Ben Simmons’ next step is a basketball equation, says Jacque Vaughn
For Ben Simmons to take the next step toward reclaiming his old, All-Star form, Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn said the star forward must solve a basketball equation.
Simmons, who has been plagued by injury since arriving in Brooklyn via last season’s blockbuster James Harden deal, must play his 32-minute workload with the same force he would use in just 22 minutes of action.
“And that’s on both ends of the floor,” Vaughn said.
It’s been a frustrating season for Simmons, whose every promising step forward has been met with a setback in the form of an injury aggravation.
First the lower back. Then the knee swelling that required draining. Most recently, a calf strain that sidelined him for four straight games.
Simmons is averaging 7.5 points, 6.75 rebounds, 6.25 assists and 1.5 steals in 25.3 minutes in the four games he’s played since returning from the calf strain. His numbers on the season are about the same: 8.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game.
While his play is night and day from what it was at the beginning of the season — his minutes are hardly impactful enough for a player of his stature, of his salary, and of his projected importance to this team’s championship hopes.
Simmons, of course, wears many hats.
He plays point guard and center, perimeter defender and rim protector. He can initiate the offense, set a screen or play in the dunker’s spot. He can defend all five positions on then floor.
As Kevin Durant said earlier in the season, however, the Nets still demand a high level of play, even if players are returning from injury. Durant believes if you’re healthy enough to play, then you’re healthy enough to play hard. Vaughn is in lockstep.
“[For Ben], that’s increasing the pace every single opportunity that he gets and that’s defensively also,” the Nets’ coach said ahead of tip-off against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday. “So he’s in the position where he’s playing against the guard on the ball defending, so that challenge for him out on the perimeter, but then at times because we play small, Kristian, he’s the biggest dude out there on the floor. So he has to play kind of five-ish.
”So can he protect the rim for us? Can he guard on the perimeter for us? Can he push the pace? So all those things at a high level. Not as if he’s playing 32 minutes, but 22.”
The data suggests Simmons will get there. Prior to his calf injury, he had improved with each game.
He called it “super frustrating” to have to work back through yet another injury. In the seven games leading into his four-game absence, Simmons looked like a star on the rise, averaging 13.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.6 steals. More importantly, he played with a burst, with aggression, with force.
That’s what Vaughn wants to see next. He wants to see Simmons play 32-minute spurts with the same amount of force he’d approach a 22-minute workload.
“[That goes] really for the whole group, too,” Vaughn added. “If we can get him playing at that pace, thinking, ‘I’m not gonna waste any opportunity, no possessions am I wasting.’ That’s the mentality and the mindset we try to grab onto.”
