Ben Simmons is NBA Bound Regardless of LSU's Record, so Does Winning Now Matter
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Simmons is a special player. He belongs in the same sentence with Davis and Wall. Too bad he doesn't have a coach to showcase and polish him. So, no, winning at this level isn't important.
I don't know how he feels about it. I somewhat doubt that he enjoys losing.
I feel like I'd be so frustrated if I was him. Winning will certainly make your talents seem exponentially better, so it would kind of make me question his level of competitiveness if he didn't want to play with/against the best, like UK. But what do I know?
this. He has to be eaten up inside to have made such a dumb mistake to go to LSU. Winners want to win and he won't do much of that in that dumpster fire which is LSU under Jones.
I tend to agree, for the most part, and at the same time wonder if he still feels like he made the best choice in schools.
Ben Simmons and Malik Newman are going to do wonders for UK recruiting in the future.
I thought the same thing . . . except we have to have a equally great season to repair their perspective.
I've thought the same thing about several other recruits in the past and it hasn't changed anything. Kids just don't always make the best decisions for themselves.
The difference is the LSU coach isn't fit to be in charge of a 6th grade team. UK has a chance to make a deep run under Cal.
Hmm. Good point. Hadn't thought of that, except that I think they wanted to push themselves against the best in practice, whereas Simmons probably knew he could dominate the LSU practices.
All good points but regardless of where you attend college you would at least like to win right? Why go play where the entire season becomes a struggle?
I do know one thing. LSU will play out of their minds when they face UK and we will all post on how we wish Ben was in blue.
I do know one thing. LSU will play out of their minds when they face UK and we will all post on how we wish Ben was in blue.
"Make no mistake, Jones and his staff had this recruitment surrounded from the beginning. Assistant coach David Patrick served as Simmons lead recruiter and is noted for his contacts in Australia. On top of that, Patrick is Simmons' godfather so he had a long established bond with the big timer that LSU was able to capitalize on".
This is from a rivals article when Simmons committed to LSU. This is why Simmons went there. It wasn't about winning, although I'm sure he thought he'd win no matter where he went.
Sure winning matters to a lot of these kids but more importantly how many of these elite recruits want to work their tail off to get better the one year they are in college and share the spotlight? I'm not sure, but Cal has as good of a track record of getting kids to the league and having success as any college coach that I can remember. He also lets recruits know about the Kentucky "bump" that generally comes with playing at UK and the national publicity.
In this OAD era Cal has done a masterful job of letting these kids know that Kentucky is a players 1st program, but in exchange the kids we get usually end up putting the name on the front of the jersey ahead of themselves for the time they are here. I don't think the OAD mindset would work at a place like Kentucky otherwise.
Not every elite recruit wants to be that invested to a place they're just going to be at for one year. A lot of them just want to go some place, compete, hopefully win, and move on. They want to showcase their skills and let the chips fall where they may.
This is from a rivals article when Simmons committed to LSU. This is why Simmons went there. It wasn't about winning, although I'm sure he thought he'd win no matter where he went.
Sure winning matters to a lot of these kids but more importantly how many of these elite recruits want to work their tail off to get better the one year they are in college and share the spotlight? I'm not sure, but Cal has as good of a track record of getting kids to the league and having success as any college coach that I can remember. He also lets recruits know about the Kentucky "bump" that generally comes with playing at UK and the national publicity.
In this OAD era Cal has done a masterful job of letting these kids know that Kentucky is a players 1st program, but in exchange the kids we get usually end up putting the name on the front of the jersey ahead of themselves for the time they are here. I don't think the OAD mindset would work at a place like Kentucky otherwise.
Not every elite recruit wants to be that invested to a place they're just going to be at for one year. A lot of them just want to go some place, compete, hopefully win, and move on. They want to showcase their skills and let the chips fall where they may.
I'd say yes and no. No in the sense that he'll be a multimillionaire in seven months because he's just that good. Yes in the sense that I can't imagine he enjoys losing and odds are, he's going to end up in a Sixers or Lakers uniform, which means he likely wouldn't be winning many NBA games his first two or three years in the league.
I wouldn't let jones assist me with my 8/9 yr olds & def not my own boys. Has anyone done less with all the talent he's had there?? Lsu must be an awesome play to attend college cause there's no way he can be the reason big time recruits go there.
I won't be the one who accuses him of cheating, so maybe Johnny Jones is one of those guys who is clueless when it comes to coaching but terrific at relating to recruits and knowing exactly what to say to them when he sells them on playing at LSU. Perhaps I'm wrong as I don't follow LSU basketball very closely, but if I'm right, he wouldn't be the first coach like this nor would he be the last one.
I feel like I'd be embarrassed that my team sucks. The best competitors want to win at all times and losing is unacceptable. Of course, I don't think they are gonna be this bad all season. It's still early and they are trying to figure things out.
How many games did Texas lose when Durant was there? Might want to look that up. Was it his fault?
It's definitely better if a great player is a proven winner, but one year in college is no real test. The test comes in the NBA, when a team has a chance to build around a player over the course of years. If that proves to be difficult (ala Carmelo Anthony), then the player needs to look in the mirror. For now, though, while you can question where Simmons decided to play his 1 year of college ball, the quality of his team is pretty irrelevant.
It's definitely better if a great player is a proven winner, but one year in college is no real test. The test comes in the NBA, when a team has a chance to build around a player over the course of years. If that proves to be difficult (ala Carmelo Anthony), then the player needs to look in the mirror. For now, though, while you can question where Simmons decided to play his 1 year of college ball, the quality of his team is pretty irrelevant.
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Texas lost 10 games and went out in the Round of 32 with Durant. No way that was his fault when he averaged almost 26 points, 11 boards and 2 blocks/steals per game. Surprising they couldn't win more with not only him, but also D.J. Augustin. Says more about Rick Barnes than anything.
Yep.
And the reality is that A LOT of players aren't really fans of the game- they're too busy actually playing it. I'm sure they all have general impressions about schools and coaches, but they don't know the details to anywhere near the same extent as a well-informed fan. They don't spend a hell of a lot of time analyzing.
What Simmons knew about LSU was that his godfather was there, and his godfather was telling him that LSU would be able to get some other good players around him. Which is more or less true, the problem being that the margin between winning in losing gets smaller as you get to higher levels. Good, at the highest level of D1 basketball, isn't always good enough. Especially when Johnny Jones is coaching the team.
Some of these guys could get a nice contract to go play for a year in Europe. Anyone know why more players like a Simmons doesn't do that?
LSU doesn't care about basketball. They won't fire him unless the buyout is at 0 dollars. Can't waste money that could go towards tackling dummies. At worst, they let someone hire him away like TCU did their last basketball coach.
I am sure Simmons know what a mistake he made listening to his Godfather a professor at LSU.
Another quote about simmons from him, poor kid had delusions of grandeur:
Simmons — a 6-foot-8 power forward from Australia — will instead play for Louisiana State, a school that hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament in five years.
"That's the type of school I want to go to," Simmons said last week. "I want to go to school where I can help build the start of something new. I know they had great players back in the day, you know, like Shaq and Pistol Pete. I just want to be one of those guys that's remembered for helping build LSU."
Simmons — a 6-foot-8 power forward from Australia — will instead play for Louisiana State, a school that hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament in five years.
"That's the type of school I want to go to," Simmons said last week. "I want to go to school where I can help build the start of something new. I know they had great players back in the day, you know, like Shaq and Pistol Pete. I just want to be one of those guys that's remembered for helping build LSU."
Funny he mentions Pistol Pete and Shaq - both were national player of the year in college, Pete never made the tournament, and Shaq had two NCAA wins in his career.
Exactly how good did he think he was going to be?!?!?
I am sure Simmons did not think he would be losing this much. Most elite athletes have supreme confidence in their abilities to help their teams win.
Or maybe, just maybe, he had connections with the staff and wanted to go there. Crazy, I know.
This was in my post above and it's the reason he went to LSU, it's from a rivals article when he committed:
"Make no mistake, Jones and his staff had this recruitment surrounded from the beginning. Assistant coach David Patrick served as Simmons lead recruiter and is noted for his contacts in Australia. On top of that, Patrick is Simmons' godfather so he had a long established bond with the big timer that LSU was able to capitalize on".
"Make no mistake, Jones and his staff had this recruitment surrounded from the beginning. Assistant coach David Patrick served as Simmons lead recruiter and is noted for his contacts in Australia. On top of that, Patrick is Simmons' godfather so he had a long established bond with the big timer that LSU was able to capitalize on".
Winning is a team accomplishment, not an individual one. Jordan didn't win any championships during his most productive seasons. That changed once he started playing with Pippen, Grant, and Rodman.
LSU plays no defense and has just a few players with TS%'s over 50. Quarterman is ok, like expected, but Blakeney's performance so far has been especially terrible. Adding Hornsby and Victor should bolster that underwhelming supporting cast for Simmons. I mean, it can't get much worse.
LSU plays no defense and has just a few players with TS%'s over 50. Quarterman is ok, like expected, but Blakeney's performance so far has been especially terrible. Adding Hornsby and Victor should bolster that underwhelming supporting cast for Simmons. I mean, it can't get much worse.
FTFY.
It clearly matters to Simmons. No one wants to lose like they have and every player in the nation wants to not only go to the NCAA, but win some games in it.
Winning certainly matters. I am sure Simmons hates that his coach is inept. However, he was going to LSU due to the family connection and that was that. He's so good it will not matter as NBA execs can diagnose why they suck (and it's not the talent) and they will draft him more than likely at 1 because he's so damn talented and has a unique skill-set for 6'10".
Where winning DOES matter in a financial sense is for players who are borderline 1st rounders and the "rising tide raising all the boats" (aka the Kentucky Effect). MKG may not have went 2nd overall had UK not won as much and in the fashion they did. Orton would not have been a 1st rounder and Bledsoe would have more than likely needed to stay an extra year had the 2010 Cats not won so much.
Where winning DOES matter in a financial sense is for players who are borderline 1st rounders and the "rising tide raising all the boats" (aka the Kentucky Effect). MKG may not have went 2nd overall had UK not won as much and in the fashion they did. Orton would not have been a 1st rounder and Bledsoe would have more than likely needed to stay an extra year had the 2010 Cats not won so much.
