Allonzo Trier, Kobi Simmons have thoughts on mishandled college players

The NBA Combine begins this week, where debates will rage on about college players and their potential at the next level.

Draft analyst Fran Fraschilla poked some fun at that process by listing five statements that pundits often use to pump up unheralded players:

1. His college coach held him back
2. His workout guru has really fixed his shooting stroke
3. That ‘violation of team rules’ was a misunderstanding
4. They played him out of position
5. He’s definitely stopped smoking.

New York Knicks guard and former Arizona Wildcats standout Allonzo Trier chimed in, saying that statements No. 1 and No. 4 can sometimes be true.

Former UA teammate Kobi Simmons then added “very true”, along with an eye roll emoji.

So #1 and #4 aren’t sometimes true though?

— Allonzo Trier (@ISO_ZO) May 14, 2019

Very true

— Kobi Simmons (@JordanKobi) May 15, 2019

This led some to believe they were referring to their experiences at Arizona. Neither Simmons nor Trier were drafted out of college, despite arriving at the UA as five-star recruits.

In Simmons’ case, he had a fairly uninspiring college career, averaging 8.7 points per game on sub-40-percent shooting. He started well but pretty much fell out of the rotation by the time his freshman season came to an end (thanks in part to Trier being reinstated from a suspension).

And last summer Simmons did not exactly shut down speculation that he and Sean Miller didn’t have the best relationship:

Whether or not we did, That doesn’t matter... I still went to Arizona and loved the school! #Beardown forever! ⬇️ https://t.co/GtDPFf6LKL

— Kobi Simmons (@JordanKobi) July 16, 2018

Maybe Arizona could have done a better job maximizing Simmons’ skill set, but his NBA and G League numbers haven’t exactly been eye-popping either.

Trier, who is faring well in New York, had a much better career at Arizona when it wasn’t marred by injuries and suspensions. He averaged 16.8 points per game over three seasons and got better each year, culminating in a junior season in which he averaged 18.1 PPG with a shooting line of .500/.380/.865.

With that kind of production, it’s hard to say Miller used Trier incorrectly or played him out of position, though one could argue Arizona could have gotten even more out of him.

That said, it is certainly possible Trier and Simmons were just speaking about the sport in general and not trying to take a shot at Arizona or its coaching staff.

Prior to this, neither have had any bad things to say about the school. Trier still returns every now and then to work out, and Simmons repped the block A last July when he was playing for the Memphis Grizzlies in NBA Summer League.

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