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In the first Liberty Ballers community big board yesterday, Ben Simmons absolutely dominated the voting. The former LSU forward pulled in 2238 votes out of 2510 votes total (89 percent), while Duke's Brandon Ingram corralled just 216 votes (9 percent). For the 56 people who voted collectively for Dragan Bender, Kris Dunn, and Jamal Murray, shame on you for trying to be different.
I imagine Ingram will dominate this poll like Simmons did yesterday. This draft has always been a two horse race, and the former Duke swingman is definitely a cut above the rest of the draft.
18-year-old Dragan Bender has spent the last two seasons with Maccabi Tel Aviv, one of the most notable teams in international basketball. He played rather sparingly in Eurocup and Euroleague action, but during the Israeli regular season he averaged 5.4 points and 2.7 rebounds 13.8 minutes per game. He's athletic and long enough to guard anywhere from small forwards to centers, and can definitely shoot the ball well from the outside. Despite original questions about his ability to get out of the seven-year deal he signed with Tel Aviv, there is apparently a buyout clause that would allow him to make the jump to the NBA in 2016-17.
Kris Dunn took home just about all the Big East honors you could find after his junior and senior season. The two time Big East Player of the Year averaged 16.4 points, 6.2 assists and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 44.8% from the field. Dunn is a strong guard who scores around the rim with ease, and does a pretty good job of finding open teammates. Concerns here are due to his age (he's already 22) and his questionable perimeter shooting.
Jamal Murray burst onto the scenes with team Canada last summer at the 2015 Pan American Games, and kept the party going at Kentucky. As primarily an off ball guard, Murray averaged 20.0 points and shot 40.8 percent from three-point range on 277 attempts. He's got a workable ball handling ability, but needs to find away to score off the dribble.
We'll add Cal's Jaylen Brown as the last member of this poll. Voting closes at 3 p.m., and then we'll trot out community board #3.