Philadelphia 76ers: What’s next for Ben Simmons after winning Rookie of the Year?

Ben Simmons received Rookie of the Year honors at the 2018 NBA Awards, but the 21-year-old point guard has bigger things ahead.

This year’s competitive Rookie of the Year race finally ended with Philadelphia 76ers‘ Ben Simmons winning the award over Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum on Monday night.

Reports throughout the year questioned the integrity of the award due to players being allowed to win it in their second season, including Simmons’ adversary, Donovan Mitchell, who was also well-deserving of the award.

Mitchell trolled Simmons for a portion of the season in a somewhat kiddish manner, arguing that Simmons was not a actually a rookie since he was drafted in 2016.

Simmons qualified for the award because he didn’t play an official game in the 2016-17 season. Detroit Pistons’ power forward Blake Griffin won in the 2010-11 season after being selected first overall in the 2009 NBA Draft. Griffin missed all of 2009-10 with a knee injury.

Regardless of whether you are a fan of the rule or not, it’s hard to knock all that Simmons has done up until this point.

His unique playmaking ability took the league by storm this season.

In 81 games, Simmons averaged 15.8 points, 8.2 assists and 8.1 rebounds per game, leading the Sixers to a 52-30 regular season record. He also recorded 12 triple-doubles, passing Magic Johnson for the second-most in NBA history by a rookie and trailing only Oscar Robertson.

The 6’10” Australian floor general established himself as a potentially dominant threat in the league for many years to come.

But what is next on his NBA bucket list?

All-Star? MVP? NBA champion?

How about all of the above?

Simmons was taken first overall by the Sixers in the 2016 NBA Draft, and he didn’t waste any time mentally solidifying his goals higher than those of a rookie. Nothing would change, even after suffering a foot injury that would ultimately cause him to miss his entire debut season.

In an interview with ESPN‘s Niall Seewang late last August, Simmons didn’t shy away from answering any question pertaining to his NBA future.

"“My goal is to be the best in the league,” he told ESPN. “I’m not worried about other rookies — I’m worried about the guys at the top, and that’s where I want to be.”"

Of course, the rest is history.

Although Simmons’ season was worthy of high praise, there were many instances where you could see a need for obvious improvement. One in particular was his lackluster jumper. He failed to make a single 3-pointer this year, and shot only 56 percent from the foul line — an important facet of the game where he must show some improvement.

The only problem with Simmons’ Magic Johnson-esque play style, is the fact that the modern-day NBA doesn’t approve of players ignoring the 3-ball. Very seldom in this league do you see a guard being daunted by shooting the ball. It’s great to be a selfless player, but it is also hard to make it big in a league that places most of its value on shooting and scoring.

Next: Complete 2018 NBA Draft grades for all 30 teams

Simmons is well on his way to reach basketball’s throne, but it’s not going to happen overnight. For now, Rookie of the Year will have to do at the start of a promising career.