Ben Simmons through 9 games: 18 pts, 10 rebs, 8 ast in 35 minutes, almost averaging a triple double, leading 76ers to a winning record. Clearly the best rookie by far.
He's the best rookie I have seen in a few years and yes that includes KAT and AD. This guy plays under control and like a vet already. He also really impacts winning which i was unsure of because of his time at LSU. He's a force. If he can get his 3pt shooting to even 33% he'll be an MVP candidate yearly.
icymi: Ben Simmons is playing Point Guard with sublime "Facilitating" skills. You'd never know that by listening to all the Ball hype on ESPN. I mean, Ball isn't even the best rookie PG in the league at doing Ball things....and we're not even counting Teodosic (injury) fwiw: Only second player in NBA history to log two Trip Dub in first 9 games -- Oscar Robertson is only other one.
meh , he gets a lot of help, if it was Kuzma playing with Embiiiiiiid ,he would ‘d averaged 30/12/15 with better FG%/3P/FT
Is all the hype over Lonzo due to his dad or him playing for the Lakers? I don’t get it, but then I didn’t follow his exploits in HS and college.
lol i remember when i hyped up simmons 2 years ago someone tried to tell me simmons wouldn't have gone #1 even in this year's draft. told me giles and josh jackson were better, etc... his hype started a long time ago, before he entered college. after his first couple games in college, he was clearly the best player in college. and at the very worst ended as a top 5 player during the year. the hatred "hype" started from his dad though. and on this board, people also hate him because he plays for the lakers. it's really just hive mind, people wanna feel special and "right" that he's not playing well so far and that the media has him and his dad at the center of the spotlight. lonzo has done nothing to deserve the hate because he is the polar opposite of his dad. to each their own though, i guess.
The hype isn’t all negative, though. The expectations for this guy, like he’s going to bring Showtime back to LA, were way too high, and that’s caused the backlash.
His dad convinced Magic Johnson to pick him #2 and talk about a return to Showtime? Doesn't matter who it is: If Magic takes a tall, flashy-passing PG as #2, it's going to bring a lot of attention. I can understand that. As I said in the Lonzo thread, I'd be rooting for him to succeed, if he weren't a Laker, and if ESPN would ease up on the incessant headlines claiming every win is due to him. (I purposefully haven't been following his Dad, and won't.) Doesn't mean I hate him to want a Laker top pick to fail, and for ESPN to tone it down...especially, when they are ignoring (relatively speaking) the real ROY, who is doing all the Ball things.
All I know is that I was at the game when they beat us on Monday, and they couldn't get him off the court soon enough. Simmons was a PROBLEM.
Lavar has been calling Zo to the Lakers since forever, and he propagated the 'Showtime' return hype. So yes, his dad created the hype. Lol most people would not have even cared about Zo until his dad opened his mouth. Fultz was the best talent, #1 pick, had his form issues/shoulder injury, played poorly, and still no one has cared that much compared to Zo playing bad. I don't think anyone is ignoring Simmons though. Seriously, who doesn't know he's putting up the best #'s and is the best talent in years? Simmons hype was the greatest since Bron...any intelligent media/basketball mind already acknowledges how he's light years ahead of this rook class, though it's unfair to compare him to them, similar to Embiid last year... I understand the Lakers hate, and I'm not rooting for them either, but I'm sure people would still root against Zo even if he were on the Hawks. I'm not talking about you personally though, just the general feelings towards Zo.
Magic took him #2 and talked about return to Showtime. I'm saying doesn't matter what the dad does, Magic can create a huge amount of hype all by himself. The ESPN Headlines beg to differ. It's extraordinary how much focus is on Pre-Game headlines and Post-Game headlines about Ball. There is no denying that they are not following Ben Simmons as much as they could/should. If Simmons was on the Lakers, and Ball was taken by Philly, it would all be in reverse. Lavar can try all he wants...Ben Simmons as a Laker would dwarf Ball as a 76er, right now. I'm not following this. ROY's, no matter if they missed their first year or not, have special interest to NBA news. ppl like to talk about rookies. Blake Griffin did not lose any attention in the media, because he came in a year after he was drafted...and John Wall/Cousins were rookies, too. What does "comparing him to them" have to do with ROY talk. I'm not saying Ball has to be compared to Simmons. I'm just saying Simmons accomplishments as a rookie are not being covered as much as both Ball's good and bad games. They talk more about Ball's bad games, than they do Simmons in total.
First off...I have no idea what your point is. Honestly, I feel like you're arguing just to argue lol. Or it may just be a case of misunderstanding my post. Do you really think this hype is all because Magic drafted him at 2? Zo isn't selling out SL games without Lavar opening his mouth. Dudes were at Lakers games legit asking LAVAR for his signature. Their family even has a show now. They have a brand, his youngest son already has a massive following, and his middle son is getting paid attention for no reason at all, other than the fact that he's part of the family (he's not that good at basketball). If you think Lavar didn't contribute to the hype/attention, then alright, we can agree to disagree. If Lavar never opened his mouth, I'm 100% sure Simmons would be covered more than Ball right now. But I never really compared the two. Of course Simmons deserves more attention. But he isn't getting ignored at all. Basketball twitter and the internet have praised him like crazy. I don't really follow mainstream media/ESPN. As for the Simmons to Ball comparison, I don't know why you felt the need to bring that up because I don't think I ever compared them. Zo as a 76er with Lavar's mouth would still draw a lot of attention though. Compared to Simmons as a Laker? Idk and don't really care. My only point was that Lavar contributed a lot to Zo's hype. Your third point...I think you're just misunderstanding me. I can see how you did, but I was just trying to say how he's way better than this rook class, but he should really be compared to his 2016 class, who he's already head and shoulders above too.
Sorry, I typed that up too fast. Wasn't meaning to sound so argumentative. Yes, I'm sure you are 100% correct about Lavar contributing to Lonzo's hype. He was a huge story before the draft. I just think it went to another level when the Lakers took him. When you answered durvasa's question below, you made it sound almost exclusively his dad's doing. I would answer that question by saying that I seriously doubt Magic picks Zo at #2 just because his dad hyped him up. So, I would answer the question that Magic/Lakers are major factors of ESPN following him so much, probably more than any rookie since Blake Griffin. If he wasn't on the Lakers, and Simmons was instead, it would be the opposite. I guess you read the question as referring to the hype pre-draft and all through his life...which I guess was pretty big. I'll defer to you on that. I just view it as a big jump occurring once the Lakers picked him.
