MILWAUKEE — Ben Simmons and D’Angelo Russell didn’t share the court in the Nets’ win Thursday night in Milwaukee, but at some point they will both be at the point.
The Nets are hoping it will be more complementary than competitive.
After all, the pair of playmakers already has shown it can not just co-exist, but thrive.
They starred together at Montverde Academy for two years, going 45-2 with a couple of national championships.
There are actually four Montverde products on the Brooklyn roster.
And Kevin Boyle — who coached the entire quartet — spoke with The Post in Orlando about his Nets contingent, including Russell and Simmons seeking their former form.
“Yeah, it is amazing that it fell that way and there’s that many guys from our school on the same team,” Boyle told The Post. “So, hopefully it works well. We’ll see. Just to reach that goal, to reach the NBA, is so hard obviously, and to have four guys (is great). Obviously, some of them have had ups and downs. At one time, Ben was an All-Star. At one time, D’Angelo was an All-Star.”
Boyle coached Kyrie Irving at St. Patrick’s in Elizabeth (N.J.), and has eight of the last 11 high school national championships and coached of the last 10 Naismith National Players of the Year.
He could have four ex-players go in the first round of June’s NBA Draft, led by Cooper Flagg.
And as much as the Nets would love to land the latter, they have Montverde products Day’Ron Sharpe and Dariq Whitehead.
But right now it’s Russell who — after being relegated primarily to reserve duty for the first time in his career with the Lakers — has a chance to start in Brooklyn.
And Boyle told The Post it’s not his form that dipped, just his opportunity.
“D’Angelo’s always been extremely gifted offensively from a scoring perspective, and a distributing-the-ball and being unselfish perspective,” Boyle told The Post. “Up to this year, his numbers were incredibly consistent. Whatever he scored or shot percentage-wise, it was like you were in a Ponzi scheme; you earn 13 percent every year. His numbers were always the same. That’s who he was. It was very effective.
“This year, obviously the playing time dipped and the role dipped and then the statistics dipped, as well. But based on when he’s gotten similar playing time, his numbers have almost always been similar. If you go through the years, you’ll be amazed … everything seems like that’s who he is over a legitimate sample size.”
That was proven right when Jordi Fernandez put the ball in Russell’s hands in his (second) Nets debut, with 22 points and eight assists Wednesday in Toronto.
Russell and Simmons were even a plus-7 in their seven minutes together.
The latter didn’t play Thursday in Milwaukee, not cleared for back-to-backs.
Boyle wondered if he’d ever see the old Simmons again and if not, why not.
“We all know his story and it’s perplexing to many,” Boyle said. “You’re talking about a guy that was one of the best 15, 20, 25 guys in the league on the way to ‘Hey, you’re going to have a guy that’s a top-15 player for a decade.’ And for whatever reason — be it injuries or chemistry — (he’s) trying to find that. Can you be currently who you were in Philly, getting 17-8-8 on a regular basis, and being really good defensively?
“So, I don’t know. I don’t watch enough games (to know) if that can be brought back to where it was. Is it a health situation totally? Is it a combination of health and psychology of dealing with whatever it is mentally? I don’t know. But when D’Angelo was at his high point and Ben was at his high point, you have two very good players. The question is, can they both get to that level again and maintain it?”