Talk about the Lakers’ prospects for the 2016 NBA Draft has been non-stop, but that talk shouldn’t include Ben Simmons
If they keep their pick, the Los Angeles Lakers will be picking in the top-3 in the 2016 NBA Draft. In that position, you not only need a great fit skill-wise, but you also need a great person with a positive team attitude.
This will be a hugely unpopular opinion, but LSU forward Ben Simmons is not ready for the NBA, skilled or not. He should have gone to play for a school where he played alongside equally skilled players if he wanted to go to the NCAA tournament and if the NIT isn’t good enough for him (LSU declined an NIT invite). Colin Cowherd agreed, going on a rant on his radio show about how Simmons should have gone to a bigger program.
Maybe Simmons should stay in school another year or transfer to a school with a stronger tradition and pedigree to get experience playing with more skilled players. But he won’t do that—he’s entering the 2016 NBA Draft.
More from Lake Show Life
- Darvin Ham adds to Max Christie hype train after Lakers preseason opener
- Is LeBron James playing tonight? Latest Lakers vs Warriors update
- Can Darvin Ham put all of the Lakers puzzle pieces together?
- Lakers news: Darvin Ham knows his fifth starter, LeBron James and Rui Hachimura, Jalen Hood-Schifino praise
- Michael Malone’s painfully ironic comment has Lakers fans heated
In the draft (assuming they keep their pick), the Lakers need size, dominance in the paint, and a great rebounder that can share the ball. Adding someone who can score 20 or more points per game wouldn’t hurt either. They need a team player, someone who fits in nicely with his personality and his skills. What they don’t need is a self-centered rookie that needs to learn how to lead a team to victory. Simmons fits the bill athletically and statistically, but we all know it takes more than that to make it in the NBA.
Subsequently, he is not the right pick for the Lakers in the 2016 NBA Draft.
You don’t need someone who bows out of a competition just because they don’t feel worthy of the honor bestowed on your team. You don’t need a player who brings down a team and puts himself before the team before he even gets into the NBA. You don’t need a player who can’t carry his team in the NCAA. If he is the star, he should be able to carry his team to wins.
All of that is just part of the case as to why Ben Simmons is not your guy. Not only did he and his team suffer due to his academic struggles, the game of basketball seems to be all about Ben Simmons and not his team. If he cared about his team he wouldn’t have let his grades slip. He would have found a way to invigorate his teammates to win more games and he certainly wouldn’t have bowed out of the NIT Championship.
More from Lakers Draft
- 2024 mock draft has Pelicans forcing LeBron James to leave Lakers
- Re-drafting 2021 class: Where does Lakers’ Austin Reaves land?
- NBA Rumors: Lakers nearly made extremely risky move in 2023 NBA Draft
- The Los Angeles Lakers’ dream team if they nailed every draft pick
- Lakers draft pick is already getting compared to massive LA fan favorite
He could have really gone out a hero and showed the world his heart. Everyone wanted to watch more of Simmons and wouldn’t it have been nice to see him dominate in the NIT ? No one is going to get that chance now.
Could it be that he was worried he wouldn’t perform? Why did he back down from the challenge? Certainly he knew going in that his team wasn’t NCAA Tournament caliber. Did that mean he thought he could get them there? Because he didn’t.
Before his lone college season started in 2015, he stated in an interview with Draft Express on Simmons pre-season weaknesses, what he was looking for in an NBA Coach. He said, “I think the right coach is one who will let me play my game and that’s to be a point forward,” Simmons said, “I can run the point at the same time I can go down low, I’m just a big guy. So that’s a problem for the other team.” Mostly you don’t hear humble players talk about themselves in this way.
Why all the hype?
Wouldn’t the Lakers want exciting Cal Golden Bears big man Ivan Rabb, who is a great teammate? How about a 6-11 Skal Labissiere, a fluid athlete that has superb footwork? How about a sleeper international star like 7-0 Dragan Bender from Israel that could be the next Kristaps Porzingis?
It took Byron Scott almost two-thirds of the season to get D’Angelo Russell, who actually took his Ohio State Buckeyes to the Big Dance last year, to play team ball in the NBA. Julius Randle was part of the team for a whole season (though he was out with injury) and was also playing selfish basketball for a while.
Next: Ingram Jumps Simmons In Latest DraftExpress Mock
Now that the young Lakers are playing team basketball, things have mostly turned around. They finally earned back-to-back wins, even with Kobe Bryant coming in and out of the lineup. Going forward, they need a personality who will fit with the young team they have in place and help them grow.
The Lakers need a leader, a coachable team-player. That player is not Ben Simmons.