Smallwood: Simmons documentary a behind-the-scenes slam dunk

THE FIRST headlines concerning Sixers rookie Ben Simmons and the Showtime bio-documentary One & Done concentrated on the epic takedown the No. 1 overall pick laid on the NCAA and its hypocrisy of making billions of dollars off the work of student-athletes while paying them nothing.

That is reason enough to watch the behind-the-scenes story of Simmons' one season at LSU at 9 p.m. Friday.

Watch the trailer below:

It doesn't get more honest than Simmons saying, "I'm here to play. I am not here to go to school."

Still, Simmons' season at LSU is only one chapter of the story of how the family of a basketball prodigy mapped out a plan to help him achieve his dream of reaching the NBA.

The others are just as intriguing.

One & Done producer Maura Mandt and her company Maggie Vision Productions show a family adjusting to extraordinary events going at light speed around them. It isn't always seamless.

The story is filmed over two years starting with Simmons' senior season at Montverde (Fla.) Academy and ending just after the Sixers make him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft.

The film works because Mandt and co-producer Josh Swade got extraordinary access to the Simmons family and LSU.

It was the only way to keep this from looking like a promotional video for Simmons.

"I tried to be as negative as I could about what we needed to make this real," said Mandt, who was approached by the Simmons family to do the documentary. "From the beginning, I was up front about the kind of access we had to have for this to be authentic.

"I knew that if the family gave us the access we needed, this journey would be interesting, because it was such a significant year in (Simmons') life.

"There is always push and pull, but the family and Ben kept their commitments, even at times when it was difficult or not convenient. They never skirted."

Because of that, viewers observe a process that can't be fully appreciated unless it is your family experiencing it.

The thing that you pulls you in is watching the Simmonses find out what they only thought they knew and seeing their emotional reactions while adjusting on the fly.

In one moment, Julie Simmons is crying as she hugs her son as he leaves for the 10-hour drive to LSU. She whispers, "Be safe. Be a good person, Benny."

A few months later she is watching a video pitch from Snoop Dogg asking Ben to sign a shoe deal with Adidas.

There are curveballs in the transformation of "baby brother" into a global sports corporation.

More people enter the scene, and things around the family go from a slow pace to light speed as the enormity of what lies ahead starts to take shape.

Through the shifts in dynamics, you begin to understand that the Simmonses are not a unique family because of Ben's talents, but rather an ordinary family placed in a unique position because of Ben's talents.

"Going through this process with him, things are changing; yeah, things are changing," says David Simmons, Ben's father. "We're trying to remain the same or close to it, but you can see everything shifting around you."

The numerous video-chat scenes between Simmons and family members, particularly his oldest sister Emily Bush make the movie.

Simmons' quotes about the NCAA were pulled from the One & Done trailer, which does not did provide the context the movie does.

Because it is filmed in real time, Simmons' reactions are to things happening to him in particular moments.

Some of the language is raw, because teenagers can use raw language when they are upset.

The story isn't about the things Simmons said about the NCAA, but why he said them.

David Simmons played professionally in Australia, got married and started to raise his family in Melbourne.

Ben did not come to the United States until he was 15 and the family moved to Orlando, so he could attend Montverde. The move was about continuing his development in basketball.

There is no corresponding collegiate athletics system in Australia. Superior athletes play through high school, then turn professional.

That is the mindset Simmons always had.

"That's been my dream since I was 5 or 6 years old," he explains. "I was born in Australia. I did not grow up watching the NCAA Tournament. It was not a big deal to me.

"It was always going to be high school to the NBA. It was never high school to college."

The message for the family was basically to deal with it for one season.

"Ben comes from a great situation," said his older brother, Liam. "You haven't had anything remotely tragic happen in your life. The real challenge is that you have everything laid at your feet.

"Can you grasp the challenge of the opportunity in front of you? There are millions of other players who will never have that in their lifetimes."

Simmons' uninterest in the academic side of life at college is not glossed over. As the demands and expectations outside basketball increase, he becomes more conflicted about why he has to be at LSU.

After he receives the minor punishment of not starting a game for consistently skipping classes, Simmons hits a boiling point.

"The NCAA is messed up," Ben tells his parents, who move to Baton Rouge. "I don't have a voice.

"This is the life you want," his mother tells him. "This is what you signed up for."

"No it's not," Ben shoots back. "I don't get paid to do those things."

When his mother explains that these will be the same off-the-court expectations once he gets to the NBA, Simmons says he will be fine with that because, "that's my job if I'm doing it then. Don't say I'm an amateur and then make me take pictures and sign stuff. Don't go making hundreds of millions of dollars off one guy. I'm going off on the NCAA, just wait. I can be a voice for everyone in college."

Simmons' cellphone rings. It's Bush.

"When the media asks you why you did not start, what are you going to say?" she says while sensing his building rage. "Ben, move on me a sec, just switch your mind up. Get your mind where it needs to be, because being angry and going off like that would be silly."

As Simmons is shown walking to a media area, he asks himself, "Why didn't you go to class? Well, I can't get a degree in two semesters, so it is kind of pointless."

Simmons bites his tongue for the media.

LSU is eliminated from NCAA Tournament consideration when it loses badly to Texas A&M in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament. Simmons withdraws from LSU the day after Selection Sunday.

"He walked off the court (after the Texas A&M loss), and I turned to my wife and said, 'We did it,' " David Simmons says. "Forget about wins or losses, because the big loss is if something happens to you on the court.

"It's about getting him to the next step. That closes that chapter. That season is finished and he's moving on to bigger and better things."

That next chapter will be written in Philadelphia. One & Done catches you up on what you've missed.

@SmallTerp