Ben Simmons snubbed by NBA bosses in annual survey

BEN Simmons’ kangaroo chain obviously wasn’t big enough by the looks of this bizarre snub by NBA team bosses ahead of the season.

BEN Simmons has never really enjoyed much love from the NBA’s team general managers — but even for them, this is a howler.

The 22-year-old was snubbed by franchise bosses when the NBA announced its annual survey of general managers on Thursday (AEST) with Simmons completely overlooked in the category of best international player in the league.

Philadelphia news outlets have already slammed the league for appearing to forget that Simmons is not American.

The Melbourne product wasn’t the only 76ers star snubbed in the category with Cameroon superstar centre Joel Embiid also failing to attract any votes in the category of best international player in the NBA.

Snubbed.

The Sixers pair were not listed at all when the NBA announced that general managers rate Greek freak Giannis Antetokounmpo as the NBA’s best international player alongside Kristaps Porzingis (Latvia), Luka Doncic (Slovenia), Nikola Jokic (Serbian) and Marc Gasol (Spain).

Embiid is the biggest surprise in the category after he was named to play in the NBA All Star game last season and was named on the all-NBA second team as the game’s second best centre behind Pelicans star Anthony Davis.

Simmons was also awarded rookie of the year honours in his first season in the league.

“Maybe everyone just forgot Embiid is from Cameroon and Simmons is from Australia,” NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Noah Levick wrote.

“It seems hard to believe that a rookie in Doncic, albeit one with a ton of talent, would be seen as superior to a member of the All-NBA second team last season in Embiid and the reigning rookie of the year in Simmons.”

Ben Simmons is not American.

It comes 12 months since the same team bosses gave Simmons just 14 per cent of the vote when asked which rookie would be the best player in five years.

He was also snubbed for rookie of the year expectations heading into last season with just 24 per cent of the vote behind Lakers guard Lonzo Ball (62 per cent of the vote).

This time around it wasn’t a complete snub for Simmons — his Sixers are considered by league bosses to have the most promising player roster in the game, receiving 47 per cent of the vote ahead of Boston (33 per cent).

Meanwhile, Kiwi Steven Adams has been named the toughest player in the NBA, according to team bosses surveyed.

He didn’t really seem to care.

Steven Adams on being voted the league's toughest player by NBA GMs: "Do I get a bonus? ... Seems dumb”

(via @ErikHorneOK)pic.twitter.com/OlrDlDrrw8

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 3, 2018

Other than Embiid’s and Simmons’ snubs there were few surprises in the survey with team bosses expecting LeBron James to win another MVP award in his first year at the Lakers and the Golden State Warriors to win another championship after adding star power forward DeMarcus Cousins to their roster this off-season.

NBA 2018-19 GM SURVEY

LABron James.

2018-19 NBA champions:

Golden State — 87 per cent

Boston — 7 per cent

Houston — 7 per cent

2018-19 MVP winner:

LeBron James — 30 per cent

Kevin Durant — 27 per cent

Anthony Davis — 27 per cent

James Harden — 10 per cent

2018-19 rookie of the year:

Luke Doncic — 43 per cent

Marvin Bagley III — 17 per cent

Wendell Carter Jr. — 17 per cent

DeAndre Ayton — 13 per cent

Best international player in the NBA:

Giannis Antetokounmpo — 73 per cent

Kristaps Porzingis — 10 per cent

Luka Doncic — 7 per cent

Nikola Jokic — 7 per cent

Marc Gasol — 3 per cent

Most surprising trade of the off-season:

Just give them the trophy.

DeMarcus Cousins joins Golden State — 35 per cent

Kawhi Leonard joins Toronto in trade for DeMar DeRozan — 29 per cent

Paul George remains in Oklahoma City — 19 per cent

Jimmy Butler wants out of Milwaukee — 6 per cent

Best coach in the NBA:

Brad Stevens (Boston) — 47 per cent

Gregg Popovich (San Antonio) — 30 per cent

Mike D’Antoni (Houston) — 7 per cent

Steve Kerr (Golden State) 7 per cent

Which team has the best young core:

Philadelphia — 47 per cent

Boston — 33 per cent

Chicago — 7 per cent

Phoenix — 7 per cent

Toughest player in the NBA:

Steven Adams — 33 per cent

LeBron James — 13 per cent

Marcus Smart — 13 per cent

Draymond Green — 10 per cent

James Johnson — 10 per cent

Best leader in the NBA:

LeBron James — 30 per cent

Chris Paul — 27 per cent

Stephen Curry — 23 per cent

Al Horford — 7 per cent

Damien Lillard — 7 per cent

Originally published as Ben Simmons snubbed by NBA bosses in annual survey