Last season, Dennis Schroder arrived in Brooklyn in early February and played his first match with his new colors on February 10. At the same time, Ben Simmons played his final minutes of the season, his last appearance on the floor dating from February 26 before his back operation…
Clearly, the two playmakers barely had time to develop together. And the numbers prove it very well: they only did it for 16 minutes.
As Ben Simmons is back, even if health will as always be an essential subject, Jordi Fernandez wants to take the opportunity to try this experiment. This will be the case from the first preseason match, Tuesday evening against the Clippers.
“They play together and we are going to go in that direction for the start of the preseason, with two playmakers”, confirms the Nets coach. “We'll see what happens. It gives us a different face, with size without being a real big, and a lot of shooters and players who can make the play. It will be fun to see that. »
“The coach decided that we are going to start together and we are going to do our best. »
However, since the start of training camp, the two players have not always played on the same team. They did it the first day, then less after that. So this will be a discovery.
“I played with Ben Simmons in the first practice, and after that we didn’t really do it,” confirms the German. “We competed against each other in every training session and it was very good to surpass each other. The coach decided that we were going to start together and we are going to do our best. »
A Ben Simmons – Dennis Schroder pairing, still under construction, what could that look like? “Lots of speed”replies the second, formerly of the Hawks or Raptors. “He has been injured for two years, but when he is healthy, we know what he is capable of doing. He's an All-Star, who can speed up the game and make others play. […] I think we can do a lot. »
