A Plea To Vaughn: Don’t Start Simmons

The Nets concluded their four-game preseason slate on Wednesday night in Miami with a 107-104 victory over a skeletal Heat squad. It was their first win against an NBA club after having defeated an Israeli team and losing to the Lakers and Sixers.

Those games, though, were inconsequential, merely opportunities for those on the roster bubble to prove their worth and for Head Coach Jacque Vaughn to experiment with lineups and schemes. (See: A Status Report On Some Nets Preseason Experimentations (substack.com).) When Brooklyn tips off its regular season on Wednesday against Cleveland at Barclays Center, however, Vaughn will have no such luxuries.

In preparation, Vaughn seemed to use Wednesday’s affair as a sort of dress rehearsal for a plausible real rotation, with the assumption that injured wing Cam Johnson will be active for the opener. Royce O’Neale’s 20:53 run off the bench was the lowest among the Nets’ top nine in minutes.  

Vaughn acknowledged that one of his biggest challenges was configuring an offense around a starting five that included not one but two non-shooters from outside the paint in center Nic Claxton and point guard Ben Simmons. For those looking for clues during the preseason as to how, forget it; Vaughn said the only sets that had been drawn up to date were for sideline and baseline out-of-bounds plays.

A week’s work in the basketball lab won’t lessen the difficulty in adequately spacing the floor so that Mikal Bridges can go to work in isolation or Spencer Dinwiddie can find clear lanes for his patented straight-line drives. NBA defenses are well aware that unless Claxton and/or Simmons ventures into the paint, they need not be guarded. Ergo, their defenders are readily available to provide help, often from unforeseen angles.

The fix should be simple, and one that I implored the Nets to pursue 50 weeks ago—don’t start Simmons.

Actually, this notion is even more imperative now than then (Nash Has To Pull Simmons Out Of The Nets’ Starting Lineup (substack.com)), when Brooklyn boasted superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Those guys had a natural scoring ability that defied the laws of basketball—Durant with his nearly unblockable release and Irving with his GOAT handles and finishes. With two such unicorns in tow, the Nets could absorb Simmons’ shooting deficiency and still thrive, winning 12 games in a row during one stretch.

Unfortunately, that’s not where the 2023-24 Nets are at. It’s a team that has to create more halfcourt offense off ball movement through drive-and-kicks, and that can’t be executed at maximum efficiency when the paint is too clogged to touch. The sample size for the shared Simmons/Claxton minutes was too small to draw conclusions (25 minutes over four games) about how the team fared after its stars bailed last season and I completely disregard preseason numbers, but they don’t seem like outliers. They weren’t good.

We can talk all you want about how Simmons “looked” this preseason. He clearly played with a higher level of pace and athleticism than when his back and knee severely diminished his effectiveness last season, when he was limited to 42 games before shutting it down for the season in mid-February. That he was able to feel so vigorous after such an arduous journey to recover from both physical and mental issues is a fantastic development.

But—and I hate to be so harsh about it—when it comes to Nets basketball, so what? It’s fine to highlight all his brilliant passes that led to clean three-point looks in the exhibitions, but then don’t ignore the excessive turnovers he committed (6.1 per 36 minutes, the most of any Net this preseason by a full turnover). On defense, he would flash with a steal for a breakaway dunk once every game or so; you could also catch him drifting, deigning not to contest shots or go after rebounds.

From my view, Simmons was at his aggressive best in the preseason opener. Again, the numbers (10 points and 3 assists in 14 minutes) were meaningless; what mattered was how he attacked the basket without fear of getting fouled (he’s a career 59% shooter from the line after knocking down just 44% of his free throws last season), with two and-1 opportunities among his four attempts, which he split.

Unfortunately, he soon went back to a heavier dose of taking those fallaway hooks and mid-paint jumpers that he converted at a rate well under 50% last season, per NBA.com. Miami and Philly may have played guys who were more enthused about defending in a preseason game, but that’s what he’s going to have to face going forward, only in higher-pressure situations.

Having Simmons come off the bench to provide a change of pace into a higher-amped gear might actually prove beneficial to Brooklyn’s cause, even if he’d still be paired with a second non-shooter like Claxton or his backup Day’Ron Sharpe. I think Simmons would mesh well in lineups with Cam Thomas and/or Lonnie Walker IV, both of whom can play fast and score from all three levels.  

Speculatively speaking, what’s holding Vaughn back could be the political and psychological fallout. Simmons is the highest-paid Net, counting a little under $38 million against the salary cap this season, with another guaranteed year on the horizon. If he can’t break into this weakened team’s starting five, what does that say about his value, not just to the outside world but to him?

The Nets allegedly had been extra sensitive to Simmons’ needs as he worked his way back into NBA shape, hoping they could salvage a player who made three All-Star teams and two All Defensive First Teams during his four seasons in a 76ers uniform. Then, for unconfirmed reasons, his relationship with the organization soured to the point where he stepped away from the game at the start of the 2021-22 season, citing mental issues. His inclusion in the James Harden trade in February was supposed to be Simmons’ second chance. Injuries thwarted his initial attempt at a return to excellence. Who knows how he’d handle a demotion now?

If the organization cares about being a competitive team, those concerns have to be put on the backburner in favor of placing its best unit on the court. Hence, my plea to Vaughn: Don’t start Simmons.

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BREAKING NEWS as I post this: The Nets waived Darius Bazley, which presumably gives roster spots to Trendon Watford and Harry Giles III, though neither of their contracts are fully guaranteed. Good move by Brooklyn. Looking forward to seeing what’s in the next chapter of the Giles resurrection story.

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