Was trading Gary Trent a huge fuck-up? Would a backcourt of Ant and Trent be the basis of a contender of the future? Trent was amazing in the bubble play-in, but was already much worse in the same playoffs and then his defense fell off a cliff. But now he seems to have rediscovered it? (He's still a bit of a black hole)
since the turn of the calendar year, though 27 games, Simons has averaged: 23.4 pts, 5.8 asts, 2.7 rebs on 45.6% fg, 42% from 3, 87% FT, 61% TS% in 35.4 MPG as largely the only focus of defensive attention. enough sample size for some of the skeptics? Also, only he and FVV have averaged at least 20 pts and 5 asts while shooting at least 40% from 3 in that stretch.
Didn't realize that not only was Ant shooting a very good percentage from 3 last year, but he was also doing it on consistently terrible shots. Kinda makes me excited to see what he might be able to do as Dame's "Robin", likely getting much better looks as a starting 2.
Yeah, that's all true and everything, but Josh Hart had a really good 13 game stretch as a Blazer. Clearly, the time to ̶g̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶o̶n̶ trade Simons is now!
Interesting article from Marc Spears about Ant's progression under Dame. When Blazers All-Star Damian Lillard speaks, Anfernee Simons is listening (andscape.com)
He was adamant he would be a star too. Say what you want about Olshey but the guy was a damn good talent evaluator for guards
Yeah Olshey pretty much hit on every guard selection from every range. Who’s the worst guard he’s drafted? Connougton—who’s still a contributor on a championship team? Hope Schmitty has success across the board and not just guards.
for draft prospects, ok but for established NBA players, not so much. He ridiculously overrated CJ's talent for 8 seasons. He overrated Crabbe and matched an idiot offer sheet. He overrated Afflalo and underrated Will Barton. He overrated Norm Powell, at least in comparison to Trent, and by giving him a bloated contract to play SF. He grossly overrated and overpaid Evan Turner. He underrated the importance of a competent backup PG. He traded Batum for Gerald Henderson. He tried to fill those backup PG and SG holes by dumpster diving for poor fits & scrubs like Napier, Baldwin, Stauskas, Bazemore, Hezonja, and Derrick Jones he drove Portland way down into the dark alley of length-deficient rosters which they haven't backed out of yet
I understand what you mean by overrating, but also think there is a 'tax' that comes with being the PORTLAND Trailblazers and signing guys that you have to take into account. Sometimes no action is better than foolish action but the cap money has to go somewhere and to assets that want to be in Portland.
Reminds me of the joke from the first half of LeBron's career, when he was notorious for disappearing in 4th quarters: LeBron and 50 Cent are forming a new group. They're calling it $1.25
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