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NBA: 30 best careers from players who skipped college

By Josh Cornelissen

LeBron James, Miami Heat and Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers. Photo by Victor Decolongon/Getty Images
LeBron James, Miami Heat and Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers. Photo by Victor Decolongon/Getty Images /
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Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images) /

30 best careers from players who skipped college – 24. Connie Simmons

Kevin Garnett may have ushered in the new wave of players joining the NBA directly out of high school, and Moses may be referred to as the first, but technically, way back in the late 1940s, a few players made the leap into a fledgling league. Tony Kappen was first, going on to an uneventful career. Second was Connie Simmons, entering the league in 1946.

Simmons joined the Boston Celtics of the BAA, a precursor to the NBA before they had Bob Cousy or were coached by Red Auerbach. Two years later, he joined the Baltimore Bullets where he won a BAA league title in 1948, playing alongside guys like Kleggie Hermsen and Chick Reiser.

Simmons played with the New York Knicks, a decent scoring big man who averaged double digit scoring back when the pace of the league was at a crawl. With the Knicks, he made the NBA Finals three times, losing to George Mikan and the Minneapolis Lakers twice and the Rochester Royals once.

Late in his career, he joined the Syracuse Nationals and won another league title, this time in 1955. He played alongside Dolph Schayes, a twelve-time All-Star and future Hall of Fame inductee. For a relatively unheralded trailblazer of the path from high school straight to the pros, Simmons had a productive and successful career.