‘You see the challenges’: Coach’s brutal admission Simmons just isn’t working with new Nets

Brooklyn coach Jacque Vaughn has conceded getting Ben Simmons to work on this present roster, with out stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to attract consideration away from him, will likely be troublesome.

It was hoped Simmons would higher complement the celebrity pair when he was traded over from Philadelphia in a swap for James Harden final 12 months.

It by no means fairly labored out as Brooklyn hoped and now with Durant in Phoenix and Irving in Dallas, the Nets are again the place they had been earlier than this second celebrity period – making an attempt to generate a constructive ambiance with younger expertise and hoping to strike gold within the draft.

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That’s not perfect for Simmons, a novel chess piece who has some great traits resembling his defence, however apparent flaws like his lack of scoring, and thus requires sure assist round him.

On Tuesday Simmons performed simply 13 minutes off the bench, his second-lowest whole of the season, after taking part in 16 minutes within the Nets’ first recreation with their full new roster after the commerce deadline, in opposition to Philadelphia.

He sat out the ultimate minutes of the sport on each events.

Simmons’ former coach Doc Rivers nonetheless believes the Aussie can return to the degrees he reached at his peak with the 76ers.

But after Tuesday’s loss to their cross-town rivals the Knicks, Nets coach Vaughn admitted: “It’s going to be some work that we have to do.

“Because you just take a look at what the lineups could potentially look like. You put another big next to Ben, then you got to figure out what the spacing is around him.

“Then if you put another playmaker next to him, then you got to figure out what Ben looks like without the basketball. Then if you go small with Ben, then you have to figure out can you rebound enough with him?

“So, the challenges are ahead of us. We’ll look them head on. We’ll figure it out. We have the personnel to figure it out.

“Whether it is me mixing and matching throughout different pieces of the game, and allowing him to have a group and run with a group, that part we’ll figure out, but you see the challenges that lie ahead.”

Simmons scored two factors from two makes an attempt in opposition to New York, with three rebounds and two assists.

The Nets had been significantly looking for scoring with the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson placing up 40 factors and commerce addition Josh Hart including a season-best 27.

“With Brunson being out there, trying to throw different bodies with him,” Vaughn mentioned. “We’re always concerned about (rebounding), so didn’t want Ben to be the lone big out there. We tried him with another big; I didn’t like that rhythm of the game because we weren’t scoring enough at that time.

“A lot of different problems thrown at you in the course of a game; you try to figure them out.”

With the commerce deadline gone the Nets are prone to stay on the fringes of the East playoff hunt but it surely appears exceedingly unlikely they are going to problem any of the conferences’ prime sides – Boston, Milwaukee, Philadelphia or Cleveland – within the first spherical of the playoffs.

That leaves loads of time for Vaughn to try to work out how, and if, Simmons can work for his workforce.

Asked about what he must see from Simmons to offer him extra minutes, Vaughn mentioned: “I think overall, and tonight, just what we want from each guy is to give everything, every ounce that they have, every single game.

“All 16 guys are in that bucket. Trying to figure out what lineup fits around Ben, what position fits for Ben, how we can make him look good at every opportunity. That’s the goal.

“I’m still trying to figure that out. That’s on me to figure that out. But I think overall as a team, we’re going to try different lineups to try to figure this out.”