Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past month, you know that the Sixers are selecting first overall in Thursday’s NBA Draft. Seconds after the Sixers won the lottery the debate began on Social Media and beyond as to who they should take with the top pick. LSU’s Ben Simmons and Duke’s Brandon Ingram are considered the top two prospects for a wide variety of reasons.
Drafting Ben Simmons, as I see it, would be the absolute wrong player to take for the 76ers. Playing for LSU meant that the quality of teams was substantially lower than if he would have attended a top school like Duke or Kentucky. His numbers are suspect due to the fact that he didn’t play against many players that have the ability to play in the NBA. LSU played only 6 games against ranked teams in the 2015-16 season. During those 6 games Simmons averaged just 13 points, scoring only 10 in two of them. It has been well documented that Simmons is a subpar shooter, and a shooter is something the Sixers desperately need. Simmons may have the ability to drive to the hoop, but only shooting 67% from the free throw line means he will miss out on valuable point for his team. The Sixers already have plenty of question marks going into the season. Can Joel Embiid stay healthy? Will Dario Saric finally come to the NBA from Turkey? Will Saric’s game translate to the NBA? It would be very beneficial to the Sixers to draft a player who can come in year one and be a major offensive contributor and not have to answer questions about his game.
Simmons agent told teams that his client would not be doing pre draft workouts. The last time Simmons played a game was March 12 where he went 4-11 scoring 10 points against Texas A&M. With such a poor performance in his last game it is hard for me to understand why Simmons and his agent wouldn’t work out for the Sixers, and give them zero doubts as to why they should select him first overall. By not working out Simmons is giving his competition like Brandon Ingram a chance to show teams that he has more ability and better qualities to bring to their roster. In a way it shows the arrogance of the former LSU star. Simmons is telling the Sixers that he already knows they are going to take him and doesn’t feel he needs to do any work to prove it to them. The Sixers need a player with a fiery competitive nature, who will do anything necessary for a win to build their team around. Some have said that during the final games at LSU, Simmons mailed it in and didn’t play to the best of his abilities due to the lack of success his team was having. Being drafted by the Sixers would mean that success wouldn’t happen often and may not happen for a while. Does that mean when the going gets tough that Simmons wont play up to his full potential? There have been plenty of players in the past who were drafted by a team they didn’t want to play for and became a problem for the organization.
The Sixers and the city of Philadelphia are starving for a good team. They need a strong-willed quality person and basketball player to build the team around for the future. Brandon Ingram is a guy who has played against top talent in college, and has a seemingly flawless game. Ingram can come in and make an instant impact on all aspects of the game. I love this city and I love this team and I’m long over them playing terrible basketball. It is time for the Sixers to make their way back to the top of the NBA and give Philadelphia a team to be proud of.
