#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.