SACRAMENTO, Calif. — At the start of the season, Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said he hoped Ben Simmons would be aggressive and put up double-digit shots on a nightly basis.
So far, Simmons hasn’t hit the target once.
With Simmons now removed from his second back surgery and proclaiming himself healthy for the first time in years, it begs the question of why not?
“I think just the role I’m in right now is a little different and I’m trying to adjust,” Simmons said. “And then obviously when you have [Nic] Claxton coming back, it’s going to change again. I feel like I got some good rhythm in that second group. And then obviously Clax came out and then went back into that lineup. I’ve just got to find my spots and do a better job of doing that for the team.”
Make that a much better job.
Simmons will come into Sunday’s tilt in Sacramento averaging 5.4 points, 6.6 assists and 5.9 rebounds.
His 4.8 attempts are on pace for a career low, even fewer than his 4.9 last season under Jacque Vaughn and Kevin Ollie and last among 200 players in the league averaging over 22.5 minutes.
In Friday’s loss in Philadelphia to tip off this four-game road trip, Simmons mustered just two points on 1-for-4 shooting and finished a minus-20 in 26:13.
“That’s the normal minutes he’s played. Again, we need him to rebound, we need him to push the pace and to find his teammates. We need him to be aggressive,” Fernandez said. “Again, it was probably not a great game by him and by us as a team.”
Claxton’s injuries have played around with Simmons’ role, from starting forward to backup point guard and now again to starting in the frontcourt.
Both the eye test and advanced stats say he’s played better in his natural lead guard spot but struggled when asked to play as a forward.
After Cam Johnson had 37 points Friday in Philadelphia, he’s averaging 31.0 points on .604/.594/1.000 shooting splits over his last three.
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He joins Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Vince Carter as the only Nets to average at least 30.0 points on 50/50/100 splits over a similar span.
Johnson heads into Sacramento riding a career-best string of 29 straight made free throws.
Johnson (.423), Dorian Finney-Smith (.410) and Dennis Schroder (.408) are one of just two trios in the NBA each attempting over five 3s and shooting over .400 — joining Boston’s Al Horford (.477), Derrick White (.404) and Payton Pritchard (.421).
After drawing just nine charges all of last season — the worst figure in 20 years — the Nets have already surpassed that with 10, sixth-most in the league.
