2016 Brew Hoop Community NBA Draft Board - Ben Simmons goes #1, who will go #2?

He spent most of his single college season as the presumptive top overall selection in the upcoming NBA Draft. Now, despite an underwhelming season by his LSU team and some dissension in the ranks among draft experts, Ben Simmons - F, LSU takes the top spot on our 2016 draft board.

Despite issues of redundancy with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker, a commanding majority of Brew Hoop readers felt that Simmons' talent level was simply too much to pass up on. The Bucks have more of a solid core than they've been able to claim in years, but adding a superior talent like Simmons offers a lot of flexibility to upgrade different roster positions via trade or otherwise.

Simmons is a tremendous offensive talent, boasting fluid athleticism, advanced court vision, and terrific ball handling abilities, especially given his size. Simmons can score near the basket with either hand, exploit mismatches in the post against smaller defenders, and create offense again bigger guys by taking them off the dribble and beating to the rim or passing to open teammates. He's not a particularly good shooter at the moment, but a solid free-throw percentage offers some hope he'll improve in that area and become a threat from anywhere on the floor.

Defensively, effort level is the biggest concern, as the major knock on Simmons throughout his freshman season was a lack of intensity even in big games. He has good instincts and can guard a variety of positions, but there's no doubt that NBA coaches are going to have to drill him hard to get the most out of him on the defensive end of the floor.

A side note: I added another recurring option to the poll after seeing some discussion of it in our first post: the option to trade the pick. If you think more value could be had by swapping the pick in a hypothetically reasonable deal than by drafting a player yet available, choose this option!

The 2016 Brew Hoop Draft Board

Ben Simmons - F, LSU - DraftExpress Profile