Ant is going into a season where he's has to establish himself as a lethal off the bench guy as he wont get to be a starter as long as CJ is here.
This is Simons best chance to show he's worth a contract. If he has another HCPesque year in him, it's off to journeyman status for him. I think he'll have a solid year this year.
So Ant on this possible contract is similar or potentially slightly better than Crabbe. You believe that justifies giving Ant that type of contract? The Crabbe contract was horrific, so if a Ant deal is similar the Blazers would be idiots to try and sign a player to such!
This Ant extension talk reminds me of delusional Blazer fans who said we needed to max Meyers because he was the next Dirk lite 50/40/90. Ant has not established that he is a rotational NBA player. The Blazers are up against the tax and may have to let one of Roco Nurk walk or be traded in a year. They may not have room to use the MLE. They may not be able to sign NAS if he becomes a starter. With those constraints you don't give out 8 figure contracts out on the maybe chance a player could develope into a role player. If Ant becomes a role player deserving of such contract then pay him that next summer. Right now he is nowhere close and paying over the MLE is ludicrous.
"Ever" seems a bit of a stretch, but for the forseeable future as long as Dame is here, bench is what he will likely be. If Dame/CJ are here, he is a bench player. If CJ were somehow traded for someone like Simmons, then Powell becomes the starting SG and Ant is still on the bench. So unless there is an injury, Ant could very well be a bench player for the next 4 years at least if he is in Portland.
I replied to you proposing a 4 year extension for 14-16M/year. Are you still working on justifying that number because I can't tell when I brought up Crabbe, I specifically talked about one-dimensional players...which he was and Simons is. When Crabbe was extended, it was because of 'potential'...some perceived upside. That was a mirage making his contract an albatross Maybe, Simons actually has some potential. Maybe, he'll develop some skill past 3 point shooting. If he does, Portland will have the right of first refusal and can match any offer he gets. But 14-16M a year is kind of crazy until he actually starts proving that upside. This is his 4th season after all. Right now, he's not even an average NBA player and the average salary is in the 8-9M range there's also this: Portland is paying Dame-CJ-Powell 95M/year. Giving Ant your 15M/year would have Portland paying 110M/year for guards, not counting any others they carry. Yeah, I know Powell will be playing out of position at SF a lot but he's still a guard. Further, Portland would be investing 110M a year in 4 players 6'3 and under. The basket is still 10' off the floor something else: considering Dame-CJ-Powell, does it make any sense at all to nearly double the average salary for a player like Ant when the Blazers have to re-sign Nurkic and RoCo next summer and Nance the year after?
And the Bulls have won their 2 preseason games by a total of 75 points. Carry on FAMS.....nothing to see here.
I choose to enjoy life one game at a time. Tomorrow may never come. But today...today the Lakers sucked.
I kinda like the way the Bulls are assembled. They won't win a Championship this year but they will compete for sure.
https://sports.yahoo.com/billups-says-don-t-expect-210037999.html Blazers Coach Chauncey Billups was on Sirius XM NBA radio and said Dame is all in for this season, but if that changes after this season, and Dame wants to be traded, he won't be trying to talk Dame out of it. “I came here to coach you, but it’s your career, it’s your life, and it’s your family. I’ve been there before, and I’m not going to be the guy preaching, ‘Stay here, go there, do this.’ I got a job to do; I want to do it with you, obviously. But if at some point you deem ‘Hey, another place is another place for me,’ that’s not going to be an indictment on myself. That’s going to be you making a decision for you and your family.”
Sky are no joke though. Taurasi v Parker on more (final?) time in their storied careers is pretty awesome.
