NBA GM’s Optimistic About Ben Simmons’ Future

70% of NBA GM’s think Ben Simmons will be the best player in his rookie class in five years. | Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Earlier in the offseason we noted that Ben Simmons’ fellow rookies weren’t necessarily enamored with his long-term potential, as six other rookies received as many votes as Simmons did for the question of “which rookie will have the best career” during NBA.com’s annual rookie survey.

Judging by the results of the annual GM survey, NBA general managers think more highly of Simmons’ future.

Despite a fracture in his right foot that will likely sideline Simmons until at least January, the Australian forward received 13.3 percent of the vote for who GM’s predict will win Rookie of the Year. According to NBA.com writer John Schuhmann, who conducted the survey, he received some responses before Simmons suffered his injury, and he followed up to see whether the GM’s who responded before the injury wanted to change their vote, so these are the results even with knowledge of the injury.

GM’s were even more optimistic about Simmons’ long-term future, with 70 percent voting for Simmons to be the best player out of his rookie class in five years time. That’s a higher percentage of the vote than Karl-Anthony Towns (62.1 percent) received last year. Joel Embiid also received a vote in this category, meaning of the four players who received votes in the “which rookie will be the best player in five years” category, two of them are on the Sixers. Kris Dunn (6 votes) and Brandon Ingram (2 votes) are the other two receiving votes.

In addition, Simmons received a vote for best passer, Joel Embiid received three votes for Rookie of the Year, and T.J. McConnell received a vote for “which active player will make the best head coach someday.”

You can view the results of NBA.com’s annual GM survey here.

Derek Bodner covers the 76ers for Philadelphia magazine’s Sixers Post. Follow @DerekBodnerNBA on Twitter.