Nets' Ben Simmons OK as starter or reserve as long as he stays healthy

CLEVELAND — Ben Simmons sat calmly at his locker taking questions after the Nets’ overtime loss at the Celtics Friday. Despite their defeat, there were mixed emotions.

Simmons played his seventh game of the season. Last season, he played in six of the Nets’ first seven games before suffering a pinched nerve that kept him out for 2 1/2 months and eventually limited him to 15 games.

He also understood why he was a reserve for the first time this season. With Nic Claxton getting a second consecutive start, coach Jordi Fernandez chose to bring Simmons off the bench. It was something Simmons knew of ahead of time.

“Just staying focused and watching the game and trying to put yourself in the game,” said Simmons after putting up eight points, eight assists and six rebounds in a season-high 27 minutes. “It's not easy, but I feel like I did an OK job tonight of it. So just trying to do whatever I can for the team to succeed.”

Fernandez said he sat Simmons, who’s still on a minutes limit, so the starting lineups wouldn’t constantly be switched on back-to-backs. He hasn’t been cleared to play both games of a back-to-back following back surgery last March and did not play Saturday at the Cavaliers.

Simmons doesn't know when that plan will change, but he was fine with how the team is managing his body.

“It’s still the smartest way possible,” Simmons said. “I got a great team around me in terms of the PT team. And just doing it the right way, trying to stay on the court as long as I can. So, just being smart about it.”

While Simmons passed one benchmark being healthy by his seventh game, familiar questions remain. Friday was the 13th time in his 64 Nets games over three seasons that he’s been a reserve.

Fernandez has been tight-lipped over his starting lineups since the season began. But he’s stuck by Simmons, who’s owed $40.3 million in the final year of his contract. He’s kept him alongside Dennis Schroder as the dual point-guard experiment has worked so far.

One thing Fernandez hasn’t done much is play Simmons alongside Claxton. Entering Saturday, they’ve played only 10 minutes in three combined games, including a two-minute stint on Friday.

Multiple coaches have struggled to figure out the floor-spacing issues with the two non-shooters. It remains a mystery that Fernandez has yet to solve or experiment much with. But the players think they can figure it out.

“It’ll work,” Claxton told Newsday Friday. “I’m a basketball player. I can play on the court with anybody. And Ben, he’s played high-level basketball so we can play together.”

As for coming off the bench in the future, Simmons previously has stated his preference to start. But he added he’ll contribute as long as he’s healthy, which for now has him off to a longer beginning than a year ago.

"Whatever the team needs me to do in terms of whether its coming off the bench or starting, I’ve got to do,” he said. “So, that's what Coach wants right now. And it is what it is.”

Atkinson reunion

Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkins called coaching the Nets a "wonderful experience" ahead of his first meeting against the team he coached from 2016-2020.

During pregame workouts Saturday, Atkinson said he was taken aback when he and the Nets parted ways. Then he asked himself how he could improve as a coach and one way he did was learning to be more patient.

“I was really coaching the game hard, which is typical for a first-time coach,” said Atkinson, who was an assistant with the Clippers and Golden State after his Nets stint. “You're trying to make sure every shootaround is perfect, and every practice is perfect . . . I think I do a better job of managing the locker room, managing players, don't get so stressed out about the little things like I used to."

Atkinson also wondered if he could've reached that level of growth if he got to coach the Nets longer with a healthy Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

"I've never really thought about that," Atkinson said. "I do know how it played out was almost like the perfect scenario in terms of my development. And would I have gotten there otherwise? That's kind of an unknown. I'd love to play that out in an alternate life.”

By Evan Barnes

evan.barnes@newsday.comevan_b

Evan Barnes covers the Nets for Newsday. He previously covered Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.