Bogus! Chris Mannix: Chauncey gone

Whatever the market views Ant as, is his value; that's how it works. This gets back to the previous discussion had about people here wanting players traded, then when they are, being bummed about the return, saying we should've got more.

WCJ seems like an odd fit next or behind Ayton to me. We're likely to be a position where we'd need to move off him within a year or the trade deadline of the following season. A none-lottery pick is fine. The best we've done with one of those in the last 10 years ironically is Ant. I think it's unlikely we would use the TPE or if we did, that it was for a player that would be contributing on the roster 3-4 years down the road.

I guess that type of trade feels like one we'll be reviewing in 2029 and seeing we got role player for Ant. In the meantime, he'll probably still be averaging 18ish ppg on a solid team... and probably saying we need to trade Shape and Scoot to make room for a couple of 19 year olds who haven't done much.

 

I'm not worried about clearing space for anyone who hasn't given us reason to clear space. You clear space for ROY/1st NBA All-Rookie Team players. I said early last year I don't want to force Scoot in a position he's not ready to succeed in as I feel that could hurt his growth long term. I think the best way to support him would be to surround him with legit talent that is better than him.

We can get a top 3 pick next year with Ant on the roster. This year proved as much.

 

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I feared Lou Williams when he was with the Clippers. He could turn a game around in a hurry.
3-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year sounds good to me

 

It’s a good thing if he accepts the role of a 6th man.

 

I think WCJ could play both PF & C effectively, as a starter or a backup. He's certainly more mobile than Ayton. He's owed the same amount over the next 2 seasons as Thybulle. So he's affordable; certainly a lot more affordable than Ayton. Personally, I think the Blazers should shop Ayton even though I'm pretty sure they won't. He's overpaid, by quite a bit, IMO. We saw in Phoenix that his 'best' role was as a 3rd/4th option on a team with lots of perimeter threats in 2-way players. Portland has none of those, yet at least. And 35M/year for a 3rd option is a luxury only a strong contender can afford; not a bottom-dweller like Portland

part of my motivation for wanting Ayton traded is I have no confidence the Blazers will pay the actual market value for Ayton as UFA in 2 years, rather than bid against themselves. IMO, they paid well above the off-season markets for CJ, Ant, Nurkic, and Grant. I get the concept of trying to keep your players happy, but the Blazers have gone overboard. That's why they had to work hard to dodge tax for a 21 win team; and very likely be over next year's tax line after the 1st round of the draft. If they keep Banton (which I doubt: tax reasons), they'll only be 5M below the tax line on draft day. 7+14 would add 11.5M more. So then, 5-7M over the tax line depending on Banton...for a 21 win team. That's management not being able to choose a lane; straddling fences; severely limiting options by trying to keep too many options alive. That's not management, that's mismanagement....

and the trade I suggested would at least begin to correct that by reducing salary

 

the highest salary Williams ever had was 8M in the 2019-20 season; 4 years ago. The salary cap was 109M. Next season it will be 141M. So, 4 years ago, a 3-time 6MOY was paid next season's equivalent salary of around 10.5M. Add 50% for age difference and wtf, then maybe 15-16M would be fair...seemingly. But a 27M/year 6th man on a 21 win team?

I'm looking at the playoff semi-final teams and their 6th men

Denver - Jackson 5M
OKC - Cason Wallace 5.3M (rookie scale)
NYK - Hartenstein 9.2M
Cleveland - Caris Levert 15.3M
Boston - Horford 10M
Indiana - TJ McConnel 8.7M
Dallas - Lively 4.8M (rookie scale)
Minny - Naz Reid 13M

Portland - Simons 27M/year

of course, the Blazers are years away from being one of 8 teams left standing in the playoffs, it probably doesn't matter how they arrange the deck chairs. I have a hard time seeing Ant OK with a 'demotion' to the 2nd unit. I'm also noticing that Ant supporters seemed to have pivoted to Ant as a great 6th man rather than a flawed starter as a reason to keep him around; but that's probably my bias. If Ant is OK with it, sure, why not....but it's just not sustainable IMO

 

Good, we agree

 

And it would be odd to ask him to accept the role of a 6th man until we find two better guards to start over him.

 

Maybe I interpreted his exit interview wrong or maybe he was lying, but right after he said losing is not fun and he wants to win, he said very specifically at the 6:18 mark that regardless of the backcourt lineup, he was going to come in with the attitude that they were going to make it work. I believe him because

A) he already got paid
B) he isn't stupid.

He just wants to win. Whatever it takes. This is not a Kiki situation who could not accept coming off the bench behind Jerome. Kiki was a 2-time all-star at the time and was much more celebrated in the league than Simons. I just don't see Simons as having the same type of ego. He wants what's best for the team.

 

I don't disagree with your interpretation of what he says he wants. However, having two worse guards starting while bringing Ant off the bench won't get Ant closer to his goal of being on a winning team. In fact, I'd say it would do just the opposite.

What winning team starts their 2nd/3rd (or 3rd/4th) best guards?

 

The best players IMO need to end games, not necessarily start games.

Not worried about the Sharpe portion of that equation. He needs to start and should be the better overall SG.....when healthy.

I think you start Scoot game 1 unless he shows in preseason that he just hasn't improved. He doesn't need to shoot much. His job as the starter is to run the offense, play defense, and set up Sharpe, Ayton, and Grant (or Grant's replacement)

Simon's role is different. He is the best shooter on the team, but if he starts he won't shoot as much in the first quarter as they tend to try to get everyone involved. So I say unless Scoot is horrible then start him and let Simons come off the bench and also finish games. But you are right that if both Scoot and Sharpe struggle there won't be much winning.

 

I very much want Sharpe and Scoot to be better than Ant, that would be great for the franchise. When that day comes, they should start over him.

 

This is the way.

Ant is a gatekeeper. If the young guys don't take the starting job from him that's on them, not him.

 

But in what way? Scoring? Passing? Defense? Shooting?

Simons and Scoot are very different players. I don't think Scoot will ever be the shooter that Simons is, but I think he'll be the far superior passer and most likely a significantly better defender.

 

the late 90s blazers started Damon instead of Greg Anthony

 

1999-2000 Stats:

 

it’d be necessary to use more advanced status like per minute production to do a fair comparison. I was speaking of the interesting scenario where Dunleavy played Greg instead of Damon to close out games because it did work well. I seem to remember we did pretty well in 2000

 

I followed your logic. We did do well in 2000. My question was about starting games, not finishing them. I would guess if Ant came off the bench as a 6th man, he would finish games, much like Greg Anthony did (sometimes).

Since you asked for more data regarding Stoudamire and Anthony in Portland, here you go:





I still think the comparison of the Greg Anthony/Stoudamire situation in 2000 to the Ant/Sharpe/Scoot situation in 2024 is a stretch.

 

Thanks, those stats were illuminating. I feel like with Greg/Damon it was a matter of Anthony being a more predictable presence who listens to coach and gets to the line more, even if his percentage is lower. And of course the defense was a lot better too. That’s where I agree that Ant would be useless in this situation. But the idea that you have one starting quality guard at the beginning of the game and another starting quality guard on the bench to end the games isn’t completely unprecedented. In our case it should be Brogdon backing up Scoot, not Ant… I just felt compelled by autism to mention it haha!

 

IIRC, what really worked for Portland back then was pairing Anthony with Stacey Augmon. Those two were more disruptive on defense for opponents than any perimeter combo Portland ever had, IMO. Clyde and Jerome were pretty good, but being full-time starters they couldn't expend energy on defense like Anthony/Augmon did

I agree about Ant. Portland won't make him a 27M/year backup (they should make him wear another team's uniform), and Brogdon would be a better backup anyway. But unless Portland overpays Brogdon, or trades him before the deadline, I think he'll leave as UFA and look for a contender to sign with