Philadelphia 76ers select Ben Simmons with first overall pick in National Basketball Association draft

Finally the 76ers dreams are becoming a reality.

After that workout, Simmons took to Instagram and posted a photo of himself in a Sixers workout uniform over the caption “Trust the process”. The Philadelphia 76ers now have Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel, and Jahlil Okafor.

In 2014, the 76ers used the third pick to select Joel Embiid from Kansas. Embiid has yet to play because of various foot injuries.

That would be a good thing after all the years of tanking and 10-72 seasons. “I can’t even – my legs were shaking when I was on stage”. “There are times, if you caught me, that I want to just treat him as a true point guard and just give him the ball”.

Jahlil Okafor, who was selected No. 3 overall previous year, played five total summer league games for the Sixers, three in Utah and two in Las Vegas.

Colangelo couldn’t say with certainty if either player will be in Philadelphia this upcoming season. He played in 10 Euroleague and Eurocup games. He moved to the United States in 2013 and enrolled at Montverde Academy in Florida.

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.

In his lone year playing college basketball at LSU, Simmons averaged 19 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists per game.

The Los Angeles Lakers, picking second for the second consecutive year, took Duke’s Brandon Ingram, who averaged 17.3 points as the ACC freshman of the year.

“It’s important that we don’t put Ben in a position where he feels the weight of everything”, general manager Bryan Colangelo said at a PCOM press conference. “Although Skal possesses lottery round talent and size (6’11” 225), he had a disappointing freshman season averaging only 6.0 points and 3.0 rebounds per game and 1.6 blocks per game to boot. Pro scouts were tantalized by his 41 percent shooting on 3-pointers, and his lanky frame only heightened the comparisons to Kevin Durant.

Elias research reports that’s the lowest total of American-born, first-round picks in an National Basketball Association draft since 1973. Yet because the Sixers lost too many games in recent years just to set themselves up for the chance to draft a once-in-a-generation player, they were forced to present Simmons that way, at least at first. The 76ers were looking to trade one of those guys to the Boston Celtics for the third overall pick, but trade talks died down when the Celtics selected Jaylen Brown.

Brown did indicate a willingness to shift Simmons to point guard, perhaps at some point in his rookie season.

According to Simmons, the pair FaceTimed after the draft, with the youngster telling James he could not wait to face him on the court. And I don’t know. He told me to keep working.

“It honestly feels like all this pressure just has hopped off me”.

Johnson becomes the 47th Tar Heel in history selected in the first round and the 27th player coached by Roy Williams at Kansas and UNC to be selected in the first round. There are some big name guards who can help the 76ers win some more games.