-15 Pistons: Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe

Other notable double-digit rebounding duos include Robert Parish and Larry Bird; Antonio McDyess and Danny Fortson; rookie Tim Duncan and David Robinson; Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley; Vlade Divac and Chris Webber; Otis Thorpe and Hakeem Olajuwon; Dikembe Mutombo and Greg “Cadillac” Anderson; Karl Malone and Mark Eaton; Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson; Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon; Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes; and Bill Walton and Maurice Lucas. That’s 17 right off the bat, and we havent’t even finished our search.

Damn that’s a lot more than we thought.

There were even instances of teams with three (St. Louis Hawks) and four (San Diego Rockets) double-digit rebounders both back in the 1967-68 season. What kind of cheat code were those guys playing with?

Still, these are only a limited number of instances among an infinite number of NBA player combinations. A set of two double-figure rebounders on one team is rare. If Simmons is going to average a triple double, he and Embiid will have to join this list of teammates to average 10+ boards.

Simmons was only two assists shy of recording a triple double in the season opener, and that’s an impressive total against a stingy Celtics defense. Need another impressive number? I’ve got you covered.

Simmons passed the ball 88 times on Tuesday night, according to Second Spectrum data provided by NBA.com. That’s significantly more passes than Kyrie Irving, Stephen Curry, Dennis Schroder and Draymond Green — and rightfully so.

But even more impressive were the number of potential assists. Second Spectrum tabbed 27 of Simmons’ 88 passes as ones that could have led to a scoring opportunity. TWENTY-SEVEN POTENTIAL ASSISTS. (For reference, Russell Westbrook led the league last year with an average of just over 20 potential assists per game).

Unfortunately for Simmons, his teammates shot 5-of-26 (19.2 percent) from three-point range and just 39 percent from the field as altogether.

The Sixers also missed Wilson Chandler and Mike Muscala to injury, two shot-makers they’ll welcome back with open arms. Against teams that aren’t as defensively sound as Boston, Simmons shouldn’t have an issue picking up double-figure assists.

Triple doubles are rare. Only the best can pull one off in a game, and only two in basketball history — Robertson and Westbrook — have averaged one over an entire NBA season.

Simmons has a chance to join that group. The scoring and rebounding, he can control. The assists? Well, as long as Philly doesn’t shoot 19 percent from three all season, Simmons has as good a chance as anyone.