SAN DIEGO – Arriving at Nets training camp, much of the talk centered around the point guard duel. It turns out they will have two point guards instead.
After all the questions about who would get the nod between Dennis Schroder and Ben Simmons, the two veterans will start together when Brooklyn begins the preseason on Tuesday against the Clippers.
Although they spent most of their open rounds and early stages of training camp running separate teams, head coach Jordi Fernandez had them working alongside each other in Saturday’s practice — and will choose to have them do it again on Tuesday at Frontwave Arena.
“They played together. And we’re going to go into the first game of the preseason playing with two point guards,” Fernandez said. “Then you’ll see that, for sure.”
“It’s something that gives us a different look right now, playing with size, but not a real big and a lot of play and shooting. So it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a lot of fun to throw a eye.
This is something neither Jacque Vaughn nor Kevin Ollie were able to examine last season. Schroder had hoped to play alongside Simmons after arriving from Toronto, but Simmons’ injuries scuttled that plan.
Even in camp, they played together on the first day, but were largely separated into separate teams — until Saturday.
“When I got here, I played with Ben in the first scrimmage,” Schroder said. “Afterwards, we didn’t do it too much. We competed in every practice against each other, and it was great to push ourselves and try to get as many wins as possible. But the coach decided that we were going to start together and we were going to make the most of it.
The duo spent just 16 minutes together in three games last season, finishing a minus-4. They had hoped to return from the All-Star break with better timing, but Simmons needed season-ending back surgery.
Over the past two years, the Nets had played at a pace of 35 wins without Simmons and 45 wins with him. Finally healthy, the Nets are counting on the duo’s ability to push in transition.
“Lots of speed. He is [fast]” Schroder said when asked what a two-point guard tandem with Simmons could look like. “I mean, he hasn’t been healthy the last few years, but when he’s healthy, we know what he can do. He’s an All-Star type player, so he’s going to push the ball. [He’s] generous.
“On the defensive side, he plays with courage. And that’s what we need here. So a lot of speed. He can talk about it, I’ll go to the corner. Otherwise, him and I in pick-and-roll, him setting the screen or me setting the screen. I think we can do a lot of things. And today we’ve been working on it, and we’re trying to keep building, moving forward, trying to build. Yes, we will continue to work.
Fernandez didn’t say whether that pairing was the result of the Nets missing bodies, with Nic Claxton, Bojan Bogdanovic, Day’Ron Sharpe and Trendon Watford all in attendance for the preseason opener.
But when asked about spacing with Simmons, he previously said he wanted to see how things worked and didn’t have to have all the answers already. These preparatory matches should provide him with some of these answers.
“It’s been good, man. They’re both so fast, so electric when they play. Both are looking to find guys running down the field,” Jalen Wilson said. “It’s good for me, because I want to run the court, get to the corner, get open shots. And I have two guys pushing even harder to try to find us.
So far in camp, the Nets haven’t seen much of Schroder and Simmons together. That will change on Tuesday.
“I haven’t seen it in action yet, so it’s hard for me to say [how it’ll look]”, admitted Noah Clowney. “But by having both, they can be able to play with the ball and be on it. It can be unique in how we can use it.
