Already disadvantaged of a lot of their dimension, the shorthanded Nets will probably be with out Ben Simmons on Monday in Chicago, although they’re hopeful of getting Cam Johnson.
Simmons left Sunday’s loss to Orlando with a knee contusion and Johnson checked out with 18 seconds left after injuring his left ankle.
“I just kind of tweaked it. I went to stop and it rolled over a little bit. I’ll be fine. I’m gonna do everything I can right now to get it ready for [Monday] and evaluate that. But I’m gonna fight for it,” mentioned Johnson, who sprained his proper ankle in final Monday’s win at Golden State.
“It’s the opposite. I’m even now, so I’ll be alright,” Johnson quipped.
Simmons logged simply 11:39, ending scoreless however with 5 assists. His evening was minimize quick by a knee contusion.
Michelle Farsi/New York Submit
“That was something I was dealing with prior to the game, so I was just trying to see if I could go on it, and it was just getting too much. So, made the decision,” Simmons mentioned. “It’s been something I’ve been dealing with the last year-and-a-half. So yeah, just got to monitor it, stay on it.”
The issue cropped up whereas Simmons was compensating for his well-publicized again woes.
“It’s all connected. It’s just managing it, I’m playing more minutes, so my body is trying to catch up,” Simmons mentioned.
He nonetheless hasn’t been cleared to play each ends of back-to-backs, so he was all the time set to take a seat out in Chicago.
Nets large man Day’Ron Sharpe is inching nearer to his season debut. He’s been sidelined since camp with a strained left hamstring, however will journey to Chicago on Monday, and will lastly play in some unspecified time in the future this week.
“Yeah, at some point this week we’ll give an update, and we could see him at some point this week,” coach Jordi Fernandez mentioned. “Proper now, he’s going by way of the method of going by way of contact drills. Then [he’ll] see how he feels after that, then take the subsequent step.
“So, that’s as much as I can tell you. He’s doing great. He’s got great energy. His personality is great for the group. Being part of the group throughout the trip [last week] was important, so you can see what’s going on and how it feels to be part of the group. Now he’s getting close. So, excited to see you back.”
Understandably so. The Nets bought eviscerated, 52-33, on the boards Sunday, and Sharpe was third within the league in rebound proportion final season (.199), trailing solely Andre Drummond and Jusuf Nurkic. He was additionally second in offensive rebound proportion (.163), behind solely Drummond.
Dennis Schroder had 20 factors and 7 assists in his return from private go away. The private state of affairs shouldn’t be anticipated to value him any extra time.
“We respect his privacy. We have him back, so we’re happy to have him right now here,” Fernandez mentioned. “So, right now is as much as I can tell you.”
