Steve Nash said the Nets plan to use Ben Simmons at center this season following Brooklyn’s 129-125 overtime loss to Dallas Mavericks Thursday at Barclays Center.
“Definitely Ben at the five has gotta be part of our team going forward,” Nash said at his postgame media conference.
Asked if it was a premeditated decision to separate Simmons and center Nic Claxton’s minutes to give Simmons minutes at center, Nash said the Nets are “trying to look at different things” and plan to “develop both.”
“Free those guys up to be more definitive and decisive in their roles,” Nash said. “When they’re out there together there’s a lot of moving parts for them to catch on the fly.
“I thought it gave Ben an opportunity to maybe be more aggressive in patches.”
When asked about the difference between Simmons playing center and having Simmons and Claxton together, Kevin Durant put his hands up in a semi-shrug and said, “I gotta watch film; figure it out.”
Nash said it has been a challenge to get rotations set with players coming in and out of the lineup early in the season and not overplay anybody. In the end, Nash said, overtime forced him to overplay his players anyway.
But the first opportunity to play an extra five minutes was an opportunity for the Nets to show their character, Nash said.
“Keep thinking about your teammates, keep working to improve as a team, get better every day, continue to show those values and characteristics that make you winners,” he said. “When we’re going through a tough patch, we got guys in and out of the lineup, and we’re a new group, and we knew this was gonna be difficult, especially the start of the season.
“It’s about showing our character and keep improving every day, there was growth out there today. And we’re close to winning and we’ll learn from that.”
Nash defined the Nets' growth by their sustained intensity and playing a "more complete game."
“We’ve had some big pockets where we had let downs or sort of got away from our principles, but tonight I thought there was a much better overall effort,” he said.