Official #1 pick thread: Simmons or Ingram? Merging topics and a Poll

[tk76]

It s interesting to hear Thorpe and some others be so high on Simmons' defensive potential. When he talks about the quick hands, agility and ability to defend multiple position it made me think a bit about Noel. The thought of a C/PF/SF rotation that includes Embiid, Noel, Simmons, Grant, Saric and Covington is very interesting.

I just need to convince myself that Simmons can learn to be a semi-respectable shooter.

[LakersSquad]

if ingram was on LSU they wouldnt of made the tournament either

That remains to be seen, but if Buddy Hield, or Kris Dunn was on that LSU team the Tigers would've been a top 20 school and in the tournament.

Stellar logic, champ

[CoreyGallagher]

It s interesting to hear Thorpe and some others be so high on Simmons' defensive potential. When he talks about the quick hands, agility and ability to defend multiple position it made me think a bit about Noel. The thought of a C/PF/SF rotation that includes Embiid, Noel, Simmons, Grant, Saric and Covington is very interesting.

I just need to convince myself that Simmons can learn to be a semi-respectable shooter.

I still don't know what position he should play or if there could be co-existence with Okafor/Noel, but everything he said about him got me at least excited about the possibility.

[HartfordWhalers]

I just don't really respect Thorpe's scouting takes as a general rule. I wish I did.

[Ericb5]

It s interesting to hear Thorpe and some others be so high on Simmons' defensive potential. When he talks about the quick hands, agility and ability to defend multiple position it made me think a bit about Noel. The thought of a C/PF/SF rotation that includes Embiid, Noel, Simmons, Grant, Saric and Covington is very interesting.

I just need to convince myself that Simmons can learn to be a semi-respectable shooter.

I still don't know what position he should play or if there could be co-existence with Okafor/Noel, but everything he said about him got me at least excited about the possibility.

I think we start him at the 3 and see how it goes.

I would love to get Murray, but not for Okafor straight up. If we can somehow get him with Noel I'm game, but I'd rather hold on the Jahlil to see how it goes unless we get a lot more than just the 3rd pick.

[USWAY]

What in the hell man. Can you stop bringing Towns into this? I don't want to be some other board's punchline...

[NJ SixerFan]

At the very least Simmons would be the end of one of our best plays being give the ball to Jerami and have him barrel to the rim Yolo.

Thanks for brining back the nightmares of Grant euro steps.

[USWAY]

Griffin is an interesting comp and a fairly unique player in that he is at times a ball handler and at other times an elite finisher.

Griffin works great with CP3, but I'm not sure you would look to pair Simmons with a floor general type PG.

He played with D'angelo Russell

Russell isn't a floor general type PG. I think a player like Russell would fit great with Simmons.

[Sixerscan]

Russell didn't play the point in high school also IIFC

FWIW the best stretch of Griffin's career involved Paul being out with an injury.

[PhilasFinest]

Even if Simmons is as good as Lebron at getting into the paint... even Lebron takes a ton of shots outside the paint:
http://vorped.com/1-nba/2014-2015/player/837/lebron-james/

How about Griffin as a shooting comp?:

Simmons has some similarities to Griffin, but he's also a much better ball handler. I think he can be a better jump shooter than Griffin.

[PhilasFinest]

SIMMONS IS NOT LIKE LEBRON.

People need to stop with that comparison. It's lazy. It's just hyping Simmons. He doesn't play like Lebron. He's not as athletic as Lebron. The fact that he's big and he can pass, and that he crashes the lane, is where you can make the comparison.

Lebron was always a wing - heck, he could have played SG when he came into the league. He moves like a wing. He's evolved into a combo forward because he's now 31 years old, rather than 19. He can still guard 1-4 and some 5s.

Simmons comes in as a 3/4 tweaner - along the lines of Luol Deng, Thadeus Young, Jabari Parker, Michael Beasley, Josh Smith, Blake Griffin and Giannis. But unlike Giannis (and unlike Lebron), Simmons can't guard 1-4... he can guard 3's and 4's, and some 5's.

He's not nearly quick enough or athletic enough to guard 1's or 2's on the regular. Zone can help some, but he also lacks the length you'd want to sort of "overcompensate" for lack of quick feet.

Why would Simmons be guarding 1's or 2's?

If he can guard 3-5, thats perfectly fine. Some people can't guard a single position on the floor.

Also, FWIW....While Simmons is like an inch or so taller than LeBron and nowhere near the athlete(nobody is)...they have the same 7.025' Wingspan.

[ProcessDoctor]

Nice video/article on Simmons' defensive potential...take it FWIW

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/Coach15602825/ben-simmons-nba-ceiling

Edit: Saw this was already posted by unbreakable! My bad. Maybe it's worth a 2nd read though

[Winejk]

I'm starting to come off the fence and am now in camp Simmons....for now.

[Unbreakable99]

I'm starting to come off the fence and am now in camp Simmons....for now.

Embrace Simmons. He's the future of the NBA. This is an easy decision.

[joyeuxnoel]

I'm starting to come off the fence and am now in camp Simmons....for now.

Embrace Simmons. He's the future of the NBA. This is an easy decision.

i can see it now: future of the nba is having two point forwards on the same court in saric and simmons surrounded by a 3 and d frontcourt and elite scorers in embiid and okafor to feed in the post, cuts to basket.

saric lobbing it up to simmons, simmons dishing saric for the 3. too much creativity

[mksp]

What if having a non-elite wingspan when you're 6'9"+ contributes to being an elite ballhandler at that size?

[Ericb5]

What if having a non-elite wingspan when you're 6'9"+ contributes to being an elite ballhandler at that size?

Not sure if it is really an advantage, but he is as smooth as butter with the ball.

[tk76]

Funny thing is that regardless of who they pick... opening night the player I'm going to be the most excited to see is Jo-Jo. And I'm really hyped to see Saric as well, even if he does not have superstar potential like these other guys.

It would have been fun to have had young Saric on the team these last few years. Unfortunately, it seems like he's mellowed a bit from his mohawk days:

[ChokeFasncists]

Ingram. When both are real good and neither is the sure thing, draft for need.

Didn't Ingram play PG in HS? He's probably a pretty good passer, the best attribute of Simmons. Ingram is probably the better scorer. This team doesn't need another rebounder.

Drafting Simmons would mean a not so good trade or a logjam.

Embiid (if healthy)
Noel
Saric
Ingram
Lin

6th man: Okafor

Great future!

Jeremy, how long have you been on RealGM?

thx!

I was here since the beginning, 2001? But decided to get another account after getting into the NBA.

I still lean towards Ingram, one reason is that he averaged more blocks than Simmons (1.6 vs 0.9!). But you can't go wrong with either one, me and Simmons on the break would be unguardable!

[ChokeFasncists]

There is risk with Ingram too.

There's risk that he doesn't develop his body.
There's risk that he can't beat guys off the bounce and create space to score at at elite level.
There's risk that he becomes simply a spot up wing that needs someone to create shots for him.

It's not like Ingram is a slam dunk, can miss prospect compared to Simmons.

That's very low, he played PG in HS. Get into the weight room, not too hard. He did put on weight at Duke.