Basketball’s rising stars poised to shine in showcase game
NBA’s best first- and second-year players compete to kickoff all-star weekend
Ben Simmons though the should be an all-star by now.
Yet each time commissioner Adam Silver needed to tab an injury replacement from the Eastern Conference, he looked in another direction.
Simmons has expressed his disappointment over not getting the call.
Be patient, rookie. Simmons will likely get his chance someday. Maybe a bunch of them.
“He’s a young player who has a bright future, who is going to have a long and steady all-star career,” hall of famer and TNT analyst Reggie Miller said.
Same for Donovan Mitchell and a few other first-year phenoms.
Those two guards head up a deep rookie class and might be neck-andneck in this year’s NBA rookie of the year race.
“I’m going to throw it out there, I like the whole Grant Hill and Jason Kidd co-rookie of the years,” Miller said. “I’ll throw that out there now because I think both are well-deserving of it.”
Hill and Kidd shared the award in 1995 and might enter the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame together this summer.
Perhaps Simmons and Mitchell will be similarly linked years from now. They’ll be together Friday night when the NB A’ s best first-and second-year players compete in the Rising Stars in Los Angeles to kick off all-star weekend.
Simmons, the versatile sixfoot-10 point guard from the Philadelphia 76ers with six triple-doubles and size and statistics that call to mind a young Magic Johnson, and the high-flying Mitchell from the surging Utah Jazz, will garner much of the attention. But the rosters for the game, which pits a U.S. team against the World, show just how deep the league is with young talent.
There’ s Simmons’ team mate Joel Em bi id, who joins him on the World squad, while the U.S. has Jayson Tat um and Jay len Brown, who helped Boston lead the East most of the season. Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma will play for the U.S., though the hometown Lakers lost out on a third player when Lonzo Ball had to pull out because of injury.
Dennis Smith Jr. of Dallas, who like Mitchell will compete in the Slam Dunk contest, also will suit up for the Americans.
The rest of the rosters:
U.S.: Kris Dunn (Chicago), John Collins and Taurean Prince (Atlanta) and De’Aaron Fox (Sacramento). Rookie of the year Malcolm Brogdon of Milwaukee was picked for the game but is injured.
World: Lauri Markkanen (Chicago), Dario Saric (Philadelphia), Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic (Sacramento), Jamal Murray (Denver ), Do mantas S ab on is( Indiana ), Frank Ntilikina (New York) and Dillon Brooks (Memphis).
The youngsters are winning games and admirers with skills well beyond their years. Clippers coach Doc Rivers raved about Simmons and Embiid— and said not to forget the sophomore Saric — after his team was beaten in Philadelphia last week.
“I’m still very impressed sometimes,” hesaid. “I’ve still (had) great first impressions.”
The only guys who don’ t seem impressed are the players themselves.
Not Simmons, the No. 1 pick of the 2016 draft from LSU who had to sit out a year with a foot injury but expected to hit the ground running once he could play.
Same with Kuzma, even though he came into the league from Utah with far less fanfare after being taken with the No .27 pick. He’ s gone on to average nearly 16 points and join hall of famers Jerry West and Elgin Baylor as the only Lakers rookies with three straight games of 25 or more.