Without a doubt, the best player to come out of Australia in recent memory is Ben Simmons. The young forward has all the skills needed to succeed in today’s NBA as a legit facilitator and a guy who can create for teammates. He’s big, strong, smart, he’s a skilled passer, he can rebound the ball and he usually makes the smart plays when needed. While his shooting definitely needs to be improved, he still has some top-notch skills that undoubtedly makes him the top prospect in the 2016 NBA Draft.
In preparation for the draft, Simmons has elected to skip the 2016 Olympics in Rio and he will not participate in any training camps or practices for Australia for these Olympics.
Following from Chris Broussard of ESPN.
“Ben Simmons will postpone playing with the Australian Olympic team this summer in order to concentrate fully on his NBA activities following the upcoming 2016 NBA draft,” Simmons’ agent, Rich Paul, said in a statement.
“Australian Olympic Team training and competition takes place at the same time as the various NBA summer development programs, and therefore, Ben will look forward to his national team participation at some time later in his career.”
This news comes just a couple of weeks after Simmons elected to drop out of school early and move out to Phoenix. It’s clear, Ben Simmons is focused on his NBA future and the NBA draft and under his new representation in the Klutch Sports Group, Simmons is being steered in that direction. Andrew Bogut might be a little upset with this news.
