The toast of College Basketball's newly opened season is LSU's Ben Simmons.
The LSU freshman from Australia is showing why he is the consensus top overall pick in the NBA 2016 Draft.
He was already predicted to be a superstar in the NBA, and college is just a stop on his rampaging path. As Bleacher Report, quoting a college assistant coach, said: "Forget college, he's ready for the League."
The "League" is the NBA, of course, and most of the teams are aware of that. The Philadelphia 76ers are still tanking and trying to get more core pieces and Simmons may be the final one in the puzzle they are trying to solve. The Celtics are hoping the Nets would flounder and they can get the no.1 pick for Simmons. The Lakers, even Pelicans have an eye on this guy.
The article notes that he is "much more than a scorer." They note that Simmons has great court vision and passing ability, even better than point guards and he can see plays before they develop.
Hoops Habit compared this year's freshman class to the last two (2014 and2015) that spawned guys like Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Karl Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor and boldly declared that Simmons "has the potential to be better than all of them."
In a video showcasing his second game in college, Simmons showed the entire repertoire, with post ups, dunks, spectacular assists and quick steals. He has speed, athleticism, handle, post skills and even defense.
Of course, it's a small sample size and we have to see the full season unfold, but so far, it's impressive.
HH mentioned: "Wiggins was a spectacular athlete. Parker had phenomenal scoring prowess. Towns was a superb defender and Okafor was light years ahead of the competition with his post offense."
As mentioned, Simmons displayed all of those in that clip, and at 6'10" and 240, he has the physique to play multiple positions in the NBA.
Considering that Wiggins is now close to superstardom, Simmons can definitely lift an NBA franchise and is definitely worth tanking for.