The Nets opened training camp on Tuesday and Ben Simmons showed up healthy, as promised. That means the Jordi Fernandez era in Brooklyn will start with an interesting position battle in the backcourt.
Between Simmons and teammate Dennis Schröder, who will be the Nets’ starting point guard when the 2024-25 season tips off in Atlanta on Oct. 23? All will be revealed as training camp continues. The battle for minutes between the two veterans will certainly be something to watch.
“May the best man win, honestly,” Cam Thomas said. “Whatever team they’re on, I know they’re going to try to lead that team to the most wins or whatever the scoring system is. But I’m confident in both guys, whoever gets the role, obviously. When you’re battling for something, you’re going to have that competitive fire and competitive spirit. You know I know they’re both going to give it their all. So, we’ll see how it turns out.”
Simmons, who was limited to just 15 games last season because of a pinched nerve in his lower back, will make a guaranteed $40.3 million this season on an expiring contract. The 28-year-old was not much of a scoring threat when healthy last season (6.1 points per game), but he still averaged 5.7 assists per game, 7.9 rebounds, and the Nets had an offensive rating of 112.4 in his 359 minutes on the court.
“I think people forget me as a player when I’m healthy,” Simmons said. “I can play basketball and I’m pretty good.”
Schröder, who was acquired at last season’s trade deadline, started 25 of 29 games after arriving in Brooklyn and averaged 14.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists while shooting a career-best 41.2% from deep. The Nets went 12-17 in games Schröder played and had an offensive rating of 110.4 in his 915 minutes on the court.
Simmons did not play for Australia during the summer Olympics because of his injury, but Schröder suited up for Germany and was dominant in international play. In Paris, the 31-year-old helped the Germans capture a bronze medal by averaging 17.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He was named to the 2024 Olympics All-Star Five, joining LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Victor Wembanyama and Nikola Jokić.
Schröder came to Brooklyn under the impression that he and Simmons would share a lot of minutes in the backcourt together. However, because of Simmons’ injury situation, the guards played just 16 minutes together last season. In those minutes, the two-man lineup of Simmons and Schröder had a NET rating of -6.5, which means the team did not play at a particularly high level at either end of the court.
“At the end of the day, now we play together, and I want to make the most out of it,” Schröder said. “Even when I got traded here, because I thought [Ben] was healthy, I wanted to play more minutes with him on the court. In minicamp we had a whole week where we played together, and it looked great. So, I’m really excited about him playing healthy… I’m really looking forward to him shutting everybody up because he’s really ready and he looked good and he’s going to help us.”
While the rebuilding Nets may be looking to move veterans such as Simmons and Schröder at some point during the 2024-25 season, both are on the roster right now, which means Fernandez has a tough decision to make regarding his backcourt rotation. Brooklyn’s first preseason game against the Los Angeles Clippers next Tuesday may offer a glimpse at which guard holds an early edge in the competition.
Schröder is more of a scoring guard, but his 3.1 assist-to-turnover ratio last season was solid. However, while he has been a scrappy defender at times throughout his career, his 6-1 stature makes him a bit of a liability on defense, as larger guards can take advantage of mismatches.
Size obviously is not an issue for Simmons, 6-10, but availability will always be a concern for him until he proves that he can stay healthy for extended stretches. He is still a below-average player when it comes to spacing the floor but is an elite distributor and rebounder. His versatility makes him an asset at both ends of the court and Fernandez will have opportunities to deploy him in a variety of different ways.
Each guard brings a different skillset to the table. Both come with unique advantages and disadvantages. But at the end of the day, the Nets have two capable point guards on the roster, and that is a good problem to have — especially when it comes to creating healthy competition in training camp.
“I want to be put in a tough spot,” Fernandez said. “These are two really good players. They both want to start and that’s what I want. I want to create healthy competition within the group, and then from there, make me decide. Do I want to play with one? Do I want to play with the other? Or do I want to play with two point guards? I’m okay either way, and if they don’t meet the expectations, they won’t be the starting point guard. Competition is the number one thing. Healthy competition within the group is very important, and today was a great, great first day.”
