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The NBA is back and while the season is only fresh there are already some key talking points to come out of the limited action we have seen so far.<\/p>\n
From how the Nets can get the best out of Ben Simmons to trouble in Chicago and the defending champions quelling a key concern. Here are the latest talking points!<\/p>\n
Watch an average of 9 NBA Regular Season games per week LIVE on ESPN, available via Kayo. Join Kayo now and start streaming instantly ><\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n Celtics hold off Heat for second win | 01:13<\/p>\n SUDDEN MEETING SHINES LIGHT ON STARK REALITY FACING BULLS STARS<\/b><\/p>\n Heated sideline and locker room exchanges are nothing new in the NBA. Sometimes they are needed.<\/p>\n Having a players-only meeting after just one loss though is something different and it speaks to the fact that the vibes in Chicago are definitely not good.<\/p>\n Obviously being blown out 124-104 in the season opener against Oklahoma City at home was hardly ideal but it was hardly a death knell for the Bulls either.<\/p>\n The fact Chicago players felt compelled to ask head coach Billy Donovan to allow them to have the room to themselves to talk over the defeat though says two things.<\/p>\n One \u2013 this is a playing group that is willing to tackle an issue head-on and isn\u2019t afraid to have those tough conversations. That\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n But it also says that there had to be some level of concern or tension heading into the season for the players to feel like such conversations need to be had already.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought the tweet was fake,\u201d ESPN reporter Zach Lowe said on \u2018NBA Today\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cThey had a players meeting already? They\u2019re 0-1. They got thumped at home but they\u2019re 0-1? This is a team that is built to win now and just has not won enough and at some point they\u2019ve just got to start winning.\u201d<\/p>\n The Bulls did just that against the Raptors, although it was hardly convincing and then backed it up with a 118-102 loss to the Pistons despite getting a career-high 51 points from Zach LaVine.<\/p>\n The rest of Chicago\u2019s core did their best to support LaVine in that loss, with DeMar DeRozan adding 20 points and four assists while Nikola Vucevic had 12 points.<\/p>\n Consistent production across the board otherwise was nowhere to be seen, with the bench combining for just 19 points.<\/p>\n But when it comes to weighing up the future of this roster, it is the bigger names that are more likely to be moved on after only qualifying for the playoffs once in the past three seasons.<\/p>\n Of course, Lonzo Ball\u2019s string of injuries didn\u2019t help but that is the reality Chicago has found itself in for a few years now and patience is starting to wear thin.<\/p>\n DeRozan is a free agent next summer while both LaVine and Vucevic have also been floated as potential trade pieces if the Bulls decided to blow it all up.<\/p>\n ‘Four straight 3’s!’: Curry lets loose | 01:15<\/p>\n That possibility may explain why things seem so tense in Chicago this season, with the reality that every loss brings the Bulls closer to having to accept that unfortunate reality.<\/p>\n \u201cWe understand that, we\u2019ve been around long enough,\u2019\u2019 LaVine said, per the Chicago Tribune, after the loss to the Pistons.<\/p>\n \u201cShoot, Vooch has been traded, I\u2019ve been traded, DeMar\u2019s been traded. We understand the business. As much as we care for each other, you understand what\u2019s on the other side of that. It\u2019s just three games in, but we don\u2019t want this to get past three games.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want this to snowball.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n NETS ADMIT BIG BEN SIMMONS PROBLEM IS \u2018STARING US IN THE FACE\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n Ben Simmons has shown he can get back to playing well, maybe even play like his old self.<\/p>\n But he hasn\u2019t shown he can do it alongside Nic Claxton.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the challenge for the Nets, for whom something good is seemingly always followed by something worrying.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s definitely been addressed from me in front of this group. It is staring us in the face. And like I said, we have to look at how do we play with Ben with another big on the floor?\u201d coach Jacque Vaughn admitted.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can only play five dudes out there at one time. We\u2019ve got to start a certain group, we want certain dudes to play; how do we get all that to mesh within the course of a game and the season?<\/p>\n \u201cBen still has the ability to attack and have pace no matter who\u2019s out there on the floor, especially the way teams are going to guard. So some nights when we do go small and we have more shooting out there, we have to take advantage of that.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the nights where Nic is with him, then we have to be better on the defensive end of the floor and allow us to get stops and run. So that\u2019s the connection there.<\/p>\n \u201cThen we can\u2019t allow people to get to the paint as much or to the rim as much with Nic and Ben. \u2026 Then we\u2019ve got to figure out, like I\u2019ve talked about, the spacing around it, and not playing in the half-court.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s staring us in the face that we are better at playing in transition and in fullcourt basketball than in the half-court. And the sooner we realise that as a group, the better off we\u2019re going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to imagine the Nets haven\u2019t realized it.<\/p>\n The concern isn\u2019t panic over a handful of minutes this season and last.<\/p>\n Simmons\u2019 difficulty playing alongside another non-shooter has been a topic of discussion since his 76ers days with Joel Embiid.<\/p>\n While Simmons did coexist with Claxton for large stretches last season, the duo was flanked by stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, as well as shooters Joe Harris, Seth Curry, Patty Mills and Yuta Watanabe.<\/p>\n Since the team got remade in February, it\u2019s been more of a struggle.<\/p>\n Simmons had 10 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in Dallas, driving the lane, attacking the rim, and looking like the player Brooklyn needs him to be. He was dangerous surrounded by four shooters, with stretch-4 Dorian Finney-Smith filling in for the injured Claxton as a 6-foot-7, 220-pound small-ball center. <\/p>\n But the dark cloud obscuring the silver lining? He did it with Claxton out and Day\u2019Ron Sharpe logging just four minutes, shorthanded Brooklyn experimenting with a wide-open five-out lineup they clearly won\u2019t start once Claxton returns.<\/p>\n Robbed of so much gravity, the Nets will need to compensate with meticulous spacing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s reads and learning. Repetition. We haven\u2019t had too many reps of doing it, so I think the more reps the better obviously and we\u2019ll figure it out,\u201d Simmons said.<\/p>\n