SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said early in the season that he expected Ben Simmons to be aggressive and shoot double-digits every night.
So far, Simmons has never achieved his goal.
Simmons is coming off a second hip surgery and has declared himself healthy for the first time in years, which begs the question of why not.
“I think the role I have now is just a little bit different, so I'm just trying to adapt,” Simmons said. “And obviously, when you have, [Nic] Things will change again when Claxton returns. I think we found a good rhythm in the second group. And then obviously Cracks came out and went back into that lineup. I have to find my position and do a better job for the team. ”
Let's do a better job of it.
Simmons will enter Sunday's game against Sacramento averaging 5.4 points, 6.6 assists and 5.9 rebounds.
His 4.8 attempts per game are the lowest pace of his career, even fewer than his 4.9 attempts last season under Jacques Vaughn and Kevin Ollie, and among 200 players in the league who averaged at least 22.5 minutes per game. It is the lowest rank.
In Friday's loss at Philadelphia, which capped off a four-game road trip, Simmons scored just two points on 1-of-4 shooting and was minus-20 in 26 minutes, 13 seconds. .
“That's his normal playing time. Again, we need him to rebound, we need him to pick up the pace, we need him to find his teammates. We need him to be aggressive and… I need to get it,” Fernandez said. “Again, it probably wasn't a great game for him and for us as a team.”
Claxton's injury has affected Simmons' role, from starting forward to backup point guard and now starting in the frontcourt again.
Both the eye test and advanced statistics showed that he played better in his natural lead guard position, but struggled when asked to play as a forward.
Cam Johnson scored 37 points in Philadelphia on Friday, but is averaging 31.0 points on .604/.594/1.000 shooting splits over his last three games.
He joins Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Vince Carter as the only Nets to average more than 30.0 points on a 50/50/100 split over a similar span.
Johnson heads to Sacramento with a career-high 29 consecutive free throws made.
Johnson (.423), Dorian Finney-Smith (.410), and Dennis Schroder (.408) join Boston's Al Horford (.477) in shooting percentage, each making five or more threes. He is one of only two trios in the NBA to hit over .400. Derrick White (.404) and Peyton Pritchard (.421).
The Nets had just nine charges all last season (their worst total in 20 years), but they've already surpassed that number with 10, making them sixth-most in the league.
