#1 NBA pick Ben Simmons rips the NCAA and the 'one and done' system
 

http://www.cbssports.com/college-bas...entley-at-lsu/

In a new documentary that will air at 9 p.m. ET on Friday on Showtime, Philadelphia 76ers rookie and No. 1 pick in the 2016 draft Ben Simmons rips the NCAA for what he feels is exploitation of him in preventing him from being paid for his play at LSU. Transcript from ESPN:


"The NCAA is really f---ed up," Simmons said on "One and Done," a film that will air on Showtime on Friday night. "Everybody's making money except the players. We're the ones waking up early as hell to be the best teams and do everything they want us to do and then the players get nothing. They say education, but if I'm there for a year, I can't get much education."

"[Coach] Jones said, 'We need to make up a punishment if you miss another class,'" Simmons said. "I missed my next class about preparing for better study habits. I'm going to the NBA next season. Why bull---- if it's not going to help me?"

"The NCAA is messed up," Simmons said. "I don't have a voice. ... I don't get paid to do it. Don't say I'm an amateur and make me take pictures and sign stuff and go make hundreds of thousands of millions of dollars off one person. ... I'm going off on the NCAA. Just wait, just wait. I can be a voice for everybody in college. I'm here because I have to be here [at LSU]. ... I can't get a degree in two semesters, so it's kind of pointless. I feel like I'm wasting time."

He's absolutely right. Something needs to be done to fix the problem. It's never going to happen though.

What does the NCAA have to do with the NBA not allowing kids to enter the league straight out of high school?

He needs to blame the NBA. The NCAA has no control over that. NBA needs to make it like the NFL in that you need to have been in college for 3 years. Either that, or don't require it at all. This one and done stuff is not really good for NCAA, either.

Looking to kill the golden goose. Where else are these dumb-as-hell ghetto rats going to go?
Set up a minor league for them and return college hoops to those who can spell CAT without having the C & T spotted?

I agree with him; if you want to go pro out of HS, go pro. Nobody is forcing the NBA to draft/sign anyone.

I agree. Either go right out of high school, or you have to go to college at least 2 years.

Bullshit.

He had no obligation to go to college.

Emmanuel Mudiay and Thon Maker both elected to bypass college and play overseas for a year after high school. And why blame the NCAA? It's the NBA that tells them that they have to be 1 year removed from their HS graduating class before they join the league.

And why? Because they kept having guys show up nowhere near ready and bomb. The NBA was trying to police their own product and after less than a decade of the 1 and done rule, the young talent in this league is greater than it's ever been. The NBA is healthier than it's been since Magic/Bird (and possibly ever).

Ben Simmons is an idiot. He was an idiot in college and he's just as stupid and ill-informed now.

The NBA has a minor league; it's pretty much where careers go to die.

But again, if he wanted to skip the NCAA and actually make money, he could've done so. Mudiay and Brandon Jennings made 7 figures for their one year overseas, IIRC. And hell, Maker didn't even bother; he just went to high school for a 5th year and the NBA bought that particular load of bullshit.

The NCAA isn't Simmons problem but leave it to the kind of guy the NBA is looking to keep from self-immolating to have no concept of where to actually direct his anger.

If he hates college so much why didn't he just go to Europe for a year?

Simmons sounds like a real douche, i hope he sucks.

Because then he would have to prove how good he is instead of being drafted on potential. High profile players are almost never as good and NBA scouts hope they will be.

Top 10 Biggest Stars in NBA according to SI (beginning of last year)

Lebron James - 0 College
Kevin Durant - 1 and Done
Anthony Davis - 1 and Done
Steph Curry - 3 Years
James Harden - 2 Years
Chris Paul - 2 Years
Russell Westbrook - 2 Years
Blake Griffin - 2 Years
Marc Gasol - Played 2 Years Internationally
Kawhi Leonard - 2 Years

The NBA should **** right off and let them do what they want. All of those guys that went for 2 years would not have been lottery picks, and they chose to stay extra in college. The top 3 on this list would have been close to top picks anyways, and I don't see how college helped them.

He won't; he's talented as hell.

But he also quit on his team halfway through the season and would take off entire games. In a sport where one player can literally make a 20 win difference, he was so disinterested that LSU couldn't even make it to the NCAA tournament despite having 12 gimme games in conference play and another 12-14 gimmes in non-con.

The guy is unquestionably an asshole but in the NBA, his combination of size, quickness and exceptional court vision is going to overcome being a doucherocket 99 times out of 100.

This. Nobody wants to go to Europe to play for $1 million or whatever for one year against grown men who mostly likely resent you being there in the first place and may possibly expose your weaknesses. Espcecially not when the potential is there to sign a contract 7 months later for $40 million. It's just not a good business move.

College athletics are a joke of a system, where players get very little for the massive amount of revenue they generate.

You're probably right but i can still hope.

quit on his team, quit on his school and a prima donna bitch to boot


Maybe his NBA team will hate him so much that they just **** him over. *cross fingers*

Simmons is an idiot. Go back to the ghetto and try to earn millions.

Simmons grew up in Wales and Australia. He didn't live in the United States until high school. He's hardly from the 'hood.

As a Lakers fan, I was torn on who I preferred. I do love Simmons talent but man his attitude was just shit at LSU and knowing that, this little outburst of his doesn't surprise me.

Ingram's a more limited player but he may actually be as good a fit for the new NBA if it keeps going in the 3 and D direction. And as for his attitude, there are few better.

Simmons needs work on his temperament and his jump shot. Ingram needs work on his functional strength and his handles. I think Ingram's fixes are easier but I also don't think his ceiling is nearly as high.

No, no.

Let Nathan Bedford Vailpass and theelusiveJohnCalhoun continue..

LSU with Ben Simmons only generated revenue because of the structure of the NCAA.

I am sure that a lot of people who spent money to watch that disappointing team feels cheated.

I am not sure what revenue Ben Simmons generated that would not have been generated anyway. The team did not even make the NCAA Tournament and then turned down going to the NIT.

If I was a Sixers fan, I would be worried about whether this guy has a winning attitude.

Similar to qbs coming in and needing to develop qccuracy, how many guys get to the nba that aren't good shooter and develop into good shooters?

I feel like that's a pretty short list.

Ben apparently ****ed up. He should have just become the number 1 pick straight out of high school.

On the other hand, if that wouldn't have happened without him playing at LSU, **** Ben and his one-year-of-college-education opinion.

Personally, I think colleges should pay these guys. Also personally, I don't give a shit what any 20-year-old has to say about anything except possibly music.

Dude is handed a fortune and complains about how it happened. I am quite certain Wales and Australia have 'hoods.

People like to watch talented players. No talent, no fans in the stand. Looks like Simmons generated a ton of money in just one year.

http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rou...c8965b490.html

The LSU men’s basketball team posted the third-highest increase in the country in paid attendance from the 2014-15 season to the 2015-16 season, according to figures released Wednesday by the NCAA.

The Tigers averaged 11,382 fans for 18 games at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in 2015-16 for an increase of 2,485 per game over their 2014-15 figure of 8,897 a game.

This past season, four LSU games were classified as sellouts with at least 13,215 tickets sold.

LSU finished third behind Maryland, which had an increase of 5,169 paid attendance, and Alabama, who improved by 2,934 over the previous season.

LSU, which ranked 35th in the nation in paid attendance per game, was one of 43 Division I schools to average more than 10,000 tickets sold this season.

The Southeastern Conference finished second in the country in total average attendance for its 240 games at 11,144, an increase of 325 from last season.

Why does everyone always blame the NCAA? The NCAA doesn't want the one and done rule. They don't even want a two and done rule. The NBA is the one that has the rule, forcing all this upon the NCAA and making tons of kids who have no interest in going to college otherwise, to go. Yet nobody blames the NBA. The NBA basically is taking advantage of the situation to run a no cost minor league system. It's genius move by the NBA to be honest and a dream for NBA GMs. But any animosity should be direct toward the NBA, not the NCAA.

I don't think I like Simmons much after reading his commentary about going to college. I agree with other posters. Nobody made him go to college, he went to college over taking 1M+ to play in Australia or Europe. He apparently valued the American exposure more than doing so. LSU and the NCAA helped provide that platform. It was a mutually beneficial relationship. I don't understand why there is this new found hatred the last say 10 years about the NCAA not paying kids. I agree they should be able to profit off of their likeness outside of school, but in no way shape or form should the school or NCAA have to pay the athlete.

Colleges and the NCAA shouldn't have to pay a player anything. The athlete goes in KNOWING they will NOT get paid. They know this. It's been this way for eons. Nobody is forcing anyone to go to college. They can go play euro ball and MAKE money if they want. That is up to them. None of this is the NCAA's fault. The only thing I believe that these kids should be allowed to do is profit of of their likeness when they are in college OUTSIDE of classes and practice. If they want to get paid to appear on Around the Horn, they should be able to. If they wish to sign endorsement deals, they should be able to. If they want to be paid for an appearance or to sign autographs, they should be able to. But the NCAA and school owe the student athlete nothing beyond an athletic scholarship and STIPEND that many get above and beyond room and board already.

He's not from the hood man. His dad was a pro ball player as well. Just because you aren't from the hood, doesn't mean you can't be ignorant. Plenty of people are ignorant that come from affluent households.

He just happens to suffer from "oh poor me sydrome" and the "blaming others" syndrome.

True, no one is forcing the kids to go to college and I certainly wouldn't want to force the schools to pay their players.

What I would like is for schools to be allowed to pay their players if they choose to do so. Soon enough, they'd all be doing it or their cash cows would quickly dry up and give no more free milk.

The vast majority of college players won't make a dime at the pro level unless they become ushers.

That I suppose is the option of a school or the NCAA, but if that is the case, they sure as hell better make a division solely for these types of schools, which would be a very few. Many basketball programs, even some D1 bball programs, do not make money directly.

Slowly people are realizing that overseas is the best option. Be careful what you wish for though. Without the talent in the NCAA it will just be more and more teams playing sloppy ass basketball, passing the ball around for 30 seconds and jacking up terrible shots. It's what most NCAA games are looking like nowadays anyways. Without the superstar athletes, the NCAA will not be too enjoyable to watch

It's certainly not an option currently.

LOL at people in this thread thinking Ben Simmons is from the ghetto or a hood rat. Like, just wow.

Wow. A lot of people wasted their time and money.

Good luck to the Sixers.

I highly doubt that most of the athletes at any major division one programs get a real education while they are there.

I highly doubt that a fair number of the non-athletes at any major division one programs get a real education while they are there.

College is not part of it. You have to 3 years removed from high school.

Errrr ummmm heeee kind of ummmm got kind of drafted by Philly. And has a broken foot. Overcoming being a doucherocket isn't the only thing he has to overcome.

Well, this kid didn't grow up in those hoods. How many kids from the ghetto do you know who grow up in families rich enough to live in Wales, move to Australia, then move to the United States?

Takes more than that at this level

How exactly was he handed a fortune?
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If an institution is literally making BILLIONS of you, you should be paid. And going out of the country to play ball is an option but let's not act like forcing an 18 year old kid to leave the country just to earn money is a great idea.

These guys can't even get side jobs to earn money. How the **** is that fair?
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You are correct. My point is still valid.

As for the NCAA paying players, I don't like that idea because I think it opens up a lot more opportunities for corruption. Perhaps an account or trust that pays players royalties for everything sold that has their name and they can't access it until they leave would be an idea.

The problem is that people want to bomb college athletics so address the 2% of NCAA athletes that are actually any kind of profit drivers on their own.

First you have all the non-revenue sports; essentially everything other than football and basketball. Nothing else is profitable for the schools. So right there 9 of 10 NCAA athletes are coming out ahead by getting school paid for.

For the vast VAST majority of athletes in revenue sports, the scholarship model is completely equitable because they're fungible. Even a great OL isn't drawing attendance to the school. Evan Boehm was probably the highest profile, most successful OL recruit in Mizzou history and I'd venture that his time at Mizzou sold precisely zero tickets. The people that went to those games didn't go to them because he was there.

So what are you talking about? A handful of elite skill position players at middle tier schools. Alabama's selling out regardless of any single player. The 'traditional' football powers are going to get people to watch their games regardless of any single player that plays there. The only time an individual makes a difference is someone like Daniel at Mizzou; a guy that really made the program go from a relative also-ran to a legitimate draw.

And you say you don't want to force teams to pay their players but by allowing some schools to do so, you're essentially forcing ALL schools to do so unless you want to create an obvious have/have not situation.

Finally, Title IX makes this possibility an absolute disaster. Remember that schools have to funnel a great deal of the revenue generated by those big money sports to womens athletics that generate no money at all. The closer you get to break even for revenue sports, the more damage you do to every women's sport that is required to be funded and every non-revenue men's sport that may end up on the chopping block to find the $$$ to pay for those women's sports.

Paying players is just a really bad idea and by and large works to the benefit of very few individuals at the massive detriment of a great deal more of them. It's solving a problem that doesn't actually exist, IMO. Or at the very least is wildly overblown. As has already been said - if this relationship wasn't mutually beneficial, kids wouldn't still be playing. If nothing else, the exposure and coaching they get sets them up to make far more at the next level.

And you think eliminating the 1 and done rule will help that? It would serve to thin out an already diluted talent pool.

Besides, the reason teams play sloppy ass basketball in college right now is that it makes mathematical sense to do so. The 3 ball is just overpowered and when the NCAA 3 point line is shorter than the WNBA 3 point line, it makes all the sense in the world to stand out on the corner and shoot glorified free throws that are worth 3 points a piece instead of driving into traffic to attempt a contested 2. It's just too easy to hit 3 pointers at a 35%+ rate now kids are spending so much time perfecting it.

I think moving the 3 point line back a couple of feet, widening the court for increased room and instituting a 2 year minimum would make college basketball a far better sport. As it stands you're right - it's barely watchable.

Exactly; it's not any worse than the general population.

Again, people are using a select few examples to determine their impression of an entire system. For the overwhelming majority of D1 athletes, the present system works extremely well. 95% of these kids, even in the revenue sports, aren't going to make a dime playing that game past college and most of them know it.

And with coaches riding their asses (yes, most of them do) to go to class, they actually perform pretty well academically. Far better than they might have without athletics. They're often provided tutors and while there are some bad actors, again most of them are extremely helpful for the respective athletes.

For guys like Harold Brantley who just didn't give a shit, he'd have failed no matter what you tried to do. But for huge numbers of these kids that might not have gotten into school at all, athletics provide them a foot in the door and the structure they need to succeed where they would've otherwise failed.

I really hate the impression people have of college athletics based on nothing more than the bitching of the minuscule few that are actually good enough to succeed at the professional level. Those folks are a blip on the radar in the grand scheme of things.

Because the moment you open that door, they'll get non-appearance jobs that pay them for nothing and are impossible to monitor/enforce. The NCAA could never even begin to police the wild wild west that would occur the moment they told kids to just go get jobs. Every booster with a small business in the country would suddenly find a 'job' for any 4 star or better recruit that just so happens to attend his/her alma mater.

You can't blame the NCAA for the fact that opening this door even a crack would lead to rampant cheating. As it is schools are giving jobs to parents, uncles and friends to encourage kids to attend. They let Cam Newton off the hook because his dad insisted that he took the benefits on not Cam. They have enough shit to sift through now that if they made it even a little easier, it would blow the doors off any impression of an even playing field in college athletics.

lol...paying players. Then they are not student athletes and having no business being at college. Go jion the minors or play in Europe. The student body doesn't actually care if you play jackasses.

Most of them are so it is accurate to generalize. Regardless of where this particular one comes from he runs his mouth like a fool.

Nobody is forcing them to enroll in college where they have a ready-made showcase to market themselves for multi-million dollar contracts.
Don't like it? Don't sign up.

The guys on Kansas bball team get about a 5k stipend in addition to room and board. The get to live in a 200M "dorm" just for basketball players.

Plus, Simmons left his country to come to the US to play bball. By far and large most D1 athletes are over compensated w/ their scholarship & room board based on any revenue or lack thereof they bring to the school.

I'm not saying eliminate the one and done rule, but you've got to find a way to reward the talent. Royalty payouts for jerseys and other promotions is a must. Otherwise the talent will start slowly fading.

I completely agree about the other changes and I would add a 24 second shot clock would be nice.

Fact check:

The dorm houses the basketball team (16 people) and 17 non-athletes. Also, it cost $12 million, not $200 million.

So what if they do that? Who the hell cares? That same booster can get a kid who plays clarinet on a band scholarship to do the same thing and that's perfectly fine but it's not ok when it's a football or basketball player?

If someone wants to pay Reggie Bush's mom's mortgage, who cares? If that's not ethically right for players, then it shouldn't be okay for any scholarship student in the school. If you're on a scholarship, you shouldn't be allowed to have a job all around. Either you let them all have the same rights or none of them have the same rights.
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None of what you said is true. I'm guessing Kansas is like Mizzou in that the athletes dorms allow non athletes as well. And it's not even close to 200M.

Also yes they receive stipends. So does any other student who travels for the school. The scholarship band kids receive stipends too. Yet they still have way more privileges than the football players. There's nothing wrong if Bill Gates pays one of them a million dollars for a personal concert, but there's something wrong with a football player getting cash from a dealership to basically be a advertisement for them? How is that fair?

If your sport makes billions of dollars, you should be compensated for it.
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Nobody is forcing Simmons to go to college for 1 year either.

Correct. I said as much.

And take a guess how I view non-revenue producing sports and Title IX. I don't want to see those things damaged. I'd like to see them destroyed.

He pretty much is forced to do so. When the only other realistic alternative is to leave the country, then he is basically being forced to go to college.
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The fault of the leagues not the NCAA. You should be able to go pro out of highschool. If you choose to go to college, you should be required to commit for 4 years or pay back your scholarship if you leave early.

Why would they have to pay anything back? Scholarships aren't awarded on a 4 year basis.
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Some are.

And A LOT of them have contingencies attached - GPA, field of study, etc.