Ben Simmons continues to not be a fan of college basketball and the NCAA.
Simmons, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2016 draft, came over from Australia in high school, played a few years at Montverde Academy in Florida, and then was at LSU for one season. Simmons made it clear that he was going to be a one-and-done player, and he was.
Now a Rookie of the Year contender for the Philadelphia 76ers, Simmons joined Maverick Carter for an interview on “Uninterrupted” and was asked whether it was worth going to college for the one season. Simmons seemed to feel like it wasn’t and that he didn’t gain much from his time.
“I think I would have learned a lot more being around professional athletes. Looking at it now, I don’t even know what I really learned financially or just being a person at LSU. I think I’ve learned a lot more with this whole year being in Philly and being a pro, than I did at LSU,” Simmons told Carter.
Simmons was popular around Baton Rouge. He says his jersey was all over the city and there were billboards promoting his presence on the team. He was asked at what point the feeling of being exploited started to bother him.
“When they started asking more of me … more photos shoots, just meeting with them with certain things I had to do during the day. I’d have class and then go lift, have practice, then ‘Oh Ben, you have to stay and do media and the photo shoot. So I would be kind of annoyed, like ‘What am I getting out of this?’”
He was asked how all of that made him feel about the business of college basketball.
“It’s a dirty business … you have to put up with it, but at the same time it taught me a lot. I have an image and people use it, but now I have the opportunity to control that, what I do and who I work with. It helped me, but at the same time I felt it was really sneaky.”
This mentality is nothing new for Simmons. You may recall that he was extremely critical of the NCAA in his Showtime documentary, “One and Done.”
H/T Slam Online
