Brooklyn Nets Film Room: How Ben Simmons Played With Nic Claxton and Noah Clowney vs. Pelicans

The Australian playmaker shared the floor with both of the Brooklyn Nets’ centers in the team’s win against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Nov 11, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons (10) brings the ball up court against the New Orleans Pelicans during the first half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

“If you go back two years ago when Ben [Simmons] and Nic [Claxton] played together, their minutes together were very good,” Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernández mused in preseason.

That was 2022-23. When Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant led the Nets. When Simmons hadn’t suffered season-ending back injuries in consecutive years yet. When Claxton, now seemingly the only player with a guaranteed future in Brooklyn, hadn’t yet surpassed Simmons in the team’s pecking order… 

In other words, things were incredibly different. But the Nets’ first-year head coach, to his credit, was correct — at least to an extent. Two years ago, Simmons and Claxton shared the floor for 517 minutes. They posted a +8 net rating, per PBP Stats, which is not necessarily “very good,” but it’s certainly not bad.

Still, the NBA is a “what have you done for me lately?” league. Simmons is a three-time all-star, but the discourse surrounding him this season is about whether his elite two-way production has been sapped by years of back ailments. Last year, he averaged 6.1 points per game. The Australian playmaker remains a non-shooter, who then effectively becomes less necessary if he can’t make up for that in other areas of the box score.

Claxton is also a non-shooter; on the other hand, one who signed a four-year, $100 million deal with Brooklyn over the summer. He’s an integral part of the Nets, and someone who the organization currently prioritizes over Simmons.

That's why Claxton starting this season off the bench, regardless of the skill clash with Simmons, was a surprise. Fernández attributed that to the Brooklyn center ramping up after a minor hamstring injury caused him to miss all of preseason, so this apparent skill clash with Simmons largely went untested until Brooklyn's win against the New Orleans Pelicans.

On Monday night. Simmons and Claxton were on the court together for seven minutes — they’d only shared the floor for ten minutes so far this season — with Noah Clowney also featuring as an important part of the equation. Brooklyn’s other big played with Simmons for 16 minutes in what was that duo’s best stretch yet this season.

Here’s what the Nets’ tape against the Pels shows with regards to how Brooklyn’s bigs can play next to Simmons.

Simmons first subbed in with 6:35 to go in the first quarter. Claxton was on the floor, along with Dennis Schröder, Cam Thomas and Jalen Wilson. The shooting isn’t amazing, but there are enough scoring threats with the latter three in the lineup. 

Right off the bat, note how Simmons and Claxton are positioned on different sides of the floor. First, it’s the Nets’ No. 10 that comes up to screen. Then, it’s the Brooklyn big setting a pick around the opposite slot. 

The spacing, like the shooting, isn’t ideal but it’s passable because of the moving pieces. Simmons catches around the right dunker and feeds Jalen Wilson, who makes a sharp cut. This was the first of the Australian’s season-high 12 assists against New Orleans.

It’s the same idea in this next clip. Claxton and Simmons deliberately never occupy the same areas. As the latter cuts from the left corner, Claxton lifts from the right dunker to the elbow. 

It’s simultaneous cutting, and Simmons is a shrewd enough passer to creatively execute the read on the move and set up his big for an easy dunk. This is how spacing can be manufactured with two non-shooters.

Noah Clowney entered the game with about five minutes remaining in the first quarter and was Simmons’ big for the rest of the period. This was immediately a different look for the Nets. 

Clowney is not the same type of big as Claxton. He can, and likes to, stretch the floor. Against the Pelicans, he made a career-high five threes. In turn, the fit with Simmons is much more seamless. Simmons can play as the “center” on offense, meaning that he gets the reps on the inside and as a screener, and Clowney can be mostly tasked with shooting threes.

Here, Simmons sets the screen and more or less creates the space for Clowney’s three. It’s a miss, but the former Sixer is there to vacuum up the offensive rebound and kick it back out for another Nets triple which this time goes in.

Clowney’s shooting enables Simmons to push the pace in the open court, which is his preferred style of basketball. Meshing both skills together brought some good results for the Nets versus New Orleans.

But for this to stay effective, Clowney needs to convert on his 3-pointers. His minutes with Simmons in this game were positive with a +11.8 net rating, but their 42 total minutes together this season are posting a -14 net rating, per PBP Stats.

Again, though, it doesn’t matter if Simmons is a non-shooter if he’s the only non-shooter on the floor. In these types of lineups, Simmons is facilitating for the scorers around him. Putting the likes of Jalen Wilson, Cam Thomas or Cam Johnson in the same lineup can only produce good results.

Clowney doesn’t get a touch here, but it’s about the process. He’s spaced on the opposite corner of Simmons and the five-man combination is set up in a way to favor the latter’s strengths.

Still, there can be clunky moments with the spacing and skillsets. In this first clip, it gets way too snug for Brooklyn. Clowney sets a screen for Simmons at the elbow, which really constrains the team.

The second clip is a hard ask from Clowney. He might be able to make that little one dribble floater on the short roll, but the paint is clogged with Simmons stationed around the dunker.

Jordi Fernández went back to Simmons with Claxton for a two-minute stretch in the second quarter and then a three-minute stretch in the mid-third quarter. For all the questions about the offensive fit, it’s worth discussing this duo’s defensive upside. 

For starters, both guys are tremendous defenders. If Simmons is at full health, it’s fair to say that he and Claxton are among the best in their positions in the entire NBA. Together against the Pelicans, they posted a 93.3 defensive rating, the metric that measures how many points a team gives up per 100 possessions. This comes with the obligatory tiny sample caveat, but for comparison, the Nets’ defensive rating this season is 113.2, and the Oklahoma City Thunder have the best in the league at 102.6.

Even if a ballhandler like Brandon Ingram can shake Simmons off, it’s not fun to then be met by Claxton in the paint. Put them in a ball screen and they’ll switch. If they make a mistake, they have the length, size and athleticism to recover. 

Predictably, the margins aren’t as fine on offense, so the defensive upside probably will not make up for Claxton and Simmons together for prolonged minutes. Unlike Clowney who can space the floor and just touch the ball to shoot a three, Claxton isn’t that type of player. This is apparent in the first clip, as Simmons drives and looks for the ball reversal but Claxton isn't interested in spotting up. 

Obviously, the roles aren’t going to be reversed either, because Simmons won’t be standing by to take catch-and-shoots. The one pull-up he's forced into taking due to an offensive breakdown looks extremely uncomfortable.

As a result, it’s tougher to see a path forward for sustained Simmons and Claxton court time — but the door certainly seems open to these short stretches together that last a handful of minutes. For them to work, lots of movement and cutting is needed, though. Clowney is an easier fit next to both non-shooters, particularly with Simmons off the bench, but his consistency and two-way impact are much less consistent still. 

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