If Ant isn't good enough to play along side Dame, then he's the one who should get traded. Ant isn't ready to lead a team to the playoffs, let alone win a playoff series or two.
One of those drives by Hart he CLEARLY was fouled. The other time it was on Simons because he should have just fucking taking the shot but he dumped it at the last second to Hart who wasn't ready for it.
He's not the best player at his position on the roster, so he'll have to adapt or play that position elsewhere.
Don't get me wrong. I like Simons. I think he could be an All-Star if he's allowed to play point guard here or somewhere else. But......... if the goal is to try to win a ring while Dame is still Dame, you have to send out Simons.
are you nuts? CJ has been absolutely terrible this year. He's having his worst season. He's shooting 39% on FG's and under 33% on three's.
Dame, Devin Booker, Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, De'Aaron Fox, Luca Doncic, Stephen Curry, SGA, Anthony Edwards he'd have to beat out 5 of those guys....ain't gonna happen what might happen is if Ingram returns and continues to play well is he would get an all-star invite. what might also happen is that the Pelicans have had one of the easiest schedules in the league and it's about to get more difficult. They may not remain the 1 seed
Often because their strengths are so similar and those strengths start with having the ball in their hands...a lot. Their best stretches are often when the other is in the bench.
Ingram is better than CJ. After CJ's honeymoon period wore off, he's having his worst season since the 2014-15 season when he was playing 15mpg.
I'd be shocked for multiple reasons: CJ isn't a top 10 guard in the the West The league doesn't care enough about Portland to put an ounce of energy into throwing them an FU.
NOLA is fine with him now, for sure, he gave them a veteran leader in the locker room next to the young studs. His production is secondary for them, for now. They might come to regret it later, but that's the cost of doing business in the NBA. Love CJ, but the Blazers were right to do that trade, especially when you see that this season Hart himself gives you pretty much the same production as CJ on a fraction of the cost.
I'm certain they are not fine with what CJ has given them, either in last season's playoffs or this season. He's shot terrible in half of his games in New Orleans. To this point in the season, he has 338 points on 338 shots. Yikes!! Last season in the play-in game against the Clippers and the playoffs, he had 152 points on 149 shots. So, over his last 27 games, 490 points on 487 shots. Making all that worse is that he's averaging the most FGA's on the Pels. He's shooting 1.4 more times a game than Zion and Ingram; and 7.4 more times a game than Valunciunas and Murphy. That in spite of his abysmal TS%: same sort of upside down differential in the playoffs last year: the rest of the team is averaging 1.37 points/shot; CJ is averaging .37 points/shot less looks like the Pels thought CJ's playoff performance was an aberration and rewarded him with an extension based upon the regular season. Pretty sure they are having 2nd thoughts right now CJ is not as bad a shooter as he's been this season. He's very likely going to turn that around and start climbing towards his norms. But CJ definitely has the MeJ genes ingrained in his DNA by now
Was listening to the Lowe post and heard that there is buzz around the league about what Toronto is going to do at the deadline. They have a glut of forwards and only FVV and Trent as their guards. If OG or Siakam become available, would you move Ant for either of them? I think the positional fit for us makes it a no brainer on the current roster. But ceiling wise, I'm a bit torn, which is shocking to consider.
I'm not opposed to trading Ant, but I think he's an overpay for OG. The problem is that I don't think Siakam and Grant would work. Too similar.
