Not because his minder won't let him.

I think he is past the junior tournys now anyways. He is clearly ready for the real thing.

Is a man amongst boys already. Only 16 months away from being high lottery pick

Thats a bit unfair in Bogut, he has had some pretty tough long winded injuries throughout his career. Think about how many USA guys have simply been unavailable for service, and haven't had injuries, luckily they have the talent to cover but some of the best haven't been keen.

Right cal for Simmons, as someone said before, he is under 2 years away from a high draft selection. Big picture is a so much more important for him and hopefully country too come Olympic time.

Pfft "What has he done at worlds or olympics"

A lot more than you!

Just because he hasn't brought home a medal doesn't mean he hasn't played well. And I think Bogut wanting to play for Australia is genuine. He said well before the last world cup that it was 50/50. But he said he has always been adamant on the Rio Olympics and the qualifying series and that hasn't changed. Give the guy a chance FFS now that he isn't injured.

Sorry but if Simmons can't take the time to play for his country at this age then he's really not worthy of a spot when older. Come on get real he's preparing for college, which does not start till after un19 worlds, in what way is that going to compromise his chances of an NBA draft pick in a couple of years. The Americans who will be p,acing at un19 worlds will certainly be going AND still getting ready for college, does Simmons think he's too good to p,at in his age group? Perhaps the Americans can show him he's not quite there YET.

Anonymous thats about as stupid as it gets, that first sentence of your last post!

Exactly, and that's what I meant, why should a player who turns their nose up to represent their country get another opportunity, and at 17 if he's old enough to make the decisions where to play he's old enough to understand that it's a pri algae to represent your country not a RIGHT and lots of players would give up a lot to do so. Smacks of arrogance in my books.
Maker is a different case, he's NOT really Australian

He's a kid, when he is playing Olympics in years to come, everyone will be happy. Silly to ridicule over a u19's. Wreaks of tall poppy syndrome for mine. I say get fresh physically and mentally for college, you'll be there for 1 season, then time to represent Australia year to year game to game in the biggest and best league in the world. Lets be thankful that he is so skilful and calls Aus home!

LOL. Shouldn't be allowed to play when hes older? We are talking about the best player in the world of his age group here. Who cares if he does or doesn't play under 19s? We have won medals in the U19 tournys and what has it done for Basketball in Australia? very little. Its the senior medals that matter.

GWB, I know right, just such an irrational over reaction!

I can confirm Deng Adel is playing. He is in Canberra at the moment preparing for the world champs.

Thon Maker has previously said in interviews that he would love to represent Australia but the timing with studies and expenses to travel for trainings to prepare with the team doesn't fit in with his schedule. He doesn't want to rock up to WC without even knowing his team mates and having no chemistry.

I assume that is the same with Ben Simmons too, he can't be in Australia for the whole preparation and has bigger fish to fry at the moment with college coming up.

Got to remember these kids are still amateurs and not getting paid yet. Wait til they are pro. The future for Australian Basketball is extremely bright.

Maker is as Australian as Russell Crowe; born overseas and made his name in the USA.

Don't know of anyone else in the team Anon. I just know that Deng Adel is there as I am affiliated with his junior club Longhorns.

No Thon Maker doesn't want to play because he'll be exposed at how shit he actually is!

Some unbelievable posts above

All I will say is Dante Exum.

2012 - Played U17 Worlds - Aus Silver Medal
2013 - Played U19 Worlds - Aus came fourth
2014 - NBA Draft pick Number 5

I'm sure Ben and his family know the story.

Considering what Dante did, some of the comments above don't add up to me.

All I think U19 matters for, is stitching up players to be Australian reps for the future. Guys like Deng Adel who werent born here and could claim citizenship elsewhere. We have had gold medals at the u19, it has meant nothing and the success hasn't translated. I wouldn't be getting in a huff about the kid missing it. We all like to beast in every competition we enter, but we just need to realise this competition isn't the biggest thing going on for some of these kids. Playing one decent college season will do more for Ben than a solid U19 world cup showing. It will do more for his game too. Dante didn't play college and look at the learning curve he has to make? I know its not a matter of "one or the other" for ben, but he should concentrate on what matters.

Well if they can't make the ONE camp which is what they will have for selection, which is actually during the college summer break, and then spend a couple of weeks at a per world and then worlds tournament also during the summer Hols in America is says a lot really. You can make all the excuses you like but it's poor form, or arrogance take your pick

More to the point you don't go back in life to go fwd the progression for all our young players is juniors then you progress to seniors. Ben Simmons is already in the senior program playing U19 does not make much sense in terms of progression....his decision opens the door for the development of other young players who would have been playing behind Simmons or perhaps not even made the team...

As most of the time, the article written by Olgun is poorly written, fairly misleading and he needs to start doing his due diligence. Prob could start with some journalism classes to learn how to establish the facts first. Obviously he is a huge fan of Ben's, but did him no favors.

The only reason for Ben to go to LSU so early would be to attend summer school to improve his academics. NCAA is highly traditional and adamant not to allow anyone to enter the College system without meeting academic requirements. So when it comes to decision making and career prospects, the choice is obvious. Good luck to him.

Pretty sure Ben Simmons played for the boomers in the series against NZ 2 years ago as a 17 year old....unless that Boomers team is not really the Boomers? And unless I'm mistaken he also was part of the final Boomers squad chosen to represent Australia at the FIBA World Cup....if he is not part of the senior program already that is terribly misleading....

Yes he may well have been included in the group, but was not and probably will not be part of final selection , SO to poi t out the obvious, he is still in high school, he is STILL quite able to compete at a world tournament for HIS age group, while he waits for his time to come. As do all the others who will be p,ahi g worlds. I'm quite sure if it's good enough for the Americans who are ranked the best in the world in ALL ages and genders, then a young 18yr old from Australia can also play without jeopardising his chance of selection to the senior ranks or his prep for college.

Man how silly of me I forgot this was the Boomers and Australian basketball where we would rather take an un-athletic "experienced" team to get beaten at the world cup rather than some young guys with potential and we would rather play NBL guys over top 5 NBA Draft picks (in the end we had an awful result probably same result with young guys).
This kid who is unanimously regarded as not only the best high school player in the US but the best 18 year old in the world...who if there was not a 1 year college rule would be in the 2015 NBA draft and some would say would be another top 5 pick.
Oh yeah of course you want that guy to play U19 so that australia can look like we have our stuff together and win a medal and pat ourselves on the back and say "look at our talent coming through"....we wouldn't want to instead fly that kid back to work out with other boomers and get him ready for the Olympics or fly the FULL TIME Boomers coach over to the US to work with him...my question is if he already averaging 28 ppg 12rpg against the America kids who everyone considers the best how does coming home for an U19 camp to compete against other Aussies for 2 weeks and then play in a tournament where he may play against the USA 1 time benfit this kid? he will already be competing against the best US players 2 times this month in NIKE world game and All American game.
If it's all about representing his country he has already done that.

When has he represented his country......he's represented himself, you sound more like his parent or agent lol.
As always just like any comp, you don't have all your best p,ayers in the one team so too the American high school system, so he may be getting 28points playing against his own age and younger, put him up against a whole group of players who are also the strongest individually in their respective high school teams and you may find it different story, ....you may not but if he doesn't do it then you'll never know.

What's the 1 yr college rule as it didn't apply to Exum did it?

"When has he represented his country......he's represented himself"

yeah he played U17s when they won Silver and played with the Boomers in the NZ series to qualify for the World Cup.

"put him up against a whole group of players who are also the strongest individually in their respective high school teams and you may find it different story"

that is exactly what he will be doing when he plays for the World Nike Team vs USA and at the McDonalds All American game which is exactly to my point why would he play U19s to get that elite competition 1 time vs the USA when he can go to college for the summer and work out with his team mates and play against NBA pros who come back to LSU to work out....

The 1 year college rule applies to players who compete in the US high school system bc of the time between leaving high school and the draft is not sufficient. Dante never went to US high school so rule doesnt apply as far as i know

I really can't believe what I am reading. People get really uptight about the decisions of other people. It's under 19s. The guy has said, and shown, that he will be playing for the Boomers in future. Who really cares about Under 19? We will probably get a medal in the tournament and no one except the absolute Basketball die hard will even be aware that it happened.

GWB well said....Thank You!!!

"put him up against a whole group of players who are also the strongest individually in their respective high school teams and you may find it different story"

My recollection was that Ben was voted the best player at the top 100 camp that was held in the USA last year.

That was against the top 100 USA invited High School players in the country. I think that answers your uneducated query above!!!

I can see both sides of people's opinions but the big thing for me is when players are happy to receive a leg up from Basketball Australia or the CoE and then when they're asked to give back refuse to do so. I'm not saying Simmons is doing that directly as I'm pretty sure he went to the states instead of accepting an offer to the CoE, but he has also received benefits associated with Aussie basketball programs which would have assisted greatly with his development.

In saying that, we're all on the outside looking in. As for the Sudanese kid, I don't think he'll pull on the green and gold ever.

Disappointed also because he will lose the experience of an important knockout tournament over a short period, which is what the Boomers will encounter when they play WCs and Olympics. He played under 17s as a 16 year-old, so he should have an idea, but U19s is when things start to get serious. Also would've been great if Simmons could come close to what Bogut achieved.

I also hope the decision is not motivated by an effort to evade scrutiny and competition, as people have suggested about Maker.

I'd say above post is probably spot on

He's playing high school basketball

#516082

There isn't anything wrong with that? Really? Bewdy! The future with the Me - generation. And the argument that it gives others the opportunity doesn't wash with me. Whether it's World Champs, Olympic Games, even the old Commonwealth Games I thought we wanted our best out there - barring injury or a bloody good reason - every single time.

Seems like Simmons given a lot of leeway on this issue whereas Maker was bagged out.

And big Humphries not exactly committed yet either:

http://zagsblog.com/articles/recruiting-rundown-nba-scouts-turn-out-to-watch-talent-at-basketball-borders/

Wow. Touchy. Every one to their own opinion, doesn't mean it has to match yours. And "narrow minded"? Please! Seems some on hoops only interested in the same viewpoint.

#516132

I'm pretty chilled actually. What else is a viewpoint if it aint your opinion or point of view? How dumb can I be? What was I thinking? Having my own opinion ....

While like most of us Im disappointed that Ben Simmons isnt going to be available for the u19's Worlds, Id like to point out a couple things in his defense as someone whose been keeping an eye on his high school career.

Anyone who say's he's scared about being shown up at the World's is completely ignorant of the facts. His high school team play's one of the most competitive schedules in high school ball. He's regularly playing ranked teams and facing top tier talent.. at the recent Hoop Hall classic he faced 2 top 10 players in the front court Chase Jeter(duke commit) and Stephen Zimmerman(Kentucky, Kansas, Arizona etc chasing him) and he dropped 36pts. He's a McDonalds All American, he was the max preps Junior POY, and he's the favorite for HS POY this season.

The kids not had a break in 2 years, from playing juinor HS, to AU ball, to HS camps, to coming back to Aus to attempt to get into the Boomers WC team and then straight back to senior season in HS.. and people are knocking him for enrolling in summer school so he can hit the gym and work on his skills without having to fly over the US every week(or the World if he played U19's)

Some times a person needs to put his best interests in front of representing his country. And yeah like I said Im disappointed it looks like we'll be missing most of our best players. I can't fault his decision. Same goes with Isaac Humphries, he'll only ever have the one chance to play AU ball, the skill camps etc and the timer conflicts with rep ball.

Simmons is a one-and-done player, what if he wants to be at LSU a bit longer since he only has one year there - make the most out of his time there. He'll have plenty of time to play for Australia, let the kid make the decision that he feels is best for him.


Hate to break it to you but college doesn't start till fall, the camps during the school break so too the worlds, so that point is mute, lol
Why won't people just accept this kid is making excuses , and you have to ask why.....not one answer is favourable

#516206

Whoa there!! Been for a gallop on the big horse. Just catching my breath.

Get yourself some glasses. Fair dinkum. Never said anywhere that Simmons shouldn't ever play for Australia again on the back of this.

Thanks, some of you guys have provided some good laughs while you rant and try to insult me.

Its bloody under 19s! Lets not get tall poppy syndrome and hate on the kid for this. Next year is the Olympics, and I am guessing he will be playing that.

Ummmmm,

No I did not.

Different anonymous, not me.

To my knowledge it is a general accepted policy that Students who attend College as student athletes are expected to attend summer Classes so that they can meet their academic requirements given that during the actual season their chosen sport is played in normally means they do not attend many classes.

LSU as a college has faced sanctions is the past for student athletes academic problems and may very well have a policy that dictates all athletics must attend summer school.

Ben seems to be the type of guy who loves to play against the best opposition possible and if he could do both most likely would. Keep in mind his God father who is a coach at LSU is also the same man who pushed Patty Mills and Dante Exum to play at the U19's so do not see why he would not do the same now with Ben unless the above school policy is in play.