Hoops

Ben Simmons fails to make World Cup squad

'Watched 4 sessions at the camp Simmons really struggled with understanding concepts... Constantly being taught which is no surprise given age

In the scrimmage he struggle with the change up d and on o settled for a lot of jump shots

Broekhoff was lights out all week, ran a lot of plays for him in the scrimmage he looked good deserves his spot'

Love to hear more thoughts on Ben+ other players performances at camp as there seems to have been no media presence

Rio is in two years, why the hell would a 19 yr old fresh from high school and first year in college ever be looked at as a stater in any Olympic team. Ask your selves this, if Ben Simmons was playing for America would he get a staters spot or even make a team at that age? These people who hark on about Ben Simmons needs to get a grip, let the kid become a man then push his barrow. As mentioned by Paul half this team is still very young and inexperienced but will continue to improve, Simmons will get his time but it won't be now.

Need to also consider we have essentially

Exum, Bairstow, Broekhoff, Motum, Goulding and even Jawai who are all taking their first steps at a senior World Cup or Olympic games. While we do have a lot of experience, half our team at this level does not.

Exum is 19, Bairstow straight out of college, while Broekhoff and Motum are only approaching 2 years out of college.

Cue to Handler stepping in:

"That's enough on the matter folks, Andrej has to prepare for a trip to Europe. Thank you".

Had Martin made it everyone would have expected it was because Gleeson is on bench. These coaches know there stuff! Simmons time will come & i'm sure they've told him that!

Settle down people...

This is bordering on insanity.
Can Dave Simmons please stop posting.

Most people on here are saying the team is too top heavy and now we have #162 / 188 saying they want to swap Gibson for Simmons.
That's a 6'2" 1/2 man for a 7'5' 155KG behemoth who is apparently still growing and will be 9'2 and half a tonne by the time he got to the worlds.


You get my vote for the best post so far hahahahahs

Lemanis, McLeod & Longley collectively know 1 or 2 things about Basketball, I'm sure they made the right decision in regards to the child.

Think 162 is a bit besotted with Ben Simmons, he's too young get it!!!! Get over it

Anyone attending the camp offered an assessment of Bens play? Pretty disappointing if there was no media there at all

Simmons is too young when will you get that into your heads, his actions alone off the CRT clearly demonstrate that. As for him travelling to "Australia" for tryouts, that was his choice, at 17 with absolutely no experience at all except high school in America and state here, what realistically did he and his minders expect. Waste of time, I agree with the other poster who sated if he thinks it's been a waste of his time he doesn't deserve a spot at all. He needs to be making himself available for the un19 2015 worlds team, which is appropriate for his experience, showcase himself there and then continue to work hard on his game. Seems perhaps his attitude is going to be his demise if he can't handle disappointment . A world tournament is not a place you take your juniors to 'just for experience', worlds are for winning and every team member has to be accountable and reliable. Save your 'experience' tours for china japan Europe etc, where it doesn't matter if you win or loose with regards to world rankings.

Given bens potential & that we don't have anyone similar he must hav been very out of sorts during the camp to not get the nod (remembering they can select safe dr size group they like). I know selection is a complex process but I would have assumed if they could hav selected him even for experience they would have.

I think you are underestimating the experience he would have got from attending the camp in the first place, which is all part of his development.

If he is switched on enough (or his dad is in his ear like Exum's is) he will realise this and appreciate the opportunity given to him, whether he made the final team or not.

Hardly a waste of his time.

So what if Walker or Wortho are stronger than Simmons....big deal...it still doesnt warrant their selection over him...we know for a fact that Walker and Wortho et al wont get the job done on the intl stage anyway so why not go with Simmons.

Armchair experts, unite!

Is there any chance that Simmons missed out because he wasn't passionate about playing for his country and this is the boot up the butt he needs to focus and get hungry?

6'10 108kgs... He is going to be a beast when he fills out more like his old man

He may be 6'10 and 108kg but he's STILL only 17. He has years ahead of him and he's just not ready for the adult bodies and mindset at worlds.

For goodness sake he is a 17 yr old boy, he should not even be considered for this level of competition. The fact he is obviously shows he has potential but he is not ready for this yet, people wanting lemanis out because he did not choose to put a child into a mans team need a reality check. Get a grip

I'm with Beantown. Lemanis is a pretty astute coach.

Simmons is still a boy amongst men. I still would have taken him as 12th man, however I think this points to Jawai and Motum in the final 12, and Broekhoff getting a gig.

Unless you were there to watch Simmons play in training camp, I think its foolish to criticise Lemanis over this. The guy is an experienced and successful coach and I'm sure he is well aware of what Simmons is, or is not capable of. If he didn't make the team then he probably isn't ready!