Ben Simmons lost 71 to 38 against Texas A&m

[Moranis]

I believe it was Seth Greenberg on Mike and Mike this morning that said LSU ran a terrible system for Simmons.  He also said neither the coaching staff nor his teammates played to his strengths.  This is the first time LSU has had this sort of thing said about it.  Simmons should have gone to a team with established stars or another super freshman.  It would have served his game much better.

That's just another worrying sign to me. Why choose them? I know there was a family connection but I don't think that would override the desire to win and compete at the highest level he can

Really?   Man, I have known a ton of kids for whom the family connection to a college/university is ALL that matters.   I literally was just in a conversation regarding someone choosing to go to a school solely because their parents and grand parents had gone there.   Heck, some even base their career choice on family history ("My parents are doctors/lawyers and my uncle is a doctor/lawyer and ... so I will become a doctor/lawyer.").

I've seen many of them end up in situations where they regret not making a choice better tuned to who THEY are as individuals.

Simmons isn't really at all unusual in this regard.  He's just a kid who probably was trying to please family with his choice, not having any idea how this last season could end up where it did.

In the end, it is just one year of his life.   This won't define who he is as a person.

I agree.  I was posting the statement because it shows that the problems at LSU probably aren't Simmons fault. 

David Patrick is a LSU's associate head coach.  He played professional in Australia with Dave Simmons (Ben's father) and is so close with Simmons' family that he lived with them for awhile and Dave Simmons refers to him like another son.  He is also Ben's godfather. 

If Ben was going to college in the U.S., LSU was the only school he was going to attend because of Patrick.  The problem is, LSU just isn't a great fit for his skill set because the team just isn't very good.  Simmons is much better suited as a facilitator on a team with other talented players.  I actually have some concerns about him on the Celtics because of that, but if he is available Boston will and probably should take him.  He just has that much talent.

[TheSundanceKid]

I believe it was Seth Greenberg on Mike and Mike this morning that said LSU ran a terrible system for Simmons.  He also said neither the coaching staff nor his teammates played to his strengths.  This is the first time LSU has had this sort of thing said about it.  Simmons should have gone to a team with established stars or another super freshman.  It would have served his game much better.

That's just another worrying sign to me. Why choose them? I know there was a family connection but I don't think that would override the desire to win and compete at the highest level he can

Really?   Man, I have known a ton of kids for whom the family connection to a college/university is ALL that matters.   I literally was just in a conversation regarding someone choosing to go to a school solely because their parents and grand parents had gone there.   Heck, some even base their career choice on family history ("My parents are doctors/lawyers and my uncle is a doctor/lawyer and ... so I will become a doctor/lawyer.").

I've seen many of them end up in situations where they regret not making a choice better tuned to who THEY are as individuals.

Simmons isn't really at all unusual in this regard.  He's just a kid who probably was trying to please family with his choice, not having any idea how this last season could end up where it did.

In the end, it is just one year of his life.   This won't define who he is as a person.

Ok I guess.. I mean I chose my university because amongst other things it was the city my parents grew up in and I had family there. But a regular kid is going for the fun and the partying (and maybe a little bit the education ), a top athlete is going there with his future career in mind too.
What I mean is with Simmons being a top recruit he had first pick of anywhere. I assume he has some desire to win within him. So he can either choose a top program or go to LSU and max them out. I know he's young but so is his competition, if you are determined to win that shows at all levels. He didn't max them out, in fact there were concerns that he checked out of the big games.

So he neither chose the competitive route nor showed signs of trying to make LSU competitive. It's not a reason not to draft him but it should be a concern

[Evantime34]

Simmons like most NBA players needs a great fit in order to excel.

He needs a team with a strong NBA culture, and a team that can space the floor. If he gets on team that has those things (like Boston), I expect him to excel. If he lands on a team like Sacramento that doesn't have the locker room in place to get him to work his hardest then I could see him having problems. If he lands on a team like Philly that has a poor NBA culture and several quality bigs who shrink the floor it's going to be a spectacular fail.

Going second instead of first might be a blessing for his career.

[bdm860]

I believe it was Seth Greenberg on Mike and Mike this morning that said LSU ran a terrible system for Simmons.  He also said neither the coaching staff nor his teammates played to his strengths.  This is the first time LSU has had this sort of thing said about it.  Simmons should have gone to a team with established stars or another super freshman.  It would have served his game much better.

That's just another worrying sign to me. Why choose them? I know there was a family connection but I don't think that would override the desire to win and compete at the highest level he can

Out of all the things to possibly be concerned about with Ben Simmons, going to LSU is not one of them, at least for me.

This idea that it's a red flag that he didn't go to Kentucky, Duke, Connecticut, or some other perennial college powerhouse/NBA factory is a concern?

Is there at least equal concern that Jaylen Brown went to California or Kris Dunn went to Providence then?

If anything, I think I might worry more about a kid just picking the school with the most talented basketball roster regardless of all else.  I really hope that's not a quality Kevin Durant has, or else he's going to be signing with Golden State this summer.  I think this is also the quality that caused LeBron and Bosh to jump ship and go to Miami.  Ray Allen too!

[mmmmm]

I believe it was Seth Greenberg on Mike and Mike this morning that said LSU ran a terrible system for Simmons.  He also said neither the coaching staff nor his teammates played to his strengths.  This is the first time LSU has had this sort of thing said about it.  Simmons should have gone to a team with established stars or another super freshman.  It would have served his game much better.

That's just another worrying sign to me. Why choose them? I know there was a family connection but I don't think that would override the desire to win and compete at the highest level he can

Really?   Man, I have known a ton of kids for whom the family connection to a college/university is ALL that matters.   I literally was just in a conversation regarding someone choosing to go to a school solely because their parents and grand parents had gone there.   Heck, some even base their career choice on family history ("My parents are doctors/lawyers and my uncle is a doctor/lawyer and ... so I will become a doctor/lawyer.").

I've seen many of them end up in situations where they regret not making a choice better tuned to who THEY are as individuals.

Simmons isn't really at all unusual in this regard.  He's just a kid who probably was trying to please family with his choice, not having any idea how this last season could end up where it did.

In the end, it is just one year of his life.   This won't define who he is as a person.

Ok I guess.. I mean I chose my university because amongst other things it was the city my parents grew up in and I had family there. But a regular kid is going for the fun and the partying (and maybe a little bit the education ), a top athlete is going there with his future career in mind too.
What I mean is with Simmons being a top recruit he had first pick of anywhere. I assume he has some desire to win within him. So he can either choose a top program or go to LSU and max them out. I know he's young but so is his competition, if you are determined to win that shows at all levels. He didn't max them out, in fact there were concerns that he checked out of the big games.

So he neither chose the competitive route nor showed signs of trying to make LSU competitive. It's not a reason not to draft him but it should be a concern

I disagree strongly with that distinction.  I really don't see why you think most kids are in college without their 'future career in mind'. 

As for whether he had 'first pick of anywhere' -- per Moranis' comment, he clearly had family and social connections that made LSU a compelling choice (his godfather being one of the associate coaches).

Ultimately, the real farce in this is that he even felt compelled to HAVE to choose a college program to go to in order to pretend to be a "student athlete" for a year because of the one-and-done rule.

He should have been in a real professional minor league system, working on his trade.