OCEANSIDE, Calif. — The Brooklyn Nets are rebuilding. A look at the roster makes that a fairly objective statement. They’re the only team in the NBA that doesn’t have either a player who was an All-Star in one of the past three seasons or a lottery pick from one of the past three drafts. Brooklyn missed the playoffs last season for the first time in six years. New head coach Jordi Fernández, an assistant with the Sacramento Kings the past two seasons and the head coach of the Canadian men’s national team, is the franchise’s fifth head coach since 2020.
Also rebuilding? Ben Simmons, the first pick of the 2016 NBA Draft who came to Brooklyn in the middle of the 2021-22 season via trade after starting an accolade-filled career with the Philadelphia 76ers. Simmons was a star in Philadelphia for a perennial playoff team. He won Rookie of the Year in 2018 following a redshirt first season as a pro after foot surgery, made the 2020 All-NBA team and was named to multiple All-Defensive teams, the last coming in 2021. He signed a five-year, $170 million contract extension in 2019, a deal that expires in the 2025 offseason.
Simmons, however, hasn’t been able to play much for the Nets. He was on the floor for the top-seed Sixers when the Atlanta Hawks pulled the second-round upset in Game 7 in 2021. Since then, he’s only played 57 games and had two back surgeries.
Simmons made his latest return to play this week near San Diego in Brooklyn’s preseason opener. He scored two points, grabbed two rebounds and had three assists and a steal in a 115-106 Nets loss to the LA Clippers. It was his first game since Feb. 26.
“I’m excited, I’m excited to build with these guys,” Simmons told The Athletic after Tuesday’s game. “Obviously, we don’t have a team that’s been together too long, so it’s a new experience for me. A lot of younger guys. But I’m looking forward to building with this team. I think Jordi speaks about 1 percent each day, getting better, and everyone buying in and buying into the concepts and listening and seeing where it takes us.”
How Simmons is used has always been fascinating. Despite his 6-foot-10 frame, he was always a starting point guard in Philadelphia, and at his best, he was a player offensively who could get to the free-throw line at a high rate, finish efficiently and rack up assists. Defensively, Simmons was capable of guarding a variety of positions and rebounding like a capable big, but he also was among the league’s best in steals, leading the NBA in 2020. The best version of Simmons is one who controls pace. The greatest criticism of his game is his poor shooting from 3 (only made five career 3s, none in Brooklyn) and the free-throw line (made only 59.7 percent in Philadelphia, 43.1 percent in Brooklyn).
Simmons has been a shell of himself in his time with the Nets, averaging only 6.7 points and 0.8 steals. In 12 of the 57 games he’s played, Simmons has come off the bench, and his outlook as a starter seems questionable this season. Not only do the Nets have point guard Dennis Schröder, but 25-year-old center Nic Claxton just got a four-year, $97 million deal. Claxton is one of three players still on the Nets from when Simmons was traded there (along with Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe), and Claxton and Simmons were incompatible together last season. In 99 minutes with Claxton and Simmons sharing the floor, the Nets were outscored by 51 points and scored only 95.8 points per 100 possessions.
Claxton was out for Tuesday’s preseason game with a hamstring injury, and it allowed Fernández to include Simmons with the other four expected starters (Schröder, Thomas, Cameron Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith). It’s clear Fernández has high expectations for Simmons.
“A healthy Ben Simmons is a very, very, very, very good basketball player, a three-time All-Star,” Fernández said before Tuesday’s game. “And that’s what we got right now, we have a healthy Ben that has been working really hard the whole summer. He’s done a great job getting his body ready to play. And I’m very excited now to see a point guard on the court. … We want to play fast, and nobody better than him to rebound, push, throw the ball ahead, touch the paint, spray the ball, play with a high IQ. So I’m very excited.”
Defensively, Fernández said Simmons is “built like a truck,” and he wants Simmons to be an asset guarding multiple positions, create stops with steals and rebounds and play in the open floor as much as possible.
“He’s multi-positional, right?” Fernández said. “I want to see that purpose. Communication, physicality, and once again, finish possessions and then run the other way.”
Rim protection is the one part of Simmons’ defensive game that is not a strength; he has a relatively short wingspan and has never averaged more than 0.9 blocks per game in a season. Simmons allowed only 57.5 percent on shots at the rim in 2022-23, at 3.0 contests per game. But opponents shot 82.9 percent on shots at the rim defended by Simmons last season. Simmons believes his experience can help him be a better defender at center going forward.
“I’m an older guy now,” said Simmons, who turned 28 this summer. “I’m pretty strong down there. … I’m always up for that challenge. I think it’s just one of those things where, if your name is called to do a job, then you step up and try and do it to the best of your ability. So that’s what I’m going to do every night and try and contribute and do the best I can.”
What Simmons can do to stay on the floor and contribute is only a part of the Simmons experience, though. He’s a former All-Star and top pick of the draft and the Nets’ highest-paid player, making just over $40 million this season. His skill set and availability will always come under scrutiny from outside.
When Simmons came to Brooklyn, he was teammates with multi-time All-Stars such as Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond and LaMarcus Aldridge and coached by a Hall of Fame player in Steve Nash. That team’s best shot disintegrated the moment Simmons was unable to debut for the Nets during the 2022 postseason.
“I think that, you know, winning’s not easy,” Simmons said. “I think there are certain players that add to winning. I think that I’m one of those guys that can contribute to a winning team. I think there’s multiple things I can do on the court, throughout the game, that have winning impacts. And that’s what I’m about, is making an impact on the floor to win games, no matter what it is.”
Fernández is pleased with where Simmons is physically and that he is showing up every day. And Fernández wants to focus on that, not the outside noise that seems to be louder than Simmons’ actual play and attributes.
“My relationship with Ben so far, it’s never been — we’ve never talked about media or outside talk,” Fernández said. “I want him to be a leader by example, and I want him to do the right things. I want him to show how good of a basketball player he is. To me, the main concern has been his health. And like I said before, a healthy Ben Simmons is a very, very good player. That’s what I focus on.”
It remains to be seen what Simmons can do for any team going forward, let alone the motley crew of parts Brooklyn has assembled as it goes into a season with its lowest expectations in eight years. But Simmons can’t worry about things he can’t control. He is simply happy to be healthy and to see where this season takes him.
“Just growing each game, just getting more and more comfortable, that’s about it,” Simmons said. “I think just over time, I get better over time. When you stop playing basketball for a little bit, it takes a little bit to get into a rhythm and getting into your flow. That’s what I’m excited about. Just continuing to work each day. It might not show up the next day, but over time, eventually.”
(Top photo: Wendell Cruz / Imagn Images)
