For this topic, it comes down to which 5 mesh best. I have been advocating for Simons to come off the bench if Scoot improves, next to Sharpe, Grant, Deni, and Ayton. However with Sharpe out, I want to see how a bigger lineup with Deni, Grant, Camara, and Ayton look. And in my mind, I think Simon's meshes best with them. Less pressure for Scoot if he comes off the bench. Let him bring the energy. He will still get his minutes.
If we keep Simons he should start and Scoot should come off the bench, he'll still get plenty of minutes that way and frankly he does not deserve to start if Simons is here.
Start Simons with an eye to trading him by the deadline. Then start Scoot and tank for whatever player we think we'll get instead of Flagg
Yeah, Simons has to start if we keep him otherwise we're tanking his trade value. If we show other teams we don't value him enough to start we are showing that we don't want much value in return.
I don't think that matters at all I think the type of player Simons is, and isn't, has already established his trade value. He's no mystery to the other 29 teams. The one role he hasn't played is as a 6th man
I’m old school. Players start when they’re good enough to start. Nothing I’ve seen in preseason tells me that Scoot has made significant strides in improving his game. His “value” is only relevant at the time the team is looking to extend his contract or trade him. The Blazers have time before that happens and Scoot has time to fulfill his potential.
I think it's ammunition that we're not going to give another team to use against us. No way is Simons going to come off the bench if he's healthy.
I agree that Simons won't be a 6th man in Portland, not with his salary level I think Simons is in a group of players...shortish SG's/tweener guards/shoot-1st-PG's that have relatively low value: guys like Jordan Poole, Jordan Clarkson, CJ, Norm Powell, Buddy Hield, Eric Gordon, D'Angelo Russell, Tyler Herro. These players aren't necessarily a dime-a-dozen but there are enough of them that salary counts a lot toward value, and Ant's salary is higher than most. I'd also say that almost all of these players are usually available for the right price and that price won't be high I'd estimate that Grant's value is higher than Ant's value
Interesting question. Seems like we’ve been talking about this for a couple of years now. It’s been pretty clear that the blazers just don’t have a direction on which way they won’t go in. Between Scoot, Sharpe & Simons, Who to start, who to trade, which one would make a good six man?
If we play Simons as a substitute, teams which want him in that role will feel more confident to trade for him. It will increase his value. In 3 years when Little Scooter begins to be better than Simons, and we have 3 more drafted superstars because we sucked for 3 years by starting Scooter, then we can trade Simons, the 3-time 6th Man of the Year.
