Recently inducted Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal has LSU in his blood. So it’s no surprise The Big Aristotle is high on another big man who played a little — a year of, that is — college basketball in Baton Rouge. That’s the Philadelphia 76ers’ projected savior Ben Simmons, a 20-year-old NBA rookie who Shaq calls a “LeBron-type player.”
Simmons, the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NBA draft, grabbed plenty of attention both from the media and defenses during his single college season. Shaq believes all the attention obscured, rather than highlighted all that Simmons can do. He told NBA.com that Simmons “took a lot of flack, especially at LSU with not really taking over games. But he’s young. He’ll get to that.” Depends on your definition of taking over, really. If Shaq means Simmons will do a lot better in the NBA than he did at the collegiate level, watch out. Simmons averaged 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game at LSU.
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