While the Nets suffered their second loss of the preseason on Monday night against the Philadelphia 76ers, Ben Simmons continued to turn some heads.
The 27-year-old played just 42 games last year as he battled a back injury that caused him to miss the entire 2021-2022 season, but looked like his old self in the team's first preseason game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Oct. 10. Simmons kept it going against his former team, scoring eight points with nine assists and six rebounds in 29 minutes of action.
However, head coach Jacque Vaughn noted there are still areas of the game that Simmons needs to keep working on, as well as areas that teammates must adapt to when playing with the former No. 1 pick. Simmons had eight turnovers in the 127-119 loss, but Vaughn said he's "encouraged at the patience" the Nets are displaying to learn more and build as a team.
"Yeah that's just going to be a part of it," Vaughn said. "Because it's not only Ben finding space on the floor and how to create and create with who. But it's the different lineups that we've had out there. You're going to learn to play with him. It's a unique style of play, his pace and the angles that he plays with and the actions that he's used to playing with.
"We're gonna grow together, understand those angles. Whether it's him playing big-big pick-and-roll. We had a few turnovers because the bigs just aren't used to playing big-big pick-and-roll in that way with a guy that's his size who can deliver the basketball. Things that we'll continue to work on. I'm just encouraged at the patience our guys have to have in order for us to figure this out."
Simmons agreed that turnovers were an issue against the Sixers, but he said that he'd rather make those types of mistakes now compared to the regular season.
"Yeah for me personally, whenever I go into a practice or game like this, if I make mistakes it's OK. I'd rather learn off my mistakes, right," Simmons said. "I had some turnovers early, misreading where the defenders were, and tried to correct those things throughout the game."