November 7, 2006

Periodically throughout the 2006-07 season, Hornets.com will chat with Hornets first-round draft picks Hilton Armstrong and Cedric Simmons, to get their thoughts on what life is like as an NBA rookie, both on and off the floor.

Simmons and Armstrong made their official pro debuts Wednesday at Boston. In 11 minutes of action, Simmons registered four points, two rebounds and two blocked shots. The North Carolina State product authored his first NBA basket in the second quarter, on a tip-in after a teammate’s missed shot.

In this edition of Rookie Diary, Simmons discusses his first week in the NBA and how he is approaching his duties as one of the Hornets’ first frontcourt players off the bench.

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I really wasn’t too nervous going into our first game in Boston. But once I got in the game and there were a couple trips up and down the floor, it seemed like the pace of the game was really speeding up. I tried to calm down a little bit and let everything slow down. After I got that first block, everything was fine [smiles]. I scored my first NBA basket on a tip-in. I was happy to get that. It came on a rebound, a hustle play, so that was good.

It seemed like we played a lot of games in a row in preseason, but preseason helped me out a lot basketball-wise. It helped me with learning different plays, so now I understand when Coach Scott calls out a play where they’re going with the ball. And I know when the other team calls out that they’re running a play for their ‘five,’ they’re coming toward me defensively. I’ve been picking up a lot of little things on defense.

(Against Houston on Sunday, Rockets power forward) Juwan Howard was coming at me pretty hard. He was pushing me a lot and shoving me around. But I’m kind of prepared for that now and expect it because I’m a rookie. They try to come at you every time. As soon as you come out on the court, they try to go right at you on defense and run plays for the man you’re guarding. I know I’m going to be put in a lot of pick-and-rolls defensively, so I just have to be ready.

I’m kind of noticing the travel and how much different it is than what we did in college. We flew from Boston to Indiana to New Orleans in a four-day span. It kind of puts some wear and tear on your body, but I try to get a lot of rest. A lot more rest than usual.

As far as my role and what I’m trying to do on the floor, the main thing is I try to bring energy. When we substitute, I try to not let there be a big drop-off from Tyson (Chandler) down to me, or from David (West) down to me. I don’t want there to be any big let-up, so I try to hold up my end.

And if the guy who’s guarding me is a starter, I try to run him up and down the floor as much as possible and get him tired, so that when Tyson or David comes back in, that guy will be tired.

I don’t feel like I have to pace myself at all – I can just run. I know I’m only going to be out there for a certain amount of time [Simmons averaged 13 minutes per game during the Hornets’ 3-0 start], so when I come in the game, I’m going full speed.