![]() "My father never had access to anything like this," he says. It cost $15 million and spans 11,324 square feet. ![]() Each gym features a scoreboard, a balcony for video filming and a table with video and data connections. Each has two portable goals and four overhead retractable rims both contain replicas of the game court. On site, there are separate gyms for the men's and women's teams. "My dad used to tell me that he would just hang a milk crate, nail it to the wall and play on that," Ben says as he sits on a chair inside LSU's palatial practice facility. "If they give me a pull-up jumper, I'm gonna take it," he says. Still, he has not hit a three in a game since Nov. He can also hit a three by throwing a ball overhand and righty while sitting on a sideline chair. During warmups, he is liable to hit a lefty 3-pointer while standing flat-flooted in the corner out of bounds, as he does in an impromptu contest with walk-on Henry Shortess. He is transcendent in transition, yet reluctant to pull the trigger beyond the arc. He does not defer so much as he distributes. Examined in full, he is a nimble anomaly, labeled a point forward for his vision and versatility, but he lacks assertiveness that maddens even his most ardent admirers. 1 pick in next June's NBA Draft, and stitches together statistical lines that range from 43 points in one game to 20 rebounds in another to 10 assists in a third. Simmons defies most traditional means of identification. "I think I was supposed to be right-handed," Ben says. At LSU, Ben fires all jump shots left-handed with ease, but finishes right-handed at the rim most often. Father told son to dribble and shoot lefty. Ben credits his dexterous displays to his father's sleight-of-hand demands during his childhood's developmental stages. He attends games with his wife, Julie, and watches his youngest son buoy a team seeking balance on the NCAA Tournament bubble. At 53, David Jr., a former player in Australia's National Basketball League, cuts an imposing figure, speaks with an Australian accent and counts Arne Duncan, former Secretary of Education in President Obama's cabinet, as a one-time rival from days Down Under. His father, David Jr., a South Bronx native, sits in Section 105, across from the LSU team bench. He stands 6-foot-9, weighs in at 240 pounds - up 15 pounds since he came to campus last summer - and hails from a beach community in Melbourne, Australia. Blessed with a seven-foot wingspan, Simmons is a rare bird in the Pelican State.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |