Simon good bet to make his mark in NBA
Bobby Hurley was the MVP of the 1992 Final Four. The former Duke star is living in another country.
Ed O'Bannon was the MVP of the 1995 Final Four for UCLA. Hello? Ed? Where are you? Phone home.
Donald Williams was the MVP of the 1993 Final Four. Forgotten him already? He played for North Carolina. He disappeared faster than Tony Delk, who was Kentucky's MVP of the 1996 Final Four.
Notice a trend here? Being the MVP of a Final Four in the '90s has the staying power of a Christmas tree.
And now Miles Simon knows the feeling. It's a keepsake video, and the ring impresses all the girls, but on the job market you might as well have been the MVP of the Cable Car Classic.
The former Arizona star guard contradicts every college basketball coach who says that leaving school early costs you dearly in (a) money, (b) education and (c) glory.
By returning to Arizona for his senior season Simon (a) fell out of the NBA lottery, (b) made virtually no progress on his degree and (c) was humiliated in his final game by a team from a conference that includes Rice.
Maybe he should've joined the Navy.
Much like you, I sat and watched as Bonzi Wells, a high school kid, a guy from Valparaiso, and three players whose names I can't pronounce or spell were drafted before Simon was selected by Orlando in Wednesday night's NBA Draft.
I watched Simon play more than 100 games while at Arizona, and I swear he didn't lose a step, get the yips or come down with leprosy. He was as skilled in March of 1998 as he was in March of 1997.
It proves that timing is everything. The guy who drove a stake through the heart of three No. 1 seeds in the 1997 NCAA tournament -- Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky -- had an off night against Utah in the '98 West regional finals. The NBA people reacted as if he had moved to Iran.
If there's any consolation to Simon and his free-fall to the No. 42 pick in the draft -- some guy named Ansu Sesay was taken 12 spots before Simon -- it's that the NBA isn't about the draft. It's about making the most of the chance you get.
Ten years ago, Steve Kerr was the 50th man drafted. He has three world championship rings.
Six years ago, Sean Rooks was the 30th man selected. He has a $14-million contract.
Seven years ago, Jud Buechler was the 38th player drafted. He bumped around to Seattle, New Jersey, the Warriors, San Antonio. What were the odds Buechler would play even one year in the NBA? He's working on his ninth.
Reggie Geary, whose heart was almost broken when he fretted on the night of the 1996 draft and wasn't selected until No. 56, grossed close to $300,000 last year with the Spurs. If Geary's in the league, you'd think Simon would be, too.
I don't know why Simon was devalued any more than you do. The same jumper he shot to win the national title in 1997 was the same jumper he shot that turned scouts off this year. I think it is very simple: Americans love a winner, and a year ago Miles Simon, warts and all, was the biggest winner in college basketball.
This year the NBA people decided that he was an attitude case. That he was an irresponsible student. That he couldn't get along with the media. And that he was a tad too slow, a bit too small, and that he really doesn't have a position.
Right. A year ago at this time he would've been one of the first six or eight men selected in the draft.
Any draft in professional sports is the haven of guesswork. That's why Karl Malone was a No. 13 pick and Pervis Ellison was No. 1. That's why John Stockton was No. 16 and Pooh Richardson was No. 10.
"A guy like Miles, he talks," Arizona coach Lute Olson said last year. "But more than that, there's his body language. Guys on his team can see how confident he is, and it makes them relax."
My guess is that the NBA people didn't see Simon's body language translating well in a league in which he would be guarded by -- and be asked to guard – Gary Payton and Penny Hardaway. In the college game he bullied Dan Dickau and Ahlon Lewis. There's no way his swagger works in the NBA.
Plus NBA scouts have said Simon got most of his points from Mike Bibby's passes.
And why didn't he successfully pull off those pump fakes, those 8-foot floaters in the lane in 1998 the way he did in Indianapolis a year earlier? There were never any easy answers about Miles Simon in his four seasons at Arizona. He lived on the edge and seemed to like it that way, whether it be his academic status or sprinting up court, clock ticking, against Oregon State or Cincinnati or UCLA.
The irony here is that a man who plays the same position as Simon, North Carolina's Shammond Williams, went 1-for-13 from the field against Simon in the 1997 Final Four. Simon scored 24 points against Williams.
But Williams was the 34th player selected. A few picks later they were drafting some guy from Toledo.
Simon gets the next shot, and I'm thinking it'll be nothing but net.