With Dennis Schroder gone, Ben Simmons is the new point guard running the show.
And the Nets ran Monday — just not well.
The Nets are going to have to rely on pace to win games.
But they were reckless, sloppy and turnover-prone, and it cost them in a 130-101 loss to Cleveland.
“I think it’s just reading the game. When you speed up, you’re gonna have more errors,” Simmons said. “But that’s on me to just know where my guys are gonna be and taking care of the ball as a point guard.
“There’s more opportunity for me now, just being at that point guard position. So just finding my ways. I’m gonna go talk to coach about some different looks and things like that that I see out there. So, yeah.”
Simmons had 10 points and eight assists in a season-high 31 minutes.
But he had six of the Nets’ unsightly 22 turnovers, which the Cavs turned into 34 points.
In moving Schroder, the Nets lost their vocal leader and floor general.
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Simmons will assume the latter responsibility, but he’s a whole different kind of general.
The Nets are going to miss Schroder’s scoring and playmaking, much of both coming out of pick-and-roll situations.
While he was forming a solid tandem with roll men like Nic Claxton, Simmons could have spacing concerns with him as the center finished a horrid minus-24.
Trendon Watford was forced out of the game with a left hamstring injury, the same one he’d pulled before.