Doc Rivers Raves About Sixers' Ben Simmons Following Second Practice

The entire NBA knows how good Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons is on the court. After all, he's been named an All-Star twice in his first three seasons since being drafted number one overall in 2015.

Last season, when Doc Rivers was coaching the Los Angeles Clippers, he had some heavy praise for Simmons as he recognized how productive he could be overall -- jump shot or not. Now, Rivers is a part of the Sixers' staff coaching the young veteran.

On Sunday, Rivers ran his first practice as the 76ers head coach. Considering the circumstances this offseason, he mentioned he thought the team looked surprisingly good as a whole. As expected, Simmons stood out with what he considered a "good" practice.

However, on Tuesday, Rivers mentioned that Simmons took his practice performance to another level. "You know, he had a good practice yesterday," Rivers said on Monday in regards to Simmons. "He had an off-the-charts practice today."

"When Ben has the ball, he's very effective in open space. I think we all know that right," Rivers continued. "When Ben doesn't have the ball, we have to make someone guard him every single time. His cuts, slashes, setting picks, he was so active doing that today -- it was amazing. Today, Joel [Embiid] had four or five post-ups where Ben got a dunk, or someone got a three because we have to work against traps with Joel every day. Ben's gonna have a fun year this year."

Last season, Simmons' defensive production oftentimes outshined what he was able to do on offense. This season, the Sixers have added more perimeter shooting threats, which will benefit Simmons and Embiid by creating more space for them on the floor. While we haven't seen it all come together in realtime yet, it sounds like Simmons and Embiid are already having a field day with their new-look roster in practice.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_