Nets are ready to ‘unleash’ a healthy Ben Simmons
NEW YORK -- Ben Simmons hasn’t played in an NBA game since February due to injuries, but the Nets are ready to “unleash” a healthy Simmons once this season begins.
“Let’s not dwell on the past, he’s feeling confident about where he is physically,” Nets GM Sean Marks said Tuesday morning at a meeting with reporters.
“This Is more like, get out here, support him and unleash him. If he’s feeling great, then let him go.”
The 6-foot-10 former No. 1 overall pick has been beset by injuries -- he had surgery to repair a herniated disk in May 2022 -- and mental health issues in recent years and played his final game of the 2022-23 season on Feb. 15. The Nets then shut him down in March due to a nerve impingement in his back.
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Last January, when he wasn’t contributing much to the Nets and still seemed afraid to shoot, ESPN’s Jalen Rose accused Simmons of “stealing money” with “a ski mask and gloves.”
Still, the Nets have no choice but to support Simmons, who is on the hook for close to $80 million across the next two seasons.
Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said Tuesday Simmons “is playing 5-on-5, no restrictions so he should be ready for training camp.”
A three-time NBA All-Star whom the Nets obtained in the James Harden trade, Simmons recently told the NY Post he was anxious to return to his former All-Star status and felt he owed it to the fans.
“And I owe it to everybody, the fans and everybody, to get back to where I need to be,” he said. “That’s what I did this summer to get back.”
Said Marks: “It’s been fun to se him play 5-on-5 and fun to see him put the work in this summer.”
Asked if Simmons’s primary role would be as a point guard, Vaughn seemed to indicate that it would.
“If Ben is able to play consistently at a certain way, there is no doubt that he should have the basketball in his hands,” Vaughn said.
Asked if there would be a competition between Simmons and Spencer Dinwiddie for the point guard job, Vaughn said both players could play at the same time, and that former Knick Dennis Smith Jr. would also see time at the point.
“Ben has the ability to have the basketball in his hands and Spencer is historically a better 3-point shooter than he is off the bounce,” Vaughn said.
“He’s going to get better at making that shot and also we’re going to put him in position to make that shot more often. So that will put him on the court with Ben at times.”
He said the trio of Simmons, Dinwiddie and Smith Jr. “are going to be essential” to how the team spaces the floor and much chemistry it has.
Still, Vaughn acknowledged that playing Simmons with defensive-minded big man Nic Claxton Jr. continues to be a challenge since neither is adept at shooting.
“We have to incorporate how we’re going to have Nic Claxton on the floor at the same time,” Vaughn said.
“Now that makes us a more detailed team. We have to be more greedy with our spacing.”
The Nets open training camp on Oct. 3 before playing their first preseason game six days later against LeBron James and the Lakers. They open the regular season at home on Oct. 25 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
This is the first time in several years the Nets have opened a season without a superstar like Kyrie Irving or Kevin Durant, and they will have to rely on Simmons, Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and their younger players to make another postseason push.
“In terms of expectations,” Marks said, “with these guys I would never limit anybody as to where we end up at the end of season
“So let’s roll it out and let the chips land where they may.”
VAUGHN RAVES ABOUT KEVIN OLLIE
Vaughn raved about his new staff, which includes former UConn and Overtime Elite coach Kevin Ollie, who led the Huskies to the 2014 NCAA championship before an ugly legal dispute with his alma mater.
In 2022, UConn and Ollie reached a $3.9 million settlement for claimed reputational damages and attorney’s fees after he was fired for allegedly violating NCAA rules in 2018.
Ollie has spent the last two years coaching with Overtime Elite, the semi-pro league for 16-to-20-year-olds based in Atlanta.
“Just a year ago he was coaching dudes that were getting drafted,” Vaughn said of twins Amen and Ausar Thompson who went in the lottery.
“So we have three young guys [rookies] on our team, so that connection is immediate.”
NO TIMETABLE ON WHITEHEAD
Newark native Dariq Whitehead is one of those rookies and the Nets chose him with the No. 22 pick in the June Draft with the understanding that he would miss some time after his second foot surgery in May.
“We’re definitely not going to rush him,” Marks said. “We love the grit and determination. I wouldn’t put a timeline on when he’ll be back but he will definitely be playing this year.”
Whitehead was a McDonald’s All American who entered Duke as a consensus top-10 draft prospect. He played 28 games last season, averaging 8.3 points in 20.7 minutes after returning from the initial foot surgery in August 2022.
He played prep ball for New Jersey native Kevin Boyle at Montverde Academy in Florida.
