New York (AFP) – Australian forward Ben Simmons is expected to be the top pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, which would make him the third Down Under talent taken first overall.
The versatile 19-year-old playmaker from Melbourne averaged 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists playing US college basketball last season at Louisiana State.
Simmons would follow in the tradition of 2011 top pick Kyrie Irving, an Aussie-born guard for the NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers who plays for the United States internationally, and Aussie center Andrew Bogut, the 2005 top pick who plays for Golden State and who suffered a left knee injury in the NBA Finals.
Simmons conducted his only workout on Tuesday for the 76ers, who reportedly have told him he will be the top selection. He has skill at passing and ballhandling as well as the size and strength to succeed as a big man scoring and grabbing rebounds.
The 76ers, who have not had the top pick in the NBA Draft since they chose star guard Allen Iverson in 1996, are coached by Brett Brown, an American who guided the Aussie Olympic squad to the 2012 London Olympic quarter-finals and took Australian league coach of the year honors in 1994 as he guided the North Melbourne Giants to a title.
Simmons, who has the same agent as new three-time NBA champion LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers, has been working out in the Ohio city ahead of the draft.
The Los Angeles Lakers own the second pick in the draft and are looking at Duke forward Brandon Ingram with guards Buddy Hield of Oklahoma and the Bahamas and Canadian Jamal Murray of Kentucky among the hot backcourt prospects available.
The Boston Celtics select third, followed in order by Phoenix, Minnesota, New Orleans, Sacramento, Toronto, Milwaukee, Orlando and Utah.
After Simmons, the top frontline prospect from outside the United States is Croatian Dragan Bender, a 7-foot-1 (2.16m) standout for Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv last season. The 18-year-old could become the highest player ever picked from his homeland, surpassing Mario Hezonja, who was selected fifth last year.
Haiti’s Skal Labissiere, a forward at Kentucky last season, is also seen as a top 15 prospect while Austrian forward Jakob Poeltl, who played college ball at Utah last year, would be his homeland’s first NBA player.
French guard Timothe Luwawu and Turkish guard Furkan Korkmaz are seen as top 15 candidates.
Other internationals expected to draw early attention in the draft include China’s Zhou Qi, Croatian center Ante Zizic, Bosnian big man Ivica Zubac and Thon Maker, who was born in South Sudan and accepted as a refugee by Australia at age five. He has trained in Canada since 2014.
Domantas Sabonis, the US son of Lithuanian former NBA standout Arvydas Sabonis, is in the mix after playing at Gonzaga last year.
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