Free Agent Devonte Graham

You think Scoot has more room for growth than Ant, and that is a fair personal opinion, but it's far from a fact. Scoot also has a ways to go to be as good as Ant, so having "room to grow" isn't a meaningful measurement to me.

If you feel we can't be competing for playoff wins when Ant is 30, then that means you think we're at least 6 years away from being able to compete. If that is the case, nobody on this roster is worthy of building around.

 

Agreed Ant will be starting, as he should be. If Scoot or Sharpe come off the bench is yet to be seen.

I very much look forward to the day that Scoot proves, on the court, he's better than Ant. That will be great for the franchise! He's got a ways to go though.

 

We won't be competing for playoff wins if we keep Ant. Him being here will hinder the development of the rest of the team and prevent us from getting better talent with higher draft picks.

He's not good enough to fit with his team at his age and level of experience in the NBA. Nobody makes the kind of jump in year seven that we expect Scoot and Sharpe to make in the next couple years.

 

I see what you're saying. If by "contender" you mean like an NBA Finals teams, and you're assuming he won't get any better, I could see that stance. I think Ant projects as a role players, but I also think he can improve over the next 5 years. Will him improve and how much? I'm not sure.

I can't say I've seen enough on the court from any of the players on this roster to say with confidence that they project to be a starter on a championship contending team. Could 6-8 of them end up getting to that point? Sure. Lots of factors, including what are the skillsets of the #1 and #2 players that these players would be starting around. Guys like LeBron can make average NBA players product well enough to be starters on a contending team.

 

It's possible you're right. Also possible you're wrong.

There is little to no evidence that he's hurting the development of the young players or that the young players are so fragile that playing next to Ant is enough to rattle them. I'd like to hope Scoot and Sharpe are good enough players that they can grow their games with a wide variety of teammates.

 

I didn't say he would hurt the players I said he would hurt the team. He will prevent us from getting opportunities at higher draft picks with what I expect to be very little advancement from Ant himself.

And yes of course, all of this is my opinion. I don't know anything for a fact. But history tells us that Ant isn't going to get much better.

 

Any good player will increase the odds of us winning games. Sharpe (when healthy) will also contribute to this problem.

Trust me, we're plenty bad enough to get the #1 pick.

 

It's certainly possible, as is the alternative.

 

I'd rather not have him hogging the ball and showing the young guys you can get paid for refusing to play defense 30 minutes per game.

There is literally no reason to keep him. He can't help us compete.

 

If that were the case, that would be something to take into consideration. Luckily, it's not.

 

Except you haven't given even one.

 

Given one...?

 

I think Ant is good enough to start on a contending team. I think there are 100+ players good enough to start on a contending team in the right situation. Unfortunately, most players don't find the right situation.

I think the Blazers have a long list of issues to getting back in contention, and I'd put Ant being on the roster very very low on that list.

 

Sinons hasn't played complete enough yet to play at that level. He's never going to do that here. Perhaps if he goes to a San Antonio with a group who demands that kind of defense. But it'll never happen here. We can't put that kind of team around him with our current assets. And we can't get a Coach with enough gravitas to to enforce that kind of play without having that kind of team.

The biggest and most immediate issue the Blazers have is needing more draft capital. Ant is high on the list of assets that can bring that (as well as hurt that goal).

I sincerely hope Portland doesn't try to keep Ant or Grant deep into this season. That would be a huge mistake.

 

If Ant were on a team that desperately needed a dynamic perimeter scorer who can create his own shot and that team had more than just 4 really good to great defenders to put around him and a larger than average facilitator, I think Ant could start on a championship team. He is a specialist that has to be covered for on defense but he's also never had the luxury of playing with a great defensive team around him.

I think if Orlando is on a championship trajectory then that would be the kind of team that would start Ant and benefit from what he brings to the game. I don't know how much of a liability Ant is if he has a coach who is capable of getting him to play within the structure of a functional offense and has great team defense around him. We haven't seen him with either of those things his entire career. Terry and Chauncey are player first coaches who in their cases means they enable certain guys to do whatever the fuck they want to.

Ant obviously isn't great for a team trying to develop young talent when he's given a permanent green light to iso in an offense that's supposed to be the opposite of that and a free pass for shit defense. He should be traded. Grant should be traded. Both should have value to teams trying to win now, even if in Ant's case it turns out to be a microwave type of player off of the bench. Both are ball stoppers just like ZBo and that doesn't work well when you're trying to get your young players reps. Grant will not be this valuable by the time we get back to winning (whenever the fuck that is) and Ant is just a terrible fit as a guy who hogs the ball and puts young players in bad situations defensively.

 

The main reason Simons is unlikely to play at a championship contending level is that Portland is unlikely to build a championship roster in the next 10 years. And none of that has to do with him being on the roster.

Scoot and Sharpe are highly unlikely to contend for championships in Portland, but that doesn't mean we should trade them.

 

If you can't see the difference in potential between Simons and Scoot/Sharpe then you just don't want to.

That's fine.