dkj5061 wrote:If any of you have ESPN Insider and want to throw up a little bit, read their latest article "Drafting the Rising Stars Game by Future Potential". Embiid goes first, so nothing surprising there. You'd think Simmons would get picked next, but they were sipping the Donovan Mitchell Kool-Aid so he went 2nd. So obviously, Simmons has to be the third pick right? RIGHT? nope Mike Schmitz, in some strange attempt to defend his original wrong rankings, picked Brandon Ingram 3rd...over Ben Simmons...citing things like "greater physical upside" (wrong) and "skill potential" (even more wrong) and "ability to play four positions" (have they even watched Simmons this season?!). Even Givony jokes that picking Simmons 4th is a bitter pill to swallow, followed up by saying "the jury is still out on Simmons' ability to contribute to winning." These guys are both clowns who are still basing opinions off their terrible college scouting reports.
I see their angle, but yeah they've really just talked themselves sideways. If we're talking just sort of raw potential, Ingram does have a lot of potential and could make several more leaps and become a really really good player if things break right, and Mitchell is already a pretty effortlessly good player on both ends of the court with a ton of room for growth. If everything goes perfect for either, they could easily be all-NBA players in 2-3 years.
The road to Simmons maximizing his potential is a longer and harder one, since he'll need the shot and the finishing in traffic etc. But those guys have always understated how powerful and fast Simmons is, and how much of an advantage that gives him--and how much extra potential it adds on. I honestly don't think we've ever seen a guy his size with his handle, vision, and athleticism, and I think guys like Schmitz just aren't seeing how much that lets Simmons do. I remember reading their original takes on Simmons and thinking to myself 'I know that Stephen A Smith and the rest of he clown car are hyping Simmons too much, but is the DX crew really not seeing how f'in fast and strong this kid is?' I think they bought into their roles of tempering expectations or being the anti-hype machine back then and have stuck to their guns cuz it's a more novel approach. We're probably the only ones who really care, right?
