Central Michigan University Athletics
Rayshawn Simmons Rolls Dice On NBA In Vegas
7/7/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
The season ended for the Central Michigan men's basketball team on March 16 with a loss to Tennessee-Martin in a first-round Collegeinsider.com Tournament game.
It was the final collegiate game for four CMU seniors, including Rayshawn Simmons.
The next day, Simmons started anew.
"The day after the season I changed my whole shot," says Simmons. "I was shooting a thousand shots a day."
It paid off in a roster spot on the Washington Wizards summer league team. Simmons and the Wizards begin their brief summer season Saturday in Las Vegas and the 6-foot-4, 187-pound guard will join the multitude of undrafted free agents looking to make an impression that could lead to a training camp invitation in the fall.
Simmons, who earned his bachelor's degree in sports management from CMU, spent, by his estimation, 2-3 hours a day in the gym at CMU - sometimes two sessions a day - working out from the end of the season until May, when he left for a pre-draft camp in South Carolina.
He leaned on CMU men's basketball student managers to help during those sessions. If Simmons was in the gym, so was at least one of the managers.
"All the managers did a great job," Simmons said. "They'd come and sit for two, three hours a day, sometimes twice a day. Whichever one didn't have class. I could have gotten up at 6 o'clock in the morning and they'd have been there at the gym. That's what I loved about that school and the people there. They wanted it just as much for me as I wanted it for myself."
Simmons said he was working out in Los Angeles when Wizards coach Scott Brooks, in attendance to watch another player, took note of Simmons on the floor. Brooks invited Simmons back for another workout and that led to a summer camp invitation. The camp concluded on Thursday and Simmons was on a Vegas-bound flight Thursday night with the rest of the team.
Simmons was Mr. Durability as a Chippewa. He started every game - 65 total - during his junior and senior seasons. As a sophomore in 2013-14, Simmons appeared in all 31 of CMU's games and led the reserves in minutes played at 21.5 per game after transferring from Moberly (Kan.) Area Community College.
He never missed a game at CMU, playing over sprains and bumps and bruises.
"You sit down, you might not get back on the court," Simmons said.
He averaged 8.7 points and 3.8 assists during his CMU career while playing the off-guard spot alongside point man Chris Fowler. While Simmons spent a good deal of time running the point while playing for coach Keno Davis at CMU, he said his ticket to professional basketball is at the point.
And, he knows he has to play stellar defense - something that was in his established repertoire while he was a Chippewa.
"Just being a floor general, being a leader," Simmons said of his goals as he embarks on what he hopes is a long and lucrative career as a point guard. "More of a traditional pass-first point guard. Being able to guard really well and being able to hit shots when they come to me."
He's also learning the ropes and making the transition from the college game to the professional one.
"Learning the dos and don'ts about the NBA," he said. "The biggest difference from college to the NBA is probably attention to detail. It's basketball still at the end of the day. But everything (in the NBA) is crisp, everything matters. You can't take a second off or take anything for granted or you're going to get scored on or you're going to get taken advantage of.
"I'm really, really healthy and I'm in good shape. I like where I'm at and where I'm headed with my game. I keep getting opportunities to prove myself, who knows what could happen down the line."
