CLEVELAND — Nic Claxton and Ben Simmons haven’t started together so far this season.
And it doesn’t sound like it’ll happen until Simmons makes it happen, until he plays so well that Nets coach Jordi Fernandez has no choice but to start him.
“I’m looking forward to it. We’re both two high-level basketball players. We’ve just got to be aggressive, and the coaches have put us in the right positions to make everything work,” Claxton told The Post before scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the Nets’ 105-100 loss to the Cavaliers on Saturday night. “Obviously, it’s going to work on the defensive end, and we’ll work everything out on the offense side.”
That offensive side has been the fly in the ointment throughout Simmons’ career when pairing him with a traditional non-shooting big man.
His lack of an effective jumper makes floor spacing a concern, and the lack of time the duo has gotten together because of injuries has kept them from working to iron out the issue.
“The motto in the NBA is shooting, but it can work,” Claxton told The Post. “You’ve got to be putting pressure on the rim at all times, and you do have to have other shooters around so there is some type of spacing. But it can work.”
