After last night's elimination game in Boston, Philadelphia 76ers rookie Ben Simmons walked up to All-Star center Joel Embiid, held out his hands, and told him there's going to be "a lot of rings" in their future.
Despite losing to an injury-riddled Celtics team in five games, the Sixers' young stars were optimistic about their future during the post-game press conference.
"Me and Ben have a lot of room to grow," Embiid said. "I was thinking about it, just looking at [Kevin Durant] and [Russell] Westbrook, what they did the first season together, I think they won 28 games. ... Looking at what we did, we have a bright future. [Simmons] came up to me, showed me his hands, and said there's going to be a lot of rings. I was like, for sure. We have a bright future."
"We feel like when everybody is on, we're unbeatable. We committed a lot of mistakes [in the series]. We've got to learn from it," Embiid added.
"The feeling right now is I didn't want to be done," Simmons said. "I feel like I had a lot more to go."
After winning just 28 games last year, the Sixers finished the regular season with 52 wins and won a playoff series for the first time since 2012.
In addition to a young core that includes Embiid, Simmons, Dario Saric, and Markelle Fultz, who missed most of this season due to injury, the Sixers could have up to six picks in the 2018 NBA draft, including a lottery selection. If the Los Angeles Lakers' pick lands at #1 or at #6 to 30, the pick will go to Philly.
