After a tumultuous first season with the Nets, Ben Simmons' health is on the mend, and so is his relationship with head coach Jacque Vaughn.

Simmons was largely ineffective last season while battling a rash of injuries, something Vaughn found frustrating throughout the year. The Nets head coach said Tuesday that he's since realized he was expecting Simmons to do things he wasn't capable of throughout the 2022-23 campaign:

“At that time, I was at a place where, as a coach, I’m always gonna have a standard, and that standard is of what I expect guys on the team to do, how we want them to play and ask them to do things for the sake of the team,” Vaughn said. “I think Ben’s and I’s relationship is in such a good place right now because we’ve been able to talk through that moment of our lives where I expected him to do things that I’ve come to understand physically he wasn’t able to do. I think at that time, you kept hearing me talk about force, and those things and how I wanted him to play.”

“Now (I've had) a revelation where I’ve seen the work he’s put in, where he was at, some of those things have been revealed to me, and I think that’s why our relationship is at a really good place right now. The things that I'm asking him to do going forward, I think he can physically do now. And so, it does put us in a position where I can use multiple lineups and put different people around him so we can have success on both ends of the floor.”

Simmons was surprisingly open about his struggles with Vaughn, who Brooklyn promoted to full-time head coach 11 games into last season after firing Steve Nash, during a recent interview with ESPN's Andscape. The three-time All-Star called his relationship with the head coach “terrible to start,” mainly due to the lack of communication about his diminished physical state.

After missing the second half of last year due to a nerve impingement in his surgically repaired back, Simmons spent the offseason rehabbing in Miami. And through three separate visits to South Beach, Vaughn and Simmons have built a new line of communication.

“Now having the right plan and team around me, he’s seen, ‘OK, he is dedicated. He wants to work. He wants to win, and he’s willing to do what he needs to do to be on the court.’ So now, we’re in a great place,” Simmons said of Vaughn during an Aug. 29 interview. “I speak to him every other day. And I’m excited because I think Coach is great. Great as a person, a great coach. That’s the main thing, just being a good human. He can relate to a lot of players, he’s played the game. So, it’s good.”

Simmons is now bullish on his ability to return to form, saying he's “ready to dominate” and “feeling the strongest he's been” since joining Brooklyn. General Manager Sean Marks wouldn't label expectations for the former number-one pick Tuesday but said Simmons' confidence in his physical state is a breath of fresh air.

“I think we know Ben better now as a person and as a player and so forth,” Nets GM Sean Marks said. “He’s coming in healthy and I think you guys have all read the quotes that Ben’s had. So I mean, the fact that he’s feeling confident about where he is physically, that’s going to be exciting for us to go see him in camp and to build out from there.”