The Fast Break: Justin Simon

On how he landed with the Hawks…

My agent was talking to a couple of teams and the Hawks was one of them. It just seemed like a great deal as far as the league and what its known for – developing guys and getting them to the highest level. The league itself is a great league full of talent and the opportunity presented itself and we went forward with it. I wanted to come and The Hawks wanted so it worked out great.

 On first impressions on Australia…

I arrived late October, I had a two week quarantine which was a bit rough. But we’ve been training and had a few pre-season games. This is my first time overseas full stop. The English language has made the transition much easier. I’m loving every second of it. I actually got a chance to go down to Bondi Beach, that was a nice little scene. We've eet bix and vegemite - they were both different and not something I like to have everytime on toast.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Justin Simon (<a href="https://twitter.com/simon_Says_so?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@simon_Says_so</a>) has arrived in ??<br><br>He takes us inside hotel quarantine, samples Weet-Bix for the first time and gets a workout in as he prepares to link up with the rest of the Hawks squad ? <a href="https://t.co/qgqwkPqmgt">pic.twitter.com/qgqwkPqmgt</a></p>&mdash; Hawks Basketball (@thehawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/thehawks/status/1322773055605596163?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

On breaking back into the NBA…

Definitely is my goal man. I got a taste of it last year as far as far as being in training camp and playing in all the preseason games with the Chicago Bulls. I got a bit of a taste of that lifestyle, got my feet wet playing in the G League (windy city), playing my first year pro, so I'm looking forward to this next year and getting better and contributing to winning, as well as having fun and enjoying myself. I'm fortunate for what I'm doing so I'm just taking advantage of that. 

On the bonding nature of the Albury stay…

Albury’s been great man. We spend a lot of time together, the way I'm looking at it we’re bonding on and of the court. I feel like we’re getting a lot closer than the other times. We’re spending a lot of time together training, going to dinners, just hanging out. We’re using this as an advantage despite being taken away from our city. As long as we’re all here together it’s been great. I’m living away from home being in Australian anyway, so this lifestyle of living on the road and out of a suitcase shouldn't be too bad.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">LOCKDOWN ?<br><br>Every one of Justin Simon&#39;s (<a href="https://twitter.com/simon_Says_so?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@simon_Says_so</a>) 8? steals against the Wildcats last night.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IllawarraProud?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IllawarraProud</a> <a href="https://t.co/7dNZYPjy2a">pic.twitter.com/7dNZYPjy2a</a></p>&mdash; Hawks Basketball (@thehawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/thehawks/status/1339706947155574785?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


On working with Brian Goorjian…

Man I’m loving it, he’s a Cali guy himself. He’s simplifying the game for me and my teammates. We’re getting after it everyday. He’s a competitor himself but he looks after us at practice, him coaching me has been tremendous, I’m loving every second of it and he’s teaching me every little bit he can.

On the quality of the NBL…

The respect for this league has gone up, it’s trending every year. The quality has gone up, it’s improving and evolving. My early impressions are it’s a very physical league, the pace is a little bit slower but still so much talent man. A lot of versatility out here, I can't wait for the season to start to see how we matchup with all these guys. The league looks great and I’m excited to challenge myself against the best it has to offer.

On the Hawks lineup this season…

We got a little bit of everything man. Tyler Harvey has been great on and off the court. Deng Adel is a character. The one thing about our team is we got a bunch of hungry, hungry guys. Everyone wants to improve, challenge each other and get better. We’re always competing, shooting competitions, run sprints against each other, who can lift the most in the gym, that’s what I'm loving most about this team. The guys are hungry and keen to get after it. 

On what Hawks fans can expect from him this season…

Im a blue collar guy who is always trying to compete and get after it. I'm always going to play with a lot of energy. I like to hang my hat on my defence and I'm versatile. I'll be all over the place, whether that be getting to the basket or finding guys off the dribble - I think I'm an underrated passer. I can expand the floor with my shooting and I'm a capable three point shooter. Defensively, I'm gonna be guarding anybody on the floor and offensively be a threat. The biggest thing is though, scoring doesn't define me as a player. I do so many things on the floor that wont have a statistic - screens, chasing down 50-50 balls, deflections and I'm gonna be disruptive as hell.

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