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ByBrianMahoney TheAssociatedPress NEW YORK Ben Simmons has the sneaker deal and the TV show, so off the court he already has the look of a star. The only questions seem to be about what he can do on the floor. Assuming the Philadelphia 76ers are satisfied, they will make Simmons the No. 1 pick Thursday night in the NBA draft. He has been considered the choice for months, and there are plenty of reasons why. The 6-foot-10 forward's versatility is perfect for the modern NBA, and he has been getting advice about how to make himself even better from his favorite player, a certain champion named LeB- ron James. Yet after an up-and-down sea- son at LSU, Simmons arrived in New York on Wednesday with more scrutiny than usual for a player whose named is expected to be called first by NBA Com- missioner Adam Silver. "It was a roller coaster but I think everything that I went through has helped mold me into the player that I am now," Simmons said. "But I think I'm ready." He averaged 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists, the only SEC player ever to finish in the top five in all three cate- gories. But the Tigers were only 19-14, failing to make the NCAA Tournament, and with all his talent Simmons sometimes left the impressive that he could've NBA DRAFT SimmonshopestobeNBAdra toppick By Chip Thompson editor@redbluffdailynews.com @editorchip on Twitter RED BLUFF Getting back to the fundamentals of football and its roots in rugby is the key to pro- ducing better tacklers and pre- venting injuries. That was the message Wednes- day morning from Seattle Se- ahawks Assistant Head Coach for Defense Rocky Seto during a free tackling seminar offered at Red Bluff High School's Perform- ing Arts Center. About 75 coaches and players from the region at- tended the talk, which included video clips from the Seahawks' training camps, rugby matches and NFL games. Seto said the aim of the work- shop, which focused on shoulder tackling, was for youth coaches to get athletes started off right so they won't need to be retaught the fundamentals when they get to the college and pro levels of the game. "The future is in this room," Seto said. "The roots right here will keep football America's game." Seto said old school players knew to tackle with their shoul- ders because helmets offered so little protection in the past. As helmets advanced players began to lead with their heads, which has resulted in an increase in head injuries. Citing rugby, in which players wear no helmets, as an example Seto showed clips of proper shoul- der tackling techniques. The reduction in head injuries is clear, Seto said. Charting con- cussions during Seahawks' sea- sons, the team recorded 14 in each of the 2010 and 2011 seasons, around the time of Seto's arrival. Over the next few seasons that number dropped to 7, 9, 5 and 6. A challenge with pro athletes, who have a short window of prime playing time, is they won't buy into a technique for safety reasons alone, Seto said. They have to believe it will help them play better. Again using several clips, Seto showed how shoulder tackles can be more effective when coupled with other fundamentals of the game such as hitting in the strike zone between the knees and the neck and maintaining leverage. "No tackling technique can eliminate injuries," Seto said. "We FOOTBALL COACH TEACHES SAFER, BETTER TACKLING SKILLS SeattleSeahawks'AssistantHeadCoachforDefenseoffersfreeseminar CHIPTHOMPSON-DAILYNEWS Seattle Seahawks Assistant Head Coach for Defense, Rocky Seto demonstrates proper tackling form Wednesday morning at Red Bluff High School's Performing Arts Center. By Ronald Blum The Associated Press HOUSTON Minutes after Lionel Messi and Argentina had finished a 4-0 mauling of the United States in the Copa America semifinals, Jurgen Klinsmann was asked to assess the size of the gap between his team and soccer's elite and how long it will take to close it. "Oh, that's a tough one," the coach said, smiling and chuck- ling. "I don't have that answer right now." Having returned to the World Cup in 1990 after a 40-year ab- sence, the U.S. is among only seven nations to have qualified for the sport's top tournament the last seven times, joined by Argentina, Brazil, Germany, It- aly, South Korea and Spain. Dur- ing the past four years, the Amer- icans have won at Italy, Germany and the Netherlands. But those are exhibitions. In matches that matter, the U.S. of- ten remains outmatched. Walking out of the stadium af- ter Tuesday night's loss, the Amer- icans looked wide-eyed and shell- shocked. "We let them dictate the pace of the game. We let them get into a flow, and we weren't physical enough.Ithinkwerespectedthem a little too much," defender Geoff Cameron said. "We've played big teams before and we seemed to show well against them, but for some reason we didn't put our best foot forward tonight." The U.S. has vastly improved over the last quarter-century, and Americans now are regu- lars with clubs in England, Ger- many, France and Mexico. But, as Klinsmann often points out, none of them is a starter with the big clubs who dominate the Champi- ons League. And the high points for the national team over recent decades remain the 2002 World Cup second-round win over Mex- ico and the 2009 Confederations Cup semifinal victory over Euro- pean champion Spain. "Today is a good day to judge where we are in program over- all," U.S. Soccer Federation Presi- dent Sunil Gulati said outside the locker room. "We're obviously a long way off. We knew that go- ing in. But we knew we were a long way off when we beat Spain in 2009 or Germany or Holland last year." American youth teams have not made great steps forward and have lagged behind other na- tions in rate of improvement. The U.S. under-23 team has failed to qualify for consecutive Olympics. The U-20 team has been a World Cup quarterfinalist just twice since 1993 and the U-17s haven't reached the quarterfinals since 2005. Other than defenders DeAn- dre Yedlin and John Brooks, and midfielder Gyadi Zardes, all the American starters against Argen- tina will be 29 or older when the 2018 World Cup begins. Klinsmann says younger play- ers need to be given a chance to fail and improve, yet in the Copa America he went with the stron- gest roster to win games now. SOCCER Loss shows gap between US and game's elite KEITH SRAKOCIC — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS San Francisco Giants' Mac Williamson loses his helmet as he dives safely back to first a er Pittsburgh Pirates' John Jaso caught a line drive by Brandon Crawford during the second inning Wednesday. By Andrew Baggarly Bay Area News Group PITTSBURGH Start at PNC Park, take a short trip across the Fort Duquesne Bridge, go through the Fort Pitt Tunnel and you'll end up in the Mount Washington section of town. That's where Derek Law grew up. He attended many games here as a kid, mostly drawn by the stars on the visiting teams be- cause the Pirates were terrible. He even took the mound here once in a summer league game, although he had to warm up on flat ground. The bullpens were off limits. Now a major league rookie, Law stood on that mound again Wednesday. And on a pleasant night in which the Giants rallied for a 7-6 victory over the Pirates, he was the winning pitcher. The Giants trailed by five runs when Law entered in the fourth. His two shutout innings repre- sented the first of five clutch per- formances by Giants relievers, al- lowing the club to win on a night when launch angles did not favor Jeff Samardzija. Ramiro Peña hit a tying double in the sixth inning and the Giants scored two more when Joe Panik's double glanced off Gregory Polan- co's glove in left field. The Giants (46-27) won for the 10th time in 11 games, and their 24 road vic- tories are tied with the Cardinals and Nationals for the most in the majors. Samardzija matched the short- est outing of his career while al- lowing six runs in three innings. John Jaso hit a home run on the first pitch Samardzija threw, Gregory Polanco connected for a three-run shot in the second inning and Jung Ho Kang went deep to start the third. After yielding just five home runs in his first 11 starts, Sa- mardzija has given up eight over his last four. He was coming off a superb complete game in Tampa Bay in which he was one strike away from a three-hit shutout. But the MLB GiantsrallypastthePirates 76ers will choose between him or Duke's Ingram FOOTBALL PAGE 2 NBA PAGE 2 SOCCER PAGE 2 GIANTS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, June 23, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1