Philadelphia Sixers forward Ben Simmons is coming off a rousing Rookie of the Year season, but his desire to strive and better himself as a player hasn't stopped after just one successful season. Simmons wants to become a lockdown defender, so long as it doesn't get on the way of his main target — an NBA championship.
“Individually, the goal for me is just to be better than I was last year, especially defensively. [I want to be] First Team All-Defensive,” Ben Simmons told Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype. “That's one of my goals… But my main goal is to win a championship. That's my priority.”
Simmons has also honed into his shooting this summer, hoping to eliminate his glaring weakness with coaching and repetition, but he's yet to put an emphasis on it until he's polished up other aspect of his already-dominant game.
“[Shooting threes] isn't my main goal at all. I mean, I'm not even where I want to be when it comes to finishing at the rim or my post finishes. I'm still getting better at that. Once I'm good at that, THEN I'll probably expand my game.”
But more than anything, the Aussie product is focused on team-oriented goals, hoping to get past the second round of the playoffs and into the NBA Finals — a major step that would put the Sixers at the forefront of the Eastern Conference after a lengthy process of drafting the right players.
“Our goal is just to do better than we did last year,” he said. We have the right pieces, the right players, to win games. Then, when we get to the playoffs, we want to do some damage. We'll see [how far] we can go when we get there.”
Improving as a defender could do plenty to help his team, as teammate Joel Embiid has already showed great promise as a post player and a defensive enforcer. Having two players of that same well-rounded quality could put the Sixers over the hump.
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