PHILADELPHIA — This is what Jacque Vaughn means when he says Ben Simmons must play a whole sport with power.
Not simply intermittent spurts of aggression when he so chooses.
Did Simmons box-out? Did he play with physicality? Did he ship the primary hit, or did the opponent hit him first? Did he run the ground with power? Did he attempt to get to the paint?
In the primary half of Brooklyn’s 137-133 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday, the reply was no: Simmons took and missed only one shot and appeared bored with scoring by way of the primary two durations.
In the third quarter, nevertheless, the reply was a powerful sure: Simmons scored 10 factors within the interval, punctuated by a coast-to-coast and-one layup leaving simply 0.7 seconds left on the clock getting into the fourth quarter.
It turned clear there have been two completely different gamers who wore No. 10 for the Nets on Wednesday night time. The one who performed the primary half contributed to Brooklyn’s 17-point deficit. The one who performed the third quarter helped erase the 76ers’ lead.
On a Nets group with championship aspirations, Simmons is likely one of the greatest variables. He’s an all-world defender and an elite playmaker with the dimensions, power and IQ to play all 5 positions.
If he chooses to be aggressive like he did within the third quarter towards the group that threw him below the bus and traded him for James Harden, the Nets — particularly in a world the place Kevin Durant (MCL sprain) is wholesome — appear to be world beaters.
If he’s reluctant to attain in his alternatives to take action, he can find yourself on the bench, the place Vaughn positioned him for the sport’s closing 9 minutes in favor of a lineup that offered extra spacing and scoring to assist erase a late-game deficit.
“He just made a choice to put his head down and be aggressive for our team [in the third quarter],” Kyrie Irving mentioned of Simmons. “When he’s aggressive like that, being Ben Simmons, then we look very, very good and it gives us opportunities that sometimes we don’t get if he’s not.”
The message for Vaughn to Simmons by way of the media has been fixed: He must play with extra power, not only for 1 / 4 however for a whole sport. Vaughn needs Simmons to “value” and “play hard” each possession. Just as a result of he performed within the first half doesn’t imply he’s going to be a part of the closing lineup, even when he had a revelatory third quarter.
“We really want to get to a point where your teammate is depending on you, depending on you to do your job every single night, every single possession,” Vaughn mentioned. “Ben showed more ability to play with force in the second half, which paid off, which is what we need, which was great for our team.”
Simmons mentioned the distinction between the primary half and third quarter was merely understanding the group wanted him to attain. After a listless first half the place Simmons ostensibly by no means appeared to attain, a swap flipped for Brooklyn’s third highest-paid participant.
Simmons determined to hunt his personal shot. First a turnaround hook shot over P.J. Tucker. Then one other try over Tucker that he left quick. Then a pair of free throws when he was fouled on a layup try. Followed by a layup below the rim, after which an uncontested alley-oop end.
“Just attacking until they stopped me, pushing the tempo, realizing we need some easy buckets,” Simmons mentioned. “[In the first half, I was] trying to find my guys way too much. …Each game is gonna be different; we don’t have Kevin, so that was one of the major factors.”
Simmons mentioned he didn’t need to come out of the sport when Vaughn subbed him out for Joe Harris on the 8:58 mark within the fourth quarter. When Harris fouled out with just below six minutes left within the interval, Vaughn continued to take a seat Simmons, subbed in Royce O’Neale and saved Yuta Watanabe within the sport.
“It is what it is,” Simmons mentioned. “That’s coach’s resolution. I can’t actually management that. Obviously for myself, I need to be on the market.
“I really ain’t had no message from him, but I think it’s more so just whatever the team needs to win. If we’re winning I have no problem with it; but if we’re losing then I’ve got an issue with it.”
Irving says the important thing to unlocking the perfect model of Simmons is to proceed holding him accountable whereas additionally maintaining confidence in his skills.
“That’s what we do every single day. We don’t want to duck anything when it comes to us building camaraderie,” Irving mentioned. “When I say duck, it simply means generally confrontation’s good, that means what occurs within the locker room or occurs out on the court docket. Sometimes you guys see it, generally you don’t. Encouragement might look many alternative methods. We simply need to proceed to hammer dwelling that our greatest group effort is after we’re all enjoying nicely and staying aggressive and simply taking photographs that the protection is giving us.
“So simple ingredients for this basketball game, don’t want to complicate it, but in terms of Ben, we just want him to continue to be aggressive and when he figures it out, he figures it out. When it clicks for him, it’s gonna click, and we’re gonna look even better. I’m seeing flashes, I think we’re all seeing flashes. We just want him to keep it up, keep up the good work.”
Vaughn added for Simmons, the change begins within the thoughts.
“You become what you think about. So if you’re thinking about being aggressive, you will be aggressive,” he mentioned. “If you think about being a good teammate, you’ll be a good teammate. If you think about competing and playing hard, you do those things. You become what you think about.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com