The Brooklyn Nets' big three of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons played their first game together Monday night. The Nets struggled out of the gate against the Philadelphia 76ers with players getting acclimated to new roles, but the new-look roster's offensive potential was apparent in spurts.

Simmons has an incredibly unique skill set as a 6-foot-11 point forward, offering a much different fit than James Harden last season. Simmons and Harden are both elite playmakers, but the former is not a shooting threat. This presents spacing issues alongside traditional centers.

However, Simmons' size and positional versatility can help ease those concerns and could ultimately prove to be the Nets' biggest weapon. Harden often played at a slow pace early last season, dribbling late into the shot clock and resulting in a stagnant half-court offense. Brooklyn projects to play at a much faster pace with Simmons pushing the ball or running the floor off defensive rebounds.

All of this will alter Brooklyn's offensive philosophy from prior seasons. The Nets hired former Phoenix Suns head coach Igor Kokoškov as an assistant to help run the offense this year. Irving spoke postgame Monday and was asked if the team recognizes the new offense's capability early in camp.

“Yeah, we do, we feel it,” he responded. “But we don’t want to be satisfied at any point during this preseason or the beginning of the season because we know that the funkiness is going to happen regardless, where some games are going to look better than others.”

The Nets got their first look at Simmons running the offense Monday. Brooklyn experimented with different groups, finding success late in the first half with a lineup of Irving, Royce O'Neale, Joe Harris, Durant and Simmons, who excelled in a point center role surrounded by four shooters. Simmons rarely played the 5 with the Sixers, who had a greater need for him to score as Joel Embiid's lone co-star.

Naturally, this led to criticism of Simmons' lack of an outside shot. This season, with Irving, Durant, and a stockpile of shooters flanking him, Simmons can fully focus on playmaking for others. Despite Simmons' natural ability to create for his teammates, Irving said that responsibility goes both ways, something he told his new teammate at halftime of his first game with Brooklyn.

“Our responsibility as teammates for him, just make the game easier,” he said “And I was telling him (Simmons) at halftime, ‘When you’re playing with some high-level players, despite what you’ve heard, we’re going to make the game easier for you.'”

“He’s gonna love playing with us,” he continued. “He’s gonna love getting up and down the floor with us.”

Irving went on to reference the team's offense last season, saying he felt Brooklyn reverted to isolation too often. The Nets ranked first in isolation frequency in 2021-22, so the stats back up this assessment. The seven-time All-Star said avoiding that trend is a focus this season, and Simmons' versatility will aid that process and help fix the issue.

“There was just a lot of random isolation,” Irving said of Brooklyn's offense last season. “Having Ben be able to play the 1, the 4, and the 5 adds some dimensions to our offense, and I think that’s what makes us dangerous is that ability for us to be flexible, adaptable, and to be selfless.”

Simmons will handle the ball as a true point guard in bigger lineups. But his ability to slide to the 5 will be an important aspect of Brooklyn's offense. The former No. 1 pick's size allows him to hold up against centers defensively if need be. This gives the Nets the option of surrounding Simmons with four shooters in a five-out offense, opening the paint for him to attack and finish or distribute.

The Nets' transition offense led by Simmons will also help to catch defenses out of position and spark ball movement, something head coach Steve Nash alluded to postgame Monday.

“Offensively, when we started to play with pace, make quick decisions, share the ball, you can see that we can cause problems,” Nash said.

Brooklyn's offensive overhaul will begin to gain clarity as we move closer to opening night. Simmons is at the center of it, with his unique skill set and versatility acting as the catalyst of an apparent shift in philosophy this season. Irving and Durant are still Brooklyn's most valuable weapons as two of the most efficient isolation scorers of all time. While both know this, Irving said making the game easier across the board is the emphasis in 2022-23.

“We’re aware of our talent offensively,” he said. “But we want to make the game a lot easier for each other this year instead of utilizing all that energy just to get a bucket.”

“There’s nothing like watching a basketball game when everybody’s moving with pace and everyone’s touching the ball.”