TORONTO — Kevin Ollie had to make some decisions in his debut as the Nets’ interim head coach, some of which may raise some eyebrows.
In his first game since replacing the fired Jacque Vaughn, O’Ree started Cam Thomas, Mikal Bridges, Dorian Finney-Smith, Nic Claxton and Ben Simmons and lost 121-93. Ta. Simmons was tasked with attacking the rim more.
That meant Cam Johnson, who had just signed a four-year, $94.5 million contract extension, would come off the bench.
His only other reserve appearance was in the final game before the All-Star break, but it was made on a minute limit as he missed the previous four games with an adductor injury.
Dennis Schroder also came off the bench in his return to Toronto.
He scored 4 points and finished at minus-30.
The point guard acquired at the trade deadline has been on a whirlwind journey, returning to Canada to see his family over the holidays, traveling to Germany to visit his mother and longtime doctor, and finally missing Wednesday’s practice.
“Oh yeah, Dennis. There was something going on there and he missed practice and I think we only practiced twice for personal reasons. So this is probably an adjustment and I know we’re going to move to a new system after that. It was Jack and now it’s me,” Olly said. “We still have to play hard and be aggressive and I thought he did that. He got in foul trouble and his rhythm was thrown off.”
Ollie also gave Simmons orders to drive more.
As it turned out, on a two-point night, he only made 1 of 2 shots.
“Yes, that’s it. Look at the rotation, see who fits him, be around him all season, what he needs to do, how to space him. I understand,” Olly said before the game. “And that’s with Ben as well, being very aggressive in bringing it to the rim and seeing the gaps. And we’ve told him that, and I think he’ll do that. [Thursday]And he will perform well in the stint he is able to play at that point. ”
Getting to the rim is something Simmons hasn’t done since his back problems started.
“Yeah, that’s what we’re trying to push him on and I think he can do it and it’s something we have to keep doing with the right spacing and not letting him do it,” Ollie said. said. “But most of it is about pace. If you look at Ben’s pace before his injury, we know he rebounded very well, took rebounds and pushed the ball.
“And when we get into half-court situations, it’s going to be extremely important for him to have him play with pace and for us to have good spacing around him. But that When he sees a gap, he has to take it to the rim.”
