Right now the Brooklyn Nets are just trying to survive. Playing shorthanded, missing four key starters, it's been some tough sledding. Kevin Durant looks like his return is imminent. He figures to be back on Thursday vs. Miami or Sunday vs. Boston.

We still don't know when Ben Simmons will return, as he's dealing with a flare up in his back. Kyrie Irving is still a part-time player and head coach Steve Nash is now out in COVID health and safety protocols for the time being. So it is Assistant Coach Jacque Vaughn's show in the interim, filling in for coach Nash.

But another vital question Nets fans have is how Ben Simmons will be deployed when he's finally active.

In the past with the Sixers, Simmons played some point guard. Who knows how he would have been utilized in Philadelphia if their Markelle Fultz experiment had panned out better. That posed challenges when Simmons, famously, didn't want to shoot jump shots. As a result, Simmons probably spent much more time than he would have liked in “the dunker spot,” famously confined to the area under the rim, hoping for dump offs or tip ins.

But a team who trades away James Harden for a player as versatile as Ben Simmons, figures to get a bit more creative with a non-shooter than the Sixers did last season.

Despite the interim tag, coach Vaughn got the very difficult question from a reporter asking how exactly the team will use a player as unorthodox as Simmons offensively. Vaughn's answer was pretty funny. The former player flashed a big smile and gave a classic “above my pay grade” type of answer.

“The thing is Steve [Nash] will be in health and safety protocols for just a certain amount of days and he'll be able to handle those questions, Kristian, I'll be by his side in case he needs any advice from me,” Vaughn quipped.

It was well-handled by the Assistant coach, who probably didn't have time to get into anything integral during a brief pregame update. He's about to coach the Nets as they seek a bounce-back victory over the Toronto Raptors, who thrashed the Nets 133-97 on Monday.

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Deploying Simmons was probably the furthest thing on his mind, and as he hints, a complicated challenge on top.

Back during his Nets' introductory presser, Simmons himself talked about the way he'd love to play alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, as well as shooters like Joe Harris, Seth Curry, and Patty Mills.

“I think I try to compare it to my early seasons with JJ Redick, Ersan Ilyasova, and Marco Belinelli,” Simmons said. “I think we were playing, I think we were playing the Nets in the first round, oh, Miami in the first round, and just the way we were flowing and playing.”

Simmons excels as a defender and passer, especially getting out in transition, pushing the tempo. That's all stuff coach Nash loves to see from his guys.

“That’s how I know how to play basketball,” said Simmons. “I’m a team player. I like to see everybody scoring, contributing in whatever way they can, and that’s the way you gotta play to win. So if you wanna be a winner you gotta play with all the guys on the floor and use everybody’s abilities and maximize the abilities that everybody has.”

Nets fans will have to continue to wait for Simmons' debut. And they'll have to wait for Steve Nash to heal up (Vaughn said Nash is feeling good but didn't elaborate further) before they get their answers on how the team will use the versatile 6'10” athlete out of Melbourne, Australia. Well played, coach Vaughn.