[Spears] Former Sixer Ben Simmons: “I’ll always have love for Philly. People always ask ‘if you were to get traded again where would you want it to be?’ I always say ‘Just Philly

> After moving from his offseason home in Los Angeles to Miami Beach, Simmons has been working out five days a week for at least five hours per day to get his body ready for the 2023-24 NBA season. He told Andscape that he not only plans to be ready for the start of next season for the Nets but has a goal of returning to “dominate people” and returning to his All-Star form after so much chaos in recent years.

> “For me to come back and dominate people will be great,” Simmons said. “I don’t intend to come back the same player I was last [season], because that’s not even close to where I am. I get excited because I’m like, ‘Damn, I would [expletive] on the player I was last year.’ But I know where I was at last year, so it’s easy to say that. But it’s just fun to go and do the thing that you love when you’re out there. That’s really it for me. I don’t really ask for too much.

> “Sometimes I think about [my recent struggles]. I’m like, ‘Damn, that’s a lot.’ Sometimes I sit down and break it down. ‘That was exhausting that I was having to deal with all that.’ But I feel like there are different situations you can handle, and this is a good test for me. How much worse can it get?”

> *How would you say you reflect back on your Philadelphia days?*
> I had a lot of fun there. It was time for me to go. When I did leave, it was good timing. Obviously, the injury and everything that was going on didn’t help. But I think it gave me a chance to really appreciate it. I’ll always have love for Philly. People always ask me like, ‘If you were to get traded again where you want it to be?’ I always say, ‘Just Philly. Philly is a second home to me.’ And in time, you learn and grow as people. I don’t really have anything bad to say about Philly. It was a crazy situation at the end, but it is what it is.

> *How do you look back at that Game 7 loss of the 2022 Eastern Conference semifinals to the Atlanta Hawks? Your last game in a Sixers uniform is often brought up. Do you even reflect on that?* (Note: The 6-foot-11 Simmons is remembered for passing while under the basket to a teammate who was fouled with the Hawks up 88-86 with 3:30 remaining instead of dunking. He averaged 9.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 8.6 assists per game and missed 30 of 45 free throws in that series. After the season-ending loss, then-Sixers head coach Doc Rivers said “I don’t know that question or the answer to that right now,” when asked if Simmons could be the point guard on the championship team they wanted to become.)
> I don’t even remember that game anymore. To me, I made a play. I gave it to somebody who’s probably going to shoot better from the free throw at that moment of the game. It didn’t work, but I made a play. People make hundreds of plays throughout the year. They’re not always going to be the right play at the right time, but it was a play.

> But that wasn’t the factor of the game. You can go back and look at different things within the game where it could’ve been better. For me, shooting the free throws was one of them, but it didn’t happen. So, that’s just something you just keep working [on].

Thoughts on Ben Simmons back to Philly?

Source: https://andscape.com/features/brooklyn-nets-ben-simmons-locked-in-for-comeback-from-injury/

by mastermind208