Former LSU star Ben Simmons went first overall in the 2016 NBA Draft. Photo Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports
NEW YORK — The Philadelphia 76ers continued their rebuilding process by selecting LSU forward Ben Simmons with the first pick in the NBA Draft on Thursday night at Barclays Center.
Commissioner Adam Silver said the Sixers were on the clock at 7:33 p.m. EST and before the pick was announced fans chanted “We Want Ben and We Want Simmons.”
Slightly more than three minutes, Simmons was officially a 76er. He doffed a blue and red Philadelphia hat, waved to the crowd and shook hands with Silver before posing for photos.
Simmons had been the projected top pick of this year’s draft even before he played a college game. In November, he played twice in Brooklyn and the games drew more than 50 scouts and executives.
He has been on the radar for this year’s draft since moving to the United States in 2013 to attend Florida’s Montverde Academy.
Simmons did not work out with the 76ers until Tuesday. That session in front of new president of basketball operations and ownership convinced them to take the Australia native, whose father grew up in the Bronx before starting a 13-year professional career there.
Despite three years of rebuilding and a combined 47-199 record since 2013, Philadelphia had not had the first overall pick since selecting Allen Iverson in 1996.
Iverson led the franchise to their first NBA Finals appearance since 1983 in 2001 and will be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of the Fame, but the Sixers have only advanced past the first round in the playoffs twice since then.
In his lone season at LSU, Simmons averaged 19.2 points and 11.8 rebounds while posting 23 double-doubles, the most among players from major conference.
After LSU concluded its regular season without going to the postseason, Simmons declared for the draft on March 21and signed with Klutch Sports Agency, the same group representing LeBron James.
Simmons will turn 20 on July 20 shortly after he concludes his first pro games in the NBA Summer League. He is the fourth big man obtained by the Sixers in the lottery since 2013.
In 2013, Philadelphia traded Jrue Holliday to New Orleans for the rights to Nerlens Noel, who did not make his debut until the 2014-15 season because of a knee injury and has averaged 10.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.
In 2014, the 76ers used the third pick to select Joel Embiid from Kansas. Embiid has yet to play because of various foot injuries.
Last year, Philadelphia had the third pick. When the Minnesota Timberwolves used the top pick on Karl-Anthony Towns, Jahlil Okafor was selected. Okafor averaged 17.5 points in 53 games before missing the final month of the season with a knee injury.
