Brett Brown sees Simmons as Chris Paul-type point guard

SALT LAKE CITY -- The 76ers are serious about Ben Simmons as their point guard of the future.

Coach Brett Brown said it last week. Then he basically reiterated it after the 6-foot-10, 243-pounder's impressive Utah Summer League debut.  Simmons had 10 points, eight rebounds and five mostly electrifying assists in Monday's loss to the Boston Celtics.

"Everyone gets all twisted on what their version of a point guard is," Brown told NBA.com. "When I say 'point guard' I mean point guard. You've got the ball. You could call him Isiah Thomas, the old Isiah Thomas of my generation. You could call him Chris Paul. I mean point guard point guard. There are times I think that he can be a point guard. Not Draymond Green. Not LeBron [James]. Not Lamar Odom. That's a point forward. I walk both lines at different moments. To start him off, we'll play him as a point forward."

They want Simmons to get rebounds, lead the fast break, and initiate the offense in certain situations when the opportunities permit. The Sixers see Simmons as a locomotive that can pass and handle the ball.

"It wouldn't surprise me, if you fast-forwarded all this a few years where we may sort of declare him a point guard,"  Brown said last week on NBA.com's Hang Time Podcast. "Sometimes in my aggressive wishes, dreams, I say why don't you just give him the ball?"

Follow and contact 76ers beat writer Keith Pompey on Twitter @PompeyOnSixers and on Instagram at PompeyOnSixers