Jordi Fernández’s first big decision as Brooklyn Nets head coach came Friday night when he started Nic Claxton. against They beat the Boston Celtics and removed three-time NBA All-Star Ben Simmons from the team’s starting lineup.

By now, Simmons had been a starter and Claxton had come off the bench recovering from a left hamstring issue that caused him to miss the preseason. There was little need for Fernández to address this squad issue just yet, as Claxton was probably improving his playing fitness and neither player was at full health.

For example, Claxton was inactive in the Nets’ first game against the Memphis Grizzlies in which Simmons played. The former then made his first start of the season in the team’s second game against Memphis. But it wasn’t a complicated decision because Simmons hasn’t played in back-to-back games this season and the Nets didn’t have Noah Clowney, Trendon Watford or Day’Ron Sharpe.

But ultimately this element It needed to be resolved, and Brooklyn’s game against Boston marked Claxton’s first start of the campaign with Simmons active. This has likely changed the Nets’ rotation for the foreseeable future.

simmons in question In comments obtained by ClutchPoints after the game, it was stated that he was informed of the squad change before tip-off: “For the flow of the team – everything the team wants me to do, in terms of coming off the bench and starting, I have to do it. That’s what the Coach wants at the moment. Whatever.”

Brooklyn started Claxton with Dennis Schröder, Cam Thomas, Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith. This was Fernández’s lineup with Simmons, but with Claxton added instead, the fit is much more natural. Among other things, this means Finney-Smith doesn’t have to guard and out-guard other teams’ big men.

Simmons entered the game with 6:08 left in the first quarter. Ziaire came on for Williams in the substitution that took Claxton and Finney-Smith off the game. Then the quarter ended, with Simmons surrounded by length and shots, and then the second quarter began. This seems to be an indication of Fernández’s belief that the still-non-shooting Australian point guard will succeed.

A very interesting match took place at 6:30 minutes before the end of the second quarter. Fernández joined Claxton while Simmons was already on the field. The 41-year-old Spaniard had previously stated that he was not against the two playing together.

“If you go back to two years ago when Ben and Nic played together, the minutes they spent together were very good,” Fernández said. in question pre-season. “Last year the sample size was very small. Out of 15 games played, (Simmons) only played 10 together, so you can’t use those numbers.”

The standoff between Claxton and Simmons lasted just over two minutes. Meanwhile, the Nets’ offense and defense statistically slowed down. However, in an extremely small sample of just 10 minutes played together this season, the Claxton-Simmons duo has a staggering +50.24 net rating so far. According to PBP Statistics.

Simmons left the game with approximately seven minutes left in the final quarter and did not return afterward. Fernández briefly moved to center Finney-Smith, then introduced Claxton and finished the game throughout extra time, the former Georgia Bulldog being the man in the middle.

Simmons doesn’t have any particular expectations for his role moving forward — “I try not to expect anything from the NBA,” he said — but this roster shakeup seems like the most logical choice for the Nets (now 4-5). The game is Saturday night against the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers (10-0), but since it is the second leg of a back-to-back, Simmons is not expected to play.

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