NEW YORK -- Ben Simmons went from Down Under to the top of the NBA Draft, and a number of international players followed.
The Philadelphia 76ers took the Australian with the No. 1 pick Thursday night. He was the first of a record 14 international players chosen in the first round, topping the 12 international players chosen in the first round in 2013.
NBA DRAFT
Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.
First-round picks
PK. TEAM PLAYER POS. HT. WT. SCHOOL/CO
1.Philadelphia Ben Simmons PF 6-10 240 LSU
2.LA Lakers Brandon Ingram SF 6-9 190 Duke
3.Boston Jaylen Brown SF 6-7 225 California
4.Phoenix Dragan Bender PF 7-0 225 Croatia
5.Minnesota Kris Dunn PG 6-4 220 Providence
6.New Orleans Buddy Hield SG 6-5 212 Oklahoma
7.Denver Jamal Murray SG 6-5 201 Kentucky
8.Sacramento Marquese Chriss PF 6-10 233 Washington
9.Toronto Jakob Poeltl C 7-1 239 Utah
10.Milwaukee Thon Maker PF 7-1 216 Canada
11.Orlando Domantas Sabonis PF 6-10 240 Gonzaga
12.Utah Taurean Prince SF 6-7 220 Baylor
13.Phoenix Georgios Papaglannis C 7-2 240 Greece
14.Chicago Denzel Valentine SF 6-5 210 Michigan State
15.Denver Juan Hernangomez PF 6-9 230 Spain
16.Boston Guerschon Yabuseie PF 6-8 240 France
17.Memphis Wade Baldwin IV PG 6-4 202 Vanderbilt
18.Detroit Henry Ellenson PF 6-11 242 Marquette
19.Denver Malik Beasley SG 6-4 189 Florida State
20.Indiana Caris LeVert SG 6-7 191 Michigan
21.Atlanta DeAndre Bembry SF 6-5 206 St. Joseph
22.Charlotte Malachi Richardson SG 6-6 199 Syracuse
23.Boston Ante Zizic C 6-11 254 Croatia
24.Philadelphia Timothe Luwawu SF 6-7 205 Serbia
25.LA Clippers Brice Johnson PF 6-10 208 North Carolina
26.Philadelphia Furkan Korkmaz SG 6-7 180 Turkey
27.Toronto Pascal Slakam PF 6-9 226 N.Mexico State
28.Phoenix Skal Labissiere C 7-0 216 Kentucky
29.San Antonio Dejounte Murray PG 6-5 170 Washington
30.Golden State Damian James PF 6-11 243 Vanderbilt
Second-round picks
PK. TEAM PLAYER POS. HT. WT. SCHOOL
31.Boston Deyonta Davis PF 6-11 237 Michigan State
32.LA Lakers Ivica Zubac C 7-1 260 Serbia
33.LA Clippers Cheick Diallo PF 6-9 219 Kansas
34.Phoenix Tyler Ulis PG 5-10 149 Kentucky
35.Boston Rade Zagorac SF 6-8 205 Serbia
36.Milwaukee Malcolm Brogdon SG 6-5 223 Virginia
37.Houston Chinanu Onuaku C 6-10 245 Louisville
38.Milwaukee Patrick McCaw SG 6-7 180 UNLV
39.New Orleans David Michineau PG 6-4 176 France
40.New Orleans Diamond Stone C 6-10 254 Maryland
41.Orlando Stephen Zimmerman C 7-0 234 UNLV
42.Utah Isaiah Whitehead SG 6-5 210 Seton Hall
43.Houston Zhou Qi, Xinjiang C 7-2 218 China
44.Atlanta Isaia Cordinier SG 6-5 190 France
45.Boston Demetrius Jackson PG 6-1 194 Notre Dame
46.Dallas A.J. Hammons C 7-0 280 Purdue
47.Orlando Jake Layman SF 6-9 209 Maryland
48.Chicago Paul Zipser SF 6-7 210 Germany
49.Detroit Michael Gbinije SF 6-7 205 Syracuse
50.Indiana George Niang SF 6-9 231 Iowa State
51.Boston Ben Bentil PF 6-8 229 Providence
52.Utah Joel Bolomboy PF 6-9 224 Weber State
53.Denver Petr Cornelie PF 6-11 225 France
54.Atlanta Kay Felder PG 5-9 177 Oakland
55.Brooklyn Marcus Paige PG 6-2 164 North Carolina
56.Denver Daniel Hamilton SF 6-8 197 Connecticut
57.Memphis Wang Zhelin C 7-0 251 China
58.Boston Abdel Nader PF 6-8 230 Iowa State
59.Sacramento Isaiah Cousins SF 6-5 194 Oklahoma
60.Utah Tyrone Wallace PG 6-5 200 California
Simmons climbed on stage to the sound of cheers from a Philly-filled crowd hoping he can turn around the 76ers.
Not long after, the same crowd was largely quiet as the draft filled with unfamiliar names.
The picks included the first Austrian (Utah center Jakob Poeltl, No. 9 to Toronto), the highest Greek player ever drafted (Georgios Papagiannis, No. 13, Phoenix), two Croatians (Dragan Bender, No. 4 to Phoenix and Ante Zizic, No. 23, Boston), and two players from the Caribbean (Buddy Hield, Bahamas, No. 6 to New Orleans; and Skal Labissiere, Haiti, No. 28, picked by Phoenix but dealt to Sacramento).
Some of the international players won't come to the NBA next season, and perhaps never will.
Simmons might be ready to star now.
Philadelphia grabbed the versatile 6-foot-10 forward from LSU who averaged 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists to become the only player ever in the SEC to finish in the top-five in all three categories.
He comes with some questions -- he made only one three-pointer -- but too much potential for the 76ers to pass up with their first No. 1 pick since taking Allen Iverson 20 years ago.
"It feels amazing, honestly," Simmons said. "I can't even -- my legs were shaking when I was on stage."
Philadelphia fans who made the trip to Brooklyn's Barclays Center loudly cheered the selection in hopes Simmons can help them move forward after three consecutive dismal seasons, including a 10-72 finish in 2015-16 that was just a game better than the worst ever in the 82-game schedule.
The last No. 1 pick from LSU was Shaquille O'Neal -- who will be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame along with Iverson in September.
The Los Angeles Lakers, picking second for the second consecutive year, took Duke's Brandon Ingram, who averaged 17.3 points as the ACC freshman of the year. He is the latest young player on a team that will begin life without the retired Kobe Bryant next season.
"I'm just going to be myself," Ingram said. "Whatever I can do to impact the game, whatever the coach needs me to do, I'm going to do it."
The Boston Celtics then began a busy night by picking California forward Jaylen Brown. Boston orginally had eight picks in the two-round draft, starting with one it acquired from Brooklyn in 2013 in the deal that sent Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Nets.
Bender ended the run of three consecutive freshmen when the Suns selected the 7-1 forward who has been playing professionally for Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Milwaukee rounded out the top 10 with Thon Maker, originally from South Sudan, and Orlando followed with Domantas Sabonis, whose rights were dealt to Oklahoma City along with Victor Oladipo and Ersan Ilyasova for forward Serge Ibaka.
The Minnesota Timberwolves used the No. 5 pick on Providence junior Kris Dunn, a two-time defensive player of the year in the Big East who should fit nicely for new Coach Tom Thibodeau's defensive-oriented system.
A couple of the draft's best shooters went next, with New Orleans grabbing All-American Hield from Oklahoma, and Denver picking Kentucky freshman Jamal Murray at No. 7.
Michigan State's Denzel Valentine, the Associated Press player of the year, went 14th to Chicago to close the lottery. But that was a rare well-known name to the crowd at the time, as Papagiannis went 13th to Phoenix -- climbing out the stands near the concourse level surrounded by Greek flags -- with Spain's Juan Hernangomez going 15th to Denver and Boston selecting Guerschon Yabusele of France at No. 16.
Even they seemed surprised to hear their names called by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
"Nobody was expecting," Yabusele said. "I see [the cameras] coming close to me, see my name. So I was really surprised to be in here, but I was so happy."
Labissiere, who played with Murray at Kentucky, barely sneaked into the first round after being considered a potential lottery pick.
"It was tough at first, but one thing about the league, one thing about all of us now, everything starts over for all of us," he said. "We all start over once we get to that level. I'm excited to get to work."
Sports on 06/24/2016