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NBA AWARDS SHOW

June 25, 2018

Ben Simmons

New York, New York

Q. What would you say about your competition with the other rookies who were up for the award, and what that was like to kind of go through the season and maybe keep an eye on some of that stuff?
BEN SIMMONS: I think it was amazing the level that [Jayson] Tatum and Donovan [Mitchell] played at. For me, I love playing against the best players, so seeing guys like that and knowing I'm going to be in competition with those guys throughout my career is to me, really amazing. I enjoy every bit of competing against those guys and look forward to seeing them again on the court.

Q. What surprised you about your rookie season in the NBA?
BEN SIMMONS: There weren't too many surprises for me. I think just that I got a feel for the game, the NBA style of play pretty quickly, and I have a lot more growing to do. So for me to go through the season and come out healthy, obviously, the first year wasn't ideal, but I was able to bounce back. So for me, I'd say just how quickly I was able to come in and make an impact and help my team.

Q. You obviously had a great year. You guys had a great year as a team. How much did the growth that you and Joel [Embiid] and kind of the rest of the team showed do you think helped you guys potentially over the next couple weeks as you try to recruit free agents? How exciting an opportunity do you have to really build a championship level team?
BEN SIMMONS: Yeah, I think it's pretty incredible. The season we had this year, obviously, it's our first year playing together. So I think we have a long way to go. But I think it obviously draws the attention of the free agents and bigger stars like that. So for us, it's great. It's great that we're able to play together as a team and win, and definitely not have egos on the floor at the same time, which is what you need to win.

Q. Can you just tell me a little bit about how you prepare after you win accolades and you don't have success in the first season, how you prepare for the upcoming season to keep the momentum going?
BEN SIMMONS: I think for now I'm very grateful. Obviously, I won the award, so I'm very grateful for that. But that's not the end goal for me. I have a lot more things that I want to take off. I'm living in the moment, enjoying this right now. But obviously I have a lot more work to do, and that starts, you know, as soon as this is over, get back to work.

Q. When you look back at this whole season what was the greatest memory or moment for you?
BEN SIMMONS: I'd say the greatest memory or moment for me would be just finishing my season. Obviously, I broke my foot my first season, and I wasn't able to play. So to be able to be on the floor and accomplish a childhood dream has been amazing for me.

Q. Congratulations on your award.
BEN SIMMONS: Thank you.

Q. When you look ahead, you have a lot of great talent there. When you look at the talent surrounding you, what pieces do you believe will be the best that you're going to need to compete more so the East?
BEN SIMMONS: What pieces do we need? I think time. I think a little bit of time. I think that's the main thing for us. We don't have that much experience with Joel and I and some of the younger people on our team and guys like that. So I think experience plays a big role.

Obviously, some key pieces. Maybe that is a free agent, a big free agent who we can lean on and learn from, so we don't really have that older, veteran guy who is a star like that, but we have great veterans in JJ [Redick], and Amir [Johnson] Jerryd Bayless and guys like that who have taught me a lot from my first season.

Q. How relieved are you? There was a lot of conversation throughout the year about Rookie of the Year, other players, what's a rookie, what's not a rookie. How relieved are you for this to be over, you have the award, and now you can move forward. You've always talked about how you don't compare yourself to rookies. You compare yourself to some of the greats of the game?
BEN SIMMONS: Yeah, for me, I'm obviously happy I won the award, so try not to let the media hype things up or fans, whatever it is, just because I know I'm doing what I love and I did what I could on the floor. Obviously it was enough. That doesn't take anything away from Jayson or Donovan. They had excellent, amazing, tremendous seasons, and what they were able to accomplish was great.

I mean, if I had played last year, one of them would have had it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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