When you know you’re the No. 1 pick, what’s the benefit of working out for a team that is going to take you anyway.
That the Philadelphia 76ers are going to take Ben Simmons is about as big a secret as Superman’s secret identity. Everyone knows. There are rumors Simmons’ people would prefer he land with the Lakers, but that is moot, he will be a Sixer. Nerlens Noel didn’t work out for the Sixers. Nor did Jahlil Okafor. Nor did Joel Embiid. If they are going to take him, what is the point of working out for them?
He’s not going to work out for any teams predraft, reports Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.Unless something changes, the 76ers won’t work out Ben Simmons during the NBA predraft process – at least not at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
They are expected to use the first overall pick on the former Louisiana State University power forward. However, Simmons doesn’t plan on working out for NBA teams leading up to the June 23 NBA draft.
“It’s not a red flag,” Sixers president of basketball operation Bryan Colangelo said. “Everybody deals with the draft process differently. Sometimes agents are involved. Sometimes families are involved in those decisions. Again, everything we get in respect to our intel that it relates to Ben, is he would very much like to be selected No. 1.”
Simmons has a ton of potential, but the question is can he reach it, as Rob Dauster pointed out in our breakdown of his game. He is a smooth athlete who has all the skills of a point forward, minus the shooting, but the question is will he be driven enough to put in the work to be great. That remains to be seen. But he’s going to be good either way, and that ceiling makes Simmons a clear No. 1.
The Sixers are taking him. Everything else is just window dressing.