NBA champ Chris Bosh says Ben Simmons is ‘a freak of nature’
DUAL NBA champion Chris Bosh knows all about superstars after playing alongside LeBron James for four years. So what does he think of Aussie rising star Ben Simmons?
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DUAL NBA champion Chris Bosh says star Australian rookie Ben Simmons has the weight of a nation on his shoulders — but they’re broad enough to carry the load.
Bosh told the Herald Sun after just 26 NBA games with the Philadelphia 76ers, the 21-year-old was already the face of Australian basketball.
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“He’s going out there and being a model for kids in Australia that want to play basketball,” Bosh said.
“They have a guy that’s (inspiring them to think) ‘not only can I make the NBA, I can be a superstar in the NBA, I can be a star, I can lead a team from a bad record to a good record, I can be a franchise player’.
“He’s got the weight of the country on his back, but I think he’s one of those guys that can handle it.”
Cleveland superstar LeBron James has already anointed Simmons as the next big thing in basketball and Bosh — a teammate of the King during two NBA championship runs with Miami Heat — says it’s up to the Melbourne-born star to fulfil James’ prediction.
“LeBron said recently he (Simmons) can be better — I don’t know if that’s possible, but it’s on Ben to make it a reality,” Bosh said.
“Right now, he seems to be on the right track.
“He’s one of those guys that can do everything.
“It’s not going to be an easy road for him and as long as he knows that, he can go out there and perform and do whatever it takes for him to achieve that greatness.
“It’ll be a great time just watching him.”
Bosh, who played with the Toronto Raptors and Heat across 13 seasons before blood clots forced him from the court, believes Simmons is reinventing the way basketball is played the same way James did when he came into the league in 2003.
“Every great player is going to affect the game in some kind of way,” he said.
“Lebron’s greatness is that he’s a physical specimen, but he’s a pass first guy, he’s a natural point guard, he can do everything on the court.
“It’s kind of like breaking the rules.
“Ben’s one of those guys that probably saw LeBron play and was like, ‘Oh, he can do this? I’m going to do this’. He didn’t allow people to limit his game.
“He’s the starting point guard at 6’10”, so he’s pushing the game forward.
“You just get those guys who are just freaks of nature and it’s just through years and years of conditioning themselves watching other guys.”
Bosh, who was in Melbourne this month where he played cricket against Aussie Test great Jason Gillespie and tried AFL, NRL and surfing as part of a TAB promotion, said basketball was only going to get bigger in Australia.
The 11-time NBA All Star expects more players to follow in the footsteps of Oklahoma City Thunder draft pick Terrance Ferguson, who played with the Adelaide 36ers last year, and use the NBL as a stepping stone to the NBA.
“I’ve had a couple of guys — (former Perth Wildcat) James Ennis (joined the Heat, now with the Memphis Grizzlies) — he was one of the younger guys who came under me in the NBA, he played in Australia for a year,” Bosh said.
“You hear more and more American guys going to the Australian league. It’s a very interesting process to see how guys are making the league there more popular.
“I think it’s good for young guys to go there … old guys too, it’s an easier transition, everyone speaks English, it’s not much of a language barrier, it’s just getting used to the culture and identity of the place.”
Aussie basketball legend Andrew Gaze is dreaming of a gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Games, but, when asked if Team USA would be worried about an Australian side featuring Simmons and an all-NBA cast in Tokyo, Bosh — who won gold in Beijing in 2008 — laughed.
“Nah, of course not, he’s (Simmons) pretty good, but it’s one player, he better get 10 other guys that’s just like him,” Bosh said.
Originally published as NBA champ Chris Bosh says Ben Simmons is ‘a freak of nature’