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.
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.”
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.
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
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:
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
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