By: Brandon Apter, managing editor 
Earlier this week, Sixers president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo spoke on a few topics, one of which was the decision of Ben Simmons not to work out for any team prior to the draft. According to Marc Stein of ESPN, the Sixers had their first meeting with Ben Simmons on Thursday in Cleveland.
ESPN sources say that the Sixers had their first face-to-face meeting Thursday with presumptive No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons on Thursday.
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) June 17, 2016
The Sixers, sources say, had all of their key people in Cleveland on Thursday to have dinner with Simmons and agent Rich Paul before Game 6.
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) June 17, 2016
Stein's sources say that the Sixers are to date the only team that has been granted direct access to Simmons in the lead-up to the draft.
Colangelo's "intel" that he has gathered on Simmons is that he would very much like to be selected first overall and the LSU product confirmed that in an interview with an Austrailan radio show, despite numerous reports over the past month that he'd prefer to go to the Lakers.
In Thursday's Sixerdelphia mock draft, we have Simmons going over Ingram, despite people constantly expressing concern over his shooting. In reality, he just chose not to shoot. Simmons attempted just three 3-pointers (made one) during his lone year at LSU. All of the Sixers fans who want Ingram will immediately jump to this for their first argument on why they’d rather have the lanky forward from Duke. Simmons’ shot is bound to improve with coaching and some extra time in the gym (think Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James, who were terrible shooters coming into the league). Ingram may be a better shooter at the moment, but Simmons is better in literally every other aspect of the game.
