NEW YORK – There may have been drama at the NBA Draft regarding who would go at No. 3, but there was none at the very top.
As expected, LSU freshman sensation Ben Simmons was selected first overall by the Philadelphia 76ers, while Duke freshman wing Brandon Ingram went No. 2 to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Simmons going No. 1 makes it seven years in a row that a one-and-done college star was selected first overall (John Wall, 2010; Kyrie Irving, 2011; Anthony Davis, 2012; Anthony Bennett, 2013; Andrew Wiggins, 2014; Karl-Anthony Towns, 2015). Simmons joins Irving and Andrew Bogut as the only Australian players ever selected first overall.
“I’m happy to be part of the family now,” Simmons said. “It’s a weight off my chest. I’ve been looking forward to this day for a while, so I’m glad I’ve made history, not only for myself but my family and Australian basketball.”
.@BenSimmons25 walks across the stage as the No. 1 selection for @Sixers at the 2016 @NBADraft!https://t.co/b6GLuBxakm
– NBA Draft (@NBADraft) June 24, 2016
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Simmons’ selection at No. 1 became a foregone conclusion earlier this week when the Australia native conducted a private workout for the team on Tuesday. Following the workout, reports surfaced that the team informed Simmons it would select him No. 1 overall.
“It honestly feels like all this pressure just has hopped off me,” he said. “Now I can relax, but now I know where I’m going to be. More importantly, I know where I’m headed and know I can really start working on what I need to work on for the team.”
Sixers fans hope the addition of Ingram will bring an end to the tanking “process” that has made the organization a laughingstock for the past few years. Simmons hopes so, too.
“I’m a part of the family now, so you’ve got to trust it,” he said. “You’ve got to go with it and you’ve got to work hard.”
Simmons tried a Dallesandros cheese steak on Jimmy Fallon earlier this week, and said now he knows he’ll have to find a spot to eat more of them.
“Oh, yeah, cheese steaks,” he said. “I’m going to try a lot of them. I’ve got to find my spot, apparently.
As a point of reference, Sixers head coach Brett Brown coached Simmons’ father, David Simmons, in Australia in the late-1980’s and early-1990’s.
“What you see is a 6-10, 240-pound stud of an athlete,” Brown said on SportsCenter Thursday morning, stopping short of saying the Sixers would draft Simmons. “He’s a perfectly sort of sculptured-type of basketball player. There’s always a guess on what his natural position is, because he does have multiple skills.
“I think his shot is not broken. I think his form is fine, and I think with confidence, that shot could be grown.”
On Wednesday at NBA Draft Media Day, Simmons used the pronoun ‘we’ on multiple occasions when discussing the Sixers.
Assuming they keep Simmons — who averaged 19.2 points and 11.8 rebounds at LSU last season — the Sixers will now have even more of a glut of bigs and forwards with Simmons, Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid and possibly Dario Saric.
That has fueled a number of reports that the franchise was trying to trade either Okafor or Noel to the Boston Celtics (who need a big man) for the rights to the No. 3 pick. But Boston ended up taking Cal small forward Jaylen Brown at No. 3.
ESPN’s Marc Stein reported on Wednesday afternoon that Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge had resisted the Sixers’ pitches, but is actively shopping that third pick.
“Nobody’s trying to fix all of our program problems in one fell swoop,” Brown said. “We feel like there is a step-by-step process that we are prepared to go through, and there will be no reckless moves made in order to skip steps and fix those true problems.”
With the Sixers promising Simmons on Tuesday, ESPN reported Wednesday that the Lakers planned to select Ingram at No. 2. Ingram is Mike Krzyzewski’s fourth top-3 pick since 2011, joining Irving, Jabari Parker (No. 2 in 2014) and Okafor, who went third in 2015.
DraftExpress had Ingram slotted at No. 1 overall for a short time in March, but the athletic, versatile wing spent most of the past seven months at No. 2.
Ingram said he grew up a Kobe Bryant fan and was pleased with his new destination where he will play under new coach Luke Walton.
“Most definitely,” he said. “I think just I grew up being a Kobe fan, of course, before I was a Kevin Durant fan. But of course that’s every kid’s dream. Just my Lakers jersey back at home, and I’m definitely going to take this ride and work the hardest I can to be the best player I can be.”
He will join the Lakers in the post-Bryant Era and will try to rebuild the Lakers with other young stars like Julius Randle, Larry Nance, and D’Angelo Russell.
“I think I fit in that mold just watching those guys over the last season and just knowing they’re young guys but they’re all good guys,” he said. “Just on my visit when I went to my visit, it was a great visit and it was a great workout. I just know those guys will bring me in and we’ll work very hard.”
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