so by this logic the Hawks should trade away Young since i see he is 3rd on the list -- I am assuming your using this to say we should trade Ant cause he sucks or something We all knew Ant was not a great defender but he is a very good scorer and sometimes you need to take the good with the bad. If anything all this means is if the Blazers want to keep Ant they need to get better defenders to cover up for his poor D.
Yeah, if Hawks can trade him for a better defender of similar caliber they absolutely should, IMO. But we're in completely different situation than the Hawks.
Offensive players have much more value than defensive players. The offense can dictate who has the ball easily each play. The defense can't dictate who is defending the ball. Of course it would be better if Simons was a superior defender, he's an imperfect player with advantages and disadvantages. Still has a ton of value. I'm ok trading him if we get a good long term asset since he can help a team win and we're nowhere close to winning. But if we can't get a good asset - I'll be happy to see him play with the Blazers next year.
If your best player sucks at defense it sets the tone for everyone else. Being one of the worst defenders in the league with his athleticism is just lack of caring. Anyway. I'd take a future projected lotto pick for him if we can't get a good forward in return (which seems unlikely). I feel the same about Grant. If we can't get a good asset for Ant this summer, or this season at latest, then we likely never will.
I agree that Ant could be a solid defender; he's a world class athlete. It's never been asked of him evidently. Zero accountability. Incredible shooting is the most in-demand talent in the NBA so he has been tasked with perfecting that aspect of his game.
You actually inadvertently pinpointed the problem with this team last season and it was that they identified Ant as our best player. Chauncey said it in pressers. The broadcast team echoed it as many times as they possibly could. The gameplan screamed it louder than any of the previous voices listed. Ant would be a great secondary scorer on a defensive powerhouse. Obviously Orlando makes a lot of sense for him, I think San Antonio would be a great place for him and I can't think of a more complementary player for Scottie Barnes than Ant. If we can't get good value from him in a trade I hope we see him as a super sixth man on our squad this upcoming season but even then his ball hogging that he shares blame for with Chauncey, fucks up Scoot and Shae's ability to get into and stay in the offensive flow of the game.
It wasn't really inadvertent. It's a problem. And it's going to start holding us back soon, if it hasn't already. It's too late for Ant to make that switch here. He's going to have to want to do it. We need to get what we can out of him and move on.
Trade him for value, or my preference, bring him in off the bench where we very much need someone to score. That solves your whole sets the tone for everyone else issue. Right now there is no "best player" but there are some good players. Ayton is good, Grant is good, (although I realize he will be traded eventually) Shae, if he ever fucking plays, is good. I say don't label anyone as "best" until someone (Shae) establishes himself.
I agree with this. And this is the reason we need to build a roster where Ant is the 3rd or 4th best player, not the best. It's not a reason to trade him.
Even then, I'd only put him as our 3rd best guy last year. Grant was probably ever so slightly better and then Brogdon when he actually played. Plus 2nd half of the season Ayton.
I think we'd lose him if we brought him off the bench. I didn't label him. Cronin did. And I think he did that intentionally to let everyone know we want good value out of him. Which is good. It's just time.
We arguably had that last season (and it has already been argued Brogdon, Grant, Ayton). I didn't like that much at all... As far as I'm concerned we need to get value out of him soon. He Grant as well. Our development is going to start taking a hit with him here.
Yeah, I'm good with that too. He's still the guy who will be taking the air out of the ball and getting blown by on D.
