Ben Simmons

[RationalGaze]

LSU was supposed to be terrible.
And were leading the SEC conference late in the year.

Nah Kentucky won 7 of their last 9 regular season games and would be 8 of 9 if not for the technical on Humphries. A&M are ready for the tournament. LSU just fell off as this season has wound down.

[RationalGaze]

Hornsby wasnt out all year. He played the majority of this year and they added Blakeney. So they lost their frontcourt from last year and replaced it with Simmons and Victor. So they have the same team but different frontcourt, but I think everyone would choose this year's frontcourt compared to last year.

Losing Hornsby hurt them the rest of the way and the m&m bros had better chemistry than Ben and Victor. Anyone who saw Mickey and Martin would choose them over the front court this year. LSU fans were actually excited if they were going to return this year, but they got drafted.

Ya but it's not like they looked like a tourney team when hornsby was playing. And I agree Mickey and Martin we're great together. I also think it's a huge indictment on Simmons if someone would rather choose mickey and Martin over Simmons and Victor. And it's not like Victor is some scrub. If Simmons is the next great player, the frontcourt with Simmons should be the frontcourt everyone would choose over a front court with a late 1st rounder and a 2nd rounder

Chemistry will always trump individual talent, but I'm not anointing Simmons as the next great pick. He's got a few red flags, but with a better coach to utilize him he'll flourish much better as long as he meets that head coach halfway. I've got Ingram number 1 and can see Dragan being the best player this draft, but Simmons can be built so long as he works hard.

[Duke4life831]

LSU was supposed to be terrible.
And were leading the SEC conference late in the year.

LSU was not supposed to be terrible this year. LSU made the Tourney last year and only lost Mickey and Martin. They then went on to add Simmons, Blakeney and Victor. Blakeney was a 5 star freshman and Victor is a Soph who was a top 40 prospect last year. LSU was ranked 19th to start the beginning of the year.

[saintEscaton]

LSU will probably turn down the NIT bid, this may affect his stock if Ingram shows out in the NCAA tourney. Could narrow the gap, but I think the unanimous hypetrain will prevent him form being dethroned.

[splendidham]

Apparently jones had to get a psychologist in twice to get everybody on board due to chemistry issues.
https://www.sny.tv/college-recruiting/news/after-epic-loss-ben-simmons-poised-to-become-first-no-1-pick-whose-team-misses-tournament-since-1998/167208062


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[nurseryc]

With all the talk about how bad Ben played in the loss against Texas A&M where he only put up 10 points and 12 rebounds, Simmons has still has been much much better than Brandon Ingram over a large period of games and especially over his last 12.

Let's look at Ingram's last 12 games and you'll be shocked to see that he has only made 62 of his last 173 field goals taken.

That is an absolutely dreadful percentage for such a large volume of shots he is continuing to take per game.

We are all focussing on Simmons because of his incredibly high expectations but what we are all missing is that Ingram has been really really bad shooting the ball atrociously for a long stretch of games now. Again in Ingram's last game he shot just 5/16 from the field (33%) in a Duke loss.

The difference between the two is that Simmons has to play incredible and put up video game like numbers just to give LSU a chance o win where as Ingram can shoot extremely poorly for a large 12 game stretch yet his team still wins most games in that time due to Duke's other players being able to make shots and convert at decent percentages effectively taking the focus away from Ingrams terrible shooting in that time having made only 62 of his last 173 shots.

[seorang]

I think he can be a Blake Griffin level player, not the very best but definitely a Top 10 player. He is the No.1 pick too.... forget Ingram.

[EMG518]

LSU was supposed to be terrible.
And were leading the SEC conference late in the year.

LSU was not supposed to be terrible this year. LSU made the Tourney last year and only lost Mickey and Martin. They then went on to add Simmons, Blakeney and Victor. Blakeney was a 5 star freshman and Victor is a Soph who was a top 40 prospect last year. LSU was ranked 19th to start the beginning of the year.

"Only losing Mickey and Martin", those two put LSU on their backs last year and carried them to the tourney. LSU was not suppose to be terrible, but they were not suppose to be good either. I think they ended up around where expectations were coming into the season.

[Duke4life831]

LSU was supposed to be terrible.
And were leading the SEC conference late in the year.

LSU was not supposed to be terrible this year. LSU made the Tourney last year and only lost Mickey and Martin. They then went on to add Simmons, Blakeney and Victor. Blakeney was a 5 star freshman and Victor is a Soph who was a top 40 prospect last year. LSU was ranked 19th to start the beginning of the year.

"Only losing Mickey and Martin", those two put LSU on their backs last year and carried them to the tourney. LSU was not suppose to be terrible, but they were not suppose to be good either. I think they ended up around where expectations were coming into the season.

Again they were ranked 19th coming into the season. They are nowhere near the expectations people had. And they replaced Mickey and Martin with what a ton of people on here say is a lock to be an NBA superstar and a sophomore that was a top 40 prospect and a 5 star wing.

[No-Man]

LSU was not supposed to be this bad, the blame is on the coaching for sure, although they have had issues with injuries in some key players and Victor was out for a while too.

[EMG518]

LSU was not supposed to be terrible this year. LSU made the Tourney last year and only lost Mickey and Martin. They then went on to add Simmons, Blakeney and Victor. Blakeney was a 5 star freshman and Victor is a Soph who was a top 40 prospect last year. LSU was ranked 19th to start the beginning of the year.

"Only losing Mickey and Martin", those two put LSU on their backs last year and carried them to the tourney. LSU was not suppose to be terrible, but they were not suppose to be good either. I think they ended up around where expectations were coming into the season.

Again they were ranked 19th coming into the season. They are nowhere near the expectations people had. And they replaced Mickey and Martin with what a ton of people on here say is a lock to be an NBA superstar and a sophomore that was a top 40 prospect and a 5 star wing.

I get that they were ranked 19th coming into the season, 9 of the 25 preseason ranked teams are no longer ranked, 36%, these rankings are not concrete, they are never the same at the end of the year and the rankings are derived from a small group of people which don't necessarily represent the view of the masses. LSU lost their two best players and the leaders of the team, both nba talents and replaced them with a few freshman. The ranking was not an accurate ranking in my opinion, last years team wasnt even ranked. Should they have made the tourney, I think so but they didnt miss it by much and I wouldnt have expected them to make it past the first week. They slightly underachieved in my eyes by missing the tourney but still were close to expectations in my eyes.

[laika]

No #1 pick that has missed the NCAA tournament has ever gone on to be a superstar.

I realize that this is a small sample size, but there are enough examples that it isn't meaningless. Also, the SEC was unusually bad this year so Simmons doesn't even have the excuse of playing in a tough conference. Of course Simmons could easily prove to be the exception to the rule but this is a red flag. Not enough to pick him lower because this draft is looking pretty lousy, but it should temper expectations some.

LaRue Martin 1972
Doug Collins 1973
Mychal Thompson 1978
Ben Simmons 2016

[Rastas]

Ben gets a good rest now after one of the all time best freshman regular seasons ever .
Not too sad LSU missed the dance , besides Ben is about to start his pro career which will be a lot more exciting.
About to sign a mega shoe deal that should transform his life forever .
Oh and the no1 pick in this years draft.
Looking forward to following his pro career no matter where he ends up ( kid is special ).
P.S. Hope the shoe company nudges Ben into playing in Rio so I can watch a possible Simmons vs Lebron match up since both US and Australia are in the same group.

[Rastas]

No #1 pick that has missed the NCAA tournament has ever gone on to be a superstar.

I realize that this is a small sample size, but the above statement is true. Also, the SEC was unusually bad this year so Simmons doesn't even have the excuse of playing in a tough conference. Of course Simmons could easily prove to be the exception to the rule but this is a red flag. Not enough to pick him lower because this draft is looking pretty lousy, but it should temper expectations some.

LaRue Martin 1972
Doug Collins 1973
Mychal Thompson 1978
Ben Simmons 2016

Guess all those shoe companys about to throw $100m at the kid didn't see any of those red flags your talking about!

[Brapman]

As I see it, Ben Simmons has returned to earth - he's no longer a can't miss superstar project, to be considered in the same breath with Anthony Davis and LeBron. He's got HUGE holes in his game.

That means that if he's the top rated prospect, it's a pretty weak-tea draft at the top. I don't know that this is a draft with strength (Tier 1 or even Tier 2) at its top, and I don't think it's a deep Tier 3 or Tier 4 draft either. There are always exceptions - or at least there usually are exceptions. And Simmons and Ingram and Bender might prove themselves to be all that someday down the road. But I'd take the 2015 class at the top, the lottery and into the second round every time over what this 2016 class is shaping up to be.

[miltk]

franchise player my @ss!!!!!!! LOL

they just got bounce by almost double their score. 2 less wins that last year.

and please, no "no help on lsu". we're talking collegeball, and the runaway #1draft pick/supposed franchise player/next big thing.
he'll get drafted by the sixers and play like cr@p on a bad team, and we'll be talking about the new empty stat filler.

[crazy_me_87]

Yeah right.. one "meh" Game at the end of the year where his whole Team was brutal...

That does not change a thing in his long term Potential.
LSU was not going to make the Tournament.. it was not expected.

"Huge flaws" .. he has one flaw.. his jumper and that could very well already be better than we expect because he just never used it. that does not mean he cant! His Coach said it was by design.

And to bash a 19yo Kid for a lack of Leadership.. and bash him for not beeing able to drag his horrible Team to the Tournament on his own?.. oh guys... alot of people here seem to not understand NBA Prospect Scouting or College Basketball..

What should he have done? his Team shot 16% !!! SIXTEEN percent.. Not even a Lebron gone to college could have overcome that.
And people really want to bash him for what? beeing a Kid and looking to faar ahead right now? he is obviously already thinking to his NBA days.. and who can blame him..

And College Ball is not build for 1 Player to dominate and drag his Team by himself. Ben was used horribly.. its like Pre and Post Point Guard Giannis.

And to answer the question of one Poster above.. yes he will be the No1 Pick ... unless a guy like Ingram goes 30/7/3 through the Tournament. This draftclass is lacking Megastar talent. You have Ben,Ingram as clear All Star/Superstar Potential guys.. then a few guys who could become great but also have bust Potential(Bender,Skal) and a bunch of decent guys who will be solid NBA Pros but dont project as something special(Brown,Raab,Dunn,Hield,Murray)

[Brapman]

Chad Ford now reporting that many, not all, scouts are having second thoughts about him. Shooting and attitude both are now red flags.

[Snotbubbles]

The LSU coach should be fired on the spot. They don't run any offensive sets. Just standing around, no motion. Even a half decent coach could have gotten this LSU team into the tournament.

[Agnostifarian]

Chad Ford now reporting that many, not all, scouts are having second thoughts about him. Shooting and attitude both are now red flags.

Three years from now, Chad Ford will rank Ben Simmons #6 or #11 or #31...