It’s ok for you to simply admit that Ant hit HUGE shots for us all the time down the stretch in tight games and that we have NOBODY on this roster that has the history of doing that and that ability will be missed. It’s OK to admit that. It’s not a stretch.
I already have admitted that. I have nothing against Ant. He's just not a number one option. He's not a good defender. He's not a good enough distributor. And we were never going to develop a number one option while he was here. It's as simple as that. If we are going to miss him as much as you seem to be implying then we definitely need to be tanking to get more talent.
His post He was our Number one option for the past 2+ seasons though. So he IS a number one option. You may not like it and he wasn’t surrounded by talent enough to have it mean anything, but there is NOBODY on this roster that has been in that position. That’s all I’m saying. Addition by subtraction doesn’t always work. And YES we do need MUCH more talent. A TON more, especially in the middle!
Correct, I forgot to include the qualifier that he's not in number one option on a quality team. I agree, we do need a lot more talent.
Correct, I forgot to include the qualifier that he's not a number one option *on a quality team. And IMO, you can't build a quality team around him as your number one option.* I agree, we do need a lot more talent.
I think, tho, that the rest of the team doesn't really have to cover up for Denis deficiencies. That's not to say that a #1 shouldn't have certain (lack of) skills covered by their teammates, Dame did. But the gulf between Dame and Simons, inasmuch as offensively speaking and gravitational pull, is impossible to navigate without a interstellar spaceship.
I mostly agree with HCP. I think Ant is a valuable player as a sixth man microwave. The debate I'm reading though shouldn't be just about Ant. We traded him for Jrue. If we're going to debate a moot question, the debate should be Ant v. Jrue, who provides what, and which one is better for the team as constructed. I'll take Jrue's overall game and experience and look for another shooter.
And who has the most value at the trade deadline. Doesn't seem to be Simons at all. Not sure how much Jrue has though.
No Blazers player the last two seasons has received as much defensive pressure while being called on to hit tough shots as Ant. I laugh when I see people compare the shooting percentage or consistency of some guy who stands in the corner taking open, easy threes to someone like Ant or Dame who have to deal with intense pressure on every possession while having to manufacture heavily contested shots.
