NBA Rumors: Latest Buzz Surrounding Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons
The Golden State Warriors are dominating headlines, but the return of a former No. 1 overall draft pick and the play of the consensus No. 1 prospect for next summer's draft are two other important storylines basketball fans should be paying attention to.
Kyrie Irving is still recovering from his knee surgery, but some news on his potential return to the court for the Cleveland Cavaliers surfaced Tuesday. And with LSU's Ben Simmons taking the college basketball world by storm, one NBA general manager offered up some high praise for the young Australian.
Let's check in each of these situations as they currently stand.
Kyrie Irving
There's been plenty of ambiguity throughout the past few months about Cleveland's star point guard and his return, but SportsNet New York's Adam Zagoria reported a tidbit Tuesday that should have Cavs fans excited.
This comes just two days after Irving reportedly "destroyed" teammate LeBron James in a modified one-on-one drill during practice, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin. Considering James is still arguably the best player in the NBA, that has to be considered a win for Cleveland and Irving's injury status. The 23-year-old point guard makes the Cavs' offensive attack that much more dynamic, and the team will be glad to have him back on the court when he is ready.
In the meantime, however, Irving's squad is doing just fine. Led by James, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Mo Williams and Matthew Dellavedova, the Cavs sport an 11-3 record, which ties them for second-best in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs. They have a 1.5-game cushion between them and the rest of the Eastern Conference, a spot Cleveland should be content with considering its injury situation.
In addition to Irving, the Cavaliers are also facing injuries to rotation players Iman Shumpert, Timofey Mozgov and now Williams. Once everyone is back healthy, expect nothing less than Cleveland to run away with the Eastern Conference's top seed and establish itself as the clear conference favorite heading into the postseason.
Ben Simmons
Simmons had his toughest game as a collegian Tuesday night (1-of-6 shooting, four points) in an 83-72 overtime loss to North Carolina State, but he still put up 14 rebounds, 10 assists, three blocks, three steals and had zero turnovers.
That should tell you pretty much all you need to know about this freshman combo forward.
The 6'10" Simmons has been an absolute stat-stuffer for LSU, and his only main weakness at this point is a mediocre jump shot. His averages of 16.2 points, 14.4 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.4 blocks per game through five contests are impressive, but he's also shooting an efficient 53.4 percent from the field and keeping his turnovers minimal at just 1.2 per game.
So far, the prodigious hype has been validated. According to ESPN's Chad Ford, an anonymous NBA general manager said, "Anyone that doesn't have Simmons No. 1 [on their draft board] should be fired."
Right now, the race for Simmons in the 2016 draft has a few main competitors, and the 0-15 Philadelphia 76ers are the favorite. However, the Sixers have huge weaknesses at both guard spots.
If they win the lottery but don't get the Los Angeles Lakers' pick, which is top-three protected, they should seriously consider trading down a few picks to grab a great guard (possibly Kentucky's Jamal Murray) and get some other nice value from another rebuilding team that will undoubtedly give up a whole lot of value to get Simmons.
Whatever happens, though, it's hard to see the LSU standout lasting past the first pick next June.
