76ers' Ben Simmons 'good to go' for NBA resumption after February back injury

The Philadelphia 76ers are hopeful guard Ben Simmons will be as good as new when the NBA's 22-team format begins at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex on July 30. 

As ESPN's Tim Bontemps wrote, Philadelphia coach Brett Brown provided an update on his 23-year-old young star, who suffered a back injury during the team's Feb. 22 game versus the Milwaukee Bucks.

"He's good to go," Brown said during a Wednesday call with reporters. "He's put in a tremendous amount of work for me to be able to confidently say that." Brown added: 

"As you search for silver linings with this pandemic and the way things have shaped up, it would be hard-pressed for me to find something more obvious than this: It's enabled Ben to reclaim his health. He's good to go, and we look forward to watching him with what I'm told is effectively 100 percent health."

Simmons, a two-time All-Star, averaged 16.7 points, 8.2 assists, 7.8 rebounds, and career-highs in minutes played per night (35.8) and field-goal percentage (58.5) across 54 outings until he suffered the setback weeks before the NBA halted the campaign on March 11 due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

The Sixers open the second part the unprecedented season with an Aug. 1 game versus the Indiana Pacers.