Vaughn: Nets have 'some work' to do finding lineups for Simmons

Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn said "it's going to be some work" deploying Ben Simmons in compatible lineups following the team's trade-deadline overhaul.

"You put another big next to Ben, then you got to figure out what the spacing is around him," Vaughn told reporters after Monday's 124-106 loss to the New York Knicks, courtesy of ESPN's Tim Bontemps.

"Then if you put another playmaker next to him, then you got to figure out what Ben looks like without the basketball. Then if you go small with Ben, then you have to figure out: Can you rebound enough with him?

"So the challenges are ahead of us. … We have the personnel to figure it out - whether it is me mixing and matching throughout different pieces of the game and allowing him to have a group and run with a group."

Simmons played just short of 13 minutes Monday, his third straight game since the trade deadline in which he's come off the bench and played 20 minutes or fewer.

In Brooklyn's last game before sending Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns on Thursday, Simmons started and registered 26.5 minutes in a loss to, coincidentally, Phoenix. His minutes Monday were the second-lowest he's played in a single game this season, eclipsed only by the 11:24 he played on Nov. 28 against the Orlando Magic when he bowed out early due to knee soreness.

Through the new-look Nets' last three games, Simmons averaged just 4.7 points and rebounds apiece, along with three assists, while attempting just four field goals per game.

Vaughn added that Brooklyn's offense slowed down too much Monday when he played Simmons alongside another big man.

"With (Jalen) Brunson being out there, trying to throw different bodies with him. We're always concerned about (rebounding), so didn't want Ben to be the lone big out there," Vaughn said. "We tried him with another big; I didn't like that rhythm of the game because we weren't scoring enough at that time.

"A lot of different problems thrown at you in the course of a game, you try to figure them out."