Nets Feeling Simmons’ Absence On Defensive Glass
After the first five games of the season, the Nets were the NBA’s third-most efficient defensive rebounding team, securing 76.4% of available boards, per NBA.com. Obviously, that came with a bold-font small sample size disclaimer and was subject to that particular array of opponents.
Still, this was the Brooklyn Nets we were talking about, a team that ranked 29th in defensive rebounding percentage and 24th in second-chance points allowed last season, They returned all five opening night starters from last year and then lost Nic Claxton and Cam Johnson, two of their tallest starters, after one game, forcing them to play even smaller until Johnson returned to action for Friday night’s 121-107 defeat in Boston.
However, the Nets have reverted to form over the last four games, and I think one of the biggest factors in the rebounding struggles relates to the absence of a player who I haven’t always treated kindly—Ben Simmons.
Not that I view Simmons differently now—I remain skeptical of how his reluctance to shoot from outside the restricted area and get fouled fits in Brooklyn’s overall plans, especially when Claxton comes back (he was seen by the media playing 3-on-3 at Friday’s shootaround). For all of Simmons’ good deeds—he’s 10th in the league in rebounds per game (10.8) and 14th in assists (6.7)—the Nets have been a plus team when he’s been on the floor in just one of his six games played. Michael Pina wrote an excellent piece on Simmons’ contradictions for The Ringer on Friday.
Still, if you watch the games, which the metrics back up, you can see how Simmons’ presence forces opponents to treat Brooklyn’s transition game with the utmost respect. The Nets topped 20 fast break points in each of those first five games, the franchise’s longest such streak since the league started tracking them in 1996-97, according to NetsDaily.com.
How that manifested on game nights was that opponents were reluctant to send extra players to the offensive glass for fear that they would be susceptible to yielding easy buckets going the other way. Simmons, at 6-foot 10 and 240 pounds, is that rare breed who can sky for a rebound and then beat everyone down the court with either his turbo-charged speed with the ball in his hands or a breathtaking get-ahead pass.
I should also include other dynamics in play here, such as more diligent efforts to box out, particularly by Nets undersized wings Dorian Finney-Smith and Royce O’Neale who have been forced to play up positionally. The Nets are also embracing a more physical mentality in terms of gang rebounding and getting after loose balls. From my viewpoint, Simmons’ commitment in these areas is, well, inconsistent.
Simmons has since missed three games, a predetermined load management on a back-to-back against Boston last Saturday and the last two with a sore left hip. In those contests, the Nets have not exceeded a 70% defensive rebounding percentage rate and their second chance points allowed were, respectively, 19, 23, and Friday night’s whopping 29 to the Celtics.
Brooklyn’s rebounding woes in the first Celtics loss could be traced to a simple size discrepancy, but Boston was missing 6-foot 9 big man Al Horford, who contributed a pair of putbacks in the first meeting, on Friday and still managed to rip away about a third of available offensive rebounds with a smaller lineup.
Even the diminutive (6-foot 1) Payton Pritchard grabbed four offensive rebounds, including a killer one after he missed a free throw that he converted himself into a second-chance bucket. You can’t convince me that Pritchard would have been sneaking into the paint on all those missed shots if Simmons was on the court with the legitimate threat of leaving him in the dust in transition. Not unless he was willing to risk the wrath from his Head Coach Joe Mazzulla screaming in his ear about floor balance in the next timeout huddle.
Of course, there is way too much season to play before this trend over the tiny swath of games to date is proven Q.E.D. According to NBA.com, the Nets have a slightly higher defensive rebounding percentage when Simmons is off the court versus on over the eight games, so there’s always the possibility of a course correction.
I’m curious to see how the Nets will handle lowly Washington, the league’s third-worst offensive rebounding team, on Sunday, especially if Simmons is still a no-go. Many teams, not just Brooklyn, tend to play down to their opponent—it’s just that these post-superstar Nets no longer have the luxury of a high margin for error if they want to remain competitive in the Eastern Conference.
Many Nets and Head Coach Jacque Vaughn have asserted that Simmons is the team’s most important player or he shares the title with Mikal Bridges. The (very) early rebounding returns have shown one of the biggest reasons why that might be the case.
Photo by: Erik Verduzco