76ers: Ben Simmons' Hard Work on Defense Gets Acknowledged

Philadelphia 76ers veteran Ben Simmons has been named All-Defensive First Team for the 2019-2020 NBA season. The two-time All-Star's latest honor should come as no surprise. At a point, last season, Simmons' defense was becoming hard to miss as he was locking down his opponents on a nightly basis.

Heading into this season, Simmons had a goal of becoming the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year. Before his back injury in February, Simmons' expectations were realistic. As he led the NBA in steals and steals-per-game before going down, the third-year All-Star was indeed in the conversation.

Unfortunately, Simmons missed a good chunk of time before the NBA's regular-season went into a hiatus. Milwaukee Bucks big man Giannis Antetokounmpo ended up being named Defensive Player of the Year, while Simmons placed fourth-overall in the voting. Knowing Simmons was just out of the top three, though, it was becoming clear he would more than likely earn First-Team All-Defensive honors -- and he did, officially.

Without a doubt.

😤 @BenSimmons25 pic.twitter.com/1j4dDS6lPT
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) September 8, 2020

In 57 games this season, Simmons collected an average of 5.8 defensive rebounds-per-game, 0.6 blocks, and 2.1 steals. With his latest honor, Simmons becomes the seventh player in 76ers franchise history to be acknowledged as an All-Defensive First-Team player joining Dikembe Mutombo, Maurice Cheeks, Bobby Jones, Moses Malone, Robert Covington, and Caldwell Jones.

Along with Simmons, Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo, Los Angeles Lakers' Anthony Davis, Utah Jazz's Rudy Gobert, and Boston Celtics' Marcus Smart have all been named as First-Team All-Defensive players as well.

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