Tristan da Silva walks the red carpet before the NBA basketball draft, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
KJ Simpson says the most frequent question he received during interviews throughout the pre-draft process simply was, “Why?”
NBA front office personnel wanted to know the reason behind Simpson’s remarkable jump between his sophomore and junior seasons. His scoring average jumped from 15.9 to 19.7. More impressive were his jumps in rebounding (4.3 to 5.8), assists (3.8 to 4.9), assist-to-turnover rate (1.50 to 2.23), field goal percentage (.396 to .475) and 3-point percentage (.276 to .434, the No. 4 mark in program history).
Was it an aberration? Or something Simpson believes he can continue building upon? NBA personnel wanted to know, and Charlotte clearly was impressed enough with Simpson’s responses to select the former CU guard in the second round (No. 42 overall) of the NBA Draft on Thursday.
Simpson says his stock answer to that question was to explain the health woes that led to his abrupt drop-off in the second half of 2022-23. Through that season’s first 15 games, Simpson averaged 17.0 points while shooting .450 overall and .354 on 3-pointers, with a pair of 30-point games to his credit.
Yet in the waning moments of a near-comeback win at California sparked by Simpson on New Year’s Eve, he turned an ankle. He missed one game, and soon afterward he was plagued by nagging, flu-like symptoms. Eventually, Simpson was diagnosed with mono, sending him to the sideline for the season’s final five games. Over his final 14 games, Simpson averaged 12.9 points while shooting .330 overall and .154 from the arc, without once making more than one 3-pointer in any of those games.
Simpson never made excuses for his slide, but admitted earlier this week it was those mental struggles that helped spark his huge season and his spot in the NBA Draft.
“I had, humbly, one of the best single seasons in Colorado history. It’s not like they didn’t believe that it happened, but it was like, ‘What did I do to get to that point?’” Simpson said. “I love telling the story. My sophomore year I was playing at a high level. Then I hurt my ankle. I got food poisoning the same week. A couple weeks later I started getting headaches and stuff. Started getting migraines and was throwing up. Not eating anything. Not drinking anything. Then I find out I’d been playing with mono for like a month and a half.
“That is what honestly propelled me to have the jump I did. Because what I went through was such a mental battle and took a mental toll on me that it really pushed me to mature mentally.”
Program plan
Although Cody Williams going 10th overall to Utah clinched the first one-and-done recruit in CU program history, the drafting of Tristan da Silva (No. 18 overall to Orlando) and Simpson fell more in line with the established pattern within head coach Tad Boyle’s program. Six of the 10 CU draft picks in Boyle’s 14 seasons spent at least three years in the program. And one of the three who spent only two seasons at CU, Derrick White, was a five-year college player.
“A lot of people talk about player development. But I’ll put up our track record against anybody’s,” Boyle said. “That’s what kids want. That’s what families want. In today’s day and age it’s a little bit different because of the immediate eligibility of transfers and kids wanting to move, whether it’s for money or a chance to play a little more. But if they take the long-term view and buy into the process of coming to work every day and getting better and not expecting something for nothing, guys can realize their dreams
“I’m proud of the way I think we’ve stayed true to the process of work hard, and results will come. Because it doesn’t come easy and it doesn’t come overnight. A lot of these guys have gone into their (final) year and they’ve made it happen. When you can play a small role in helping kids realize their lifelong dreams, to me that’s one of the reasons do what I do.”
Notable
Da Silva is being represented by former CU assistant-turned-agent Anthony Coleman. … CU was one of just three programs to boast at least three draft picks. National champion UConn had four, while Kentucky also had three. Only four other schools had two (Duke, Baylor, USC and Kansas).