June 15, 2016
Ben Simmons is likely going to be the No. 1-overall pick in the NBA Draft next Thursday night, and for good reason. The statistical models love him. On film, his ball-handling and passing instincts show a player that has a high ceiling. Essentially, the argument for Simmons is that he does things on a basketball court that you can’t teach.
That said, Brandon Ingram is also a very intriguing prospect. The rail-thin 6’9” small forward worked out in Philadelphia on Monday, and he certainly made a compelling case for the top spot over the past year. Here are a few things that Ingram has going for him:
Ben Simmons was born on July 20th, 1996. Ingram was born on September 2nd, 1997. When comparing their freshman seasons side by side (and Simmons was better almost across the board), that is something the Sixers certainly have to account for.
In fact, Sixers president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo kinda, sorta made the case on Monday.
“You even saw a rapid progression from early-season activity to the end of the year, improvement across the board,” Colangelo said. “You can only project out so much based on what you’ve seen. But what we’ve seen so far, where he was and where he’s come, you can go back to his high school stuff that was caught on tape or scouted by some of our people, whether it was the Hoop Summit or some of those other sanctioned games that we can scout. He’s come a long way, he’s had a progression of growth that you can kind of calculate throughout high school, I think it was a couple of inches every year.”
Would Ingram have been able to close the gap on Simmons in areas like rebounding, passing, and shooting efficiency if he was a year older? I’m not sure, but the age difference certainly helps Ingram’s case.
Ingram didn’t shoot the ball all that well in the small portion of the workout we watched, but that doesn’t really matter. Ingram went 80-195 from three as a freshman at Duke, while Simmons shot 1-3.
“I referred to him as a silky smooth forward, he can do a lot [on the court],” Colangelo said.
This one is a bit of two-way street, because the concern with Simmons on the offensive end is what happens when teams play off him. In the NBA Finals, we’re currently watching one of the five greatest players ever trying to figure out a defense that is going under every screen and daring him to shoot. Life is a whole lot easier when teams respect that jumper.
In time, it’s unlikely that NBA defenses will be able to survive consistently going under the screen against Brandon Ingram.
I’m confident that Simmons, with a more NBA-ready body, is going to be better than Ingram in 2015-16. That is not a reason the Sixers should take him with the top pick, though.
“When he got to Duke, he put on about 20 pounds,” Colangelo said. “Obviously, he’s going to have to put some more weight on that frame. You don’t want to get too bogged down or muscle-bound if you will. You want to be wiry strong, and he’s certainly got the wiry part down. The strong part is the next phase of that evolution as a player.”
When you see Ingram shake hands with the almost comically jacked Joel Embiid, it’s even more apparent how skinny he is. The Kevin Durant comparisons are unfair, but strictly from a physical standpoint, there are some similarities in the need to put on weight.
“He’s got a frame that could probably lend to him putting on some additional strength, but you want to do that in a controlled and calculated way,” Colangelo said. “Whichever team selects him, whether it’s the 76ers or another team, you certainly want to have a nice plan in place for what you’re going to do to try to get him at as his maximum physical capabilities.
“Again, it’s not just Day 1 but what is it going to look like over the next five to ten years? You really want to set him right up for his career.”
Say it with me: This year doesn’t matter.
We often talk about fit in terms with the current Sixers roster, and that shouldn’t come into play here. This a 10-win team we’re talking about, after all. Although if you come to the conclusion that Ingram and Simmons have a similar upside, Ingram is probably a cleaner fit in the modern NBA. Can Simmons thrive off the ball as a third option on a title team?
“Of course, they need help at different positions, and I think I can fill [them],” Ingram said of the Sixers. “Just coming in and making an impact in different ways and just trying to be a leader on the floor.”
I think Simmons’ upside trumps all of these points, but at the very least, Ingram makes a decent case.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
