K.K Simmons is a 23 year old 190cm combo guard from Marietta, Georgia that completed his first professional season with German Pro B team Licher Basket Baeren averaging 20,8ppg, 2,8rpg and 3,4apg. He played at three schools with NC-Wilmington (NCAA), Kent St. (NCAA) and Pikeville (NAIA). Last season he finished his college basketball career with Pikeville (NAIA) playing 31 games and averaging 16.4ppg, 1.9rpg, 2.6apg, FGP: 46.1%, 3PT: 39.2%, FT: 78.5%. Simmons is an amazing shooter and shot 48% from outside in his junior season at Pikeville, but can also mix it up getting to the hole. In his first season with Pikeville, he played 25 games averaging 20.8ppg, 2.2rpg, 2.0apg, 1.1spg, FGP: 45.3%, 3PT: 48.9%, FT: 78.4%. He spoke to German Hoops at the end of the season.

Congrats KK on helping save the Licher Basket Baeren this season. What kind of overall experience was it for you playing with pressure having to keep the team in the Pro B?

To be honest, the overall experience was a really good one. There were a lot of moments and possessions that felt like I was in a playoff situation. Playing to stay in the Pro-B league was a lot of pressure but nothing we couldn’t accomplish as a team.

You stated in our last interview in January “I’m extremely confident that I can help Lich stay in the league. The key thing for us is sharing the ball on offense and playing team defense and everything will work out for the best. Did these things come true in the playdowns for Lich?

Yes, a lot of these things came true for us as a team during this play-down stretch. We had a lot of really good practices coming into the play-downs, and as a team we performed pretty well on both ends of the court.

The Licher Basket Baeren took care of business early winning the first 4 playdown games to stay in the league. Does this accomplishment dim your feeling a bit by the way you ended the season losing your last two games?

Winning the first four games of the play-downs was how we responded to the end of our regular season. By us accomplishing this, the last two games weren’t as important as the first couple. We are happy that we took care of business early.

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K.K Simmons is a 23 year old 190cm combo guard from Marietta, Georgia that is playing his first professional season with German Pro B team Licher Basket Baeren. He played at three schools with NC-Wilmington (NCAA), Kent St. (NCAA) and Pikeville (NAIA). Last season he finished his college basketball career with Pikeville (NAIA) playing 31 games and averaging 16.4ppg, 1.9rpg, 2.6apg, FGP: 46.1%, 3PT: 39.2%, FT: 78.5%. Simmons is an amazing shooter and shot 48% from outside in his junior season at Pikeville, but can also mix it up getting to the hole. In his first season with Pikeville, he played 25 games averaging 20.8ppg, 2.2rpg, 2.0apg, 1.1spg, FGP: 45.3%, 3PT: 48.9%, FT: 78.4%. He spoke to German Hoops during the 2017 playdowns and before the game against the Giants Nordlingen.

K.K thanks for talking to German Hoops. It´s playdown time again, a time that your teammate Lamar Mallory is used to. Last season he was a major force and reason why Lich stayed in the league. Do you sense as if the club will experience a special revved up Lamar Mallory in the rest of the games?

Lamar is the heart and soul of this team. His experience from being in the same situation last season is very beneficial to us as a team. He will continue to lead us in the right direction.

With what type of expectations are you going into the playdowns? Do you feel like this is a time that you will have to step up in an extra special way?

My expectations are to win as many games as we can in order to stay in the league. As a team, it’s time for all of us to step up and get the job done. If we play basketball the way we know we can and should, then everything will work out for the best.

How vital was it for the Licher Basket Baeren to close out the season with a two game winning streak? Is the self confidence with the team at an all-time high?

Us winning the last two games of the regular season was very important for us going into the Play-Downs. They were very big momentum boosters and helped us gain more confidence going into these couple of games.

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K.K Simmons is a 23 year old 190cm combo guard from Marietta, Georgia that is playing his first professional season with German Pro B team Licher Basket Baeren. He played at three schools with NC-Wilmington (NCAA), Kent St. (NCAA) and Pikeville (NAIA). Last season he finished his college basketball career with Pikeville (NAIA) playing 31 games and averaging 16.4ppg, 1.9rpg, 2.6apg, FGP: 46.1%, 3PT: 39.2%, FT: 78.5%. Simmons is an amazing shooter and shot 48% from outside in his junior season at Pikeville, but can also mix it up getting to the hole. In his first season with Pikeville, he played 25 games averaging 20.8ppg, 2.2rpg, 2.0apg, 1.1spg, FGP: 45.3%, 3PT: 48.9%, FT: 78.4%. He spoke to German Hoops after the massive 85-84 win against Nordlingen.

KK thanks for talking to German Hoops Did you make any 2017 New Years resolutions or are you more the type of guy that doesn´t waste his time with that?

My New Years resolution for 2017 is to become a better person all around. That means being a better son, better sibling, better boyfriend, better teammate, better friend, etc. Just want to try to continue growing day by day.

Congrats on the huge 85-84 win. How good did it feel to get back on the winning track after the loss in Frankfurt?

Getting a win always feels good, especially after the tough past couple of weeks we’ve had. Coming into the game, we realized that our backs were against the wall & that we had to execute on both ends of the floor in order to come out with a victory.

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