Game Thread Sunday, July 7th, 7 PM PDT: Blazers vs. Rockets on NBATV

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by ABM, Jul 7, 2019.

  1. Pinwheel1

    Pinwheel1 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2008
    Messages:
    21,009
    Likes Received:
    13,564
    Trophy Points:
    113
    This is why I disliked seeing him start at PG. Fans are reacting the same way they did with CJ in summer league. He is playing out of position. He has never played PG before. It is fine experimenting during SL but at the same time you risk hurting their confidence. Point Guard is not a position in the NBA that you easily transition to. Actually it is probably the only one where you can't. And playing with new teammates after a couple of weeks does not help.
     
  2. Wizard Mentor

    Wizard Mentor Wizard Mentor

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2008
    Messages:
    13,835
    Likes Received:
    13,631
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Master of Xen Foro
    Location:
    La Grande, OR
    Not me, not at all. Simons played great.
     
  3. TBpup

    TBpup Writing Team

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2013
    Messages:
    22,362
    Likes Received:
    34,004
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Investment Management / Financial Planner
    Location:
    Lake Oswego
    I would submit he shot very well in the first half when he was 5-7. Shot 1-4 in the 2nd half and finished with 6 Turnovers to 2 assists.
     
  4. TorturedBlazerFan

    TorturedBlazerFan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2018
    Messages:
    19,824
    Likes Received:
    23,356
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Baby Daddy
    Location:
    Chasing my kids
    Some of the turnovers were bad, some were not really his fault. Assists are always good but I thought he made the right play more often than not. Just my personal opinion but I think he's gonna be ok as a backup PG. He's really young trying to learn a new position, and still hasn't seen significant NBA minutes, but every time I see him I think he's going go to figure it out, he just seems so natural and like he's learning as it goes.
     
  5. Wizard Mentor

    Wizard Mentor Wizard Mentor

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2008
    Messages:
    13,835
    Likes Received:
    13,631
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Master of Xen Foro
    Location:
    La Grande, OR
    Ok, not talking about you in particular, but I'm already tired of people looking at the boxscore and seeing 6 turnovers and pontificating. 1 or 2 of the turnovers were bad decisions, but 3 of them were just strength related. He had the ball, the defender makes contact (sometimes a lot of contact), and he lost the ball. He's already made strength related gains from last seasons. As he goes along, these types of turnovers will disappear, as they have for Dame.
     
    hoopsjock and Scalma like this.
  6. TorturedBlazerFan

    TorturedBlazerFan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2018
    Messages:
    19,824
    Likes Received:
    23,356
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Baby Daddy
    Location:
    Chasing my kids
    My biggest concern for him is his strength seems like the slightest bit of contact really screws him up. Im sure that’ll come with time, but some guys never really bulk up a ton. I think he’ll figure it out though.
     
    Wizard Mentor likes this.
  7. TBpup

    TBpup Writing Team

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2013
    Messages:
    22,362
    Likes Received:
    34,004
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Investment Management / Financial Planner
    Location:
    Lake Oswego
    Some of them certainly were not his fault to be sure. My concern would be that given how poor some of the defense is in SL and how much he had the ball in his hands when he was in the game, 2 assists is quite low. By contrast, Gary 'Black Hole' Trent had 5 with 1 turnover.

    Granted, it is SL and much of this is to be take with a grain of salt, but was hoping to see more than 3 assists in two games so far. That seems quite sparse.
     
  8. Scalma

    Scalma Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2014
    Messages:
    23,631
    Likes Received:
    34,978
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Daum looks overmatched physically, and this is just summer league. He’s too small to be a center and not quick enough to play the four. Saw him struggle to get position against a point guard on a switch. It was a fun couple of weeks though. Devin Robinson looks more worthy of a two way but I wouldn’t bang the table for him either.
     
    BBert likes this.
  9. TorturedBlazerFan

    TorturedBlazerFan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2018
    Messages:
    19,824
    Likes Received:
    23,356
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Baby Daddy
    Location:
    Chasing my kids
    In SL I pretty much only watch to see if guys are making NBA plays. In fact Trent was really freaking hot last night, but Im not sure he had a great game in that regard. I think the most NBA like thing he did was a couple of his passes the wrap around pass on a drive and he also made a good over the top pass on a double team that resulted in a dunk.
     
    Rastapopoulos, BBert and e_blazer like this.
  10. BBert

    BBert Weasels Ripped My Flesh

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2008
    Messages:
    26,296
    Likes Received:
    19,787
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Selfless Public Servant
    Location:
    South Blazerlandia
    That was my interpretation too. My lip reading isn't great, but to me he seemed to be putting it on himself.
     
  11. BBert

    BBert Weasels Ripped My Flesh

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2008
    Messages:
    26,296
    Likes Received:
    19,787
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Selfless Public Servant
    Location:
    South Blazerlandia
    I remember the one turnover where the defender ran into him like a linebacker while he was dribbling, and he lost the ball out of bounds. A clear foul that was not called. What was funny was that a minute later, the announcers were comparing the guy to a DB. Funny but not funny.
     
    Wizard Mentor likes this.
  12. Wizard Mentor

    Wizard Mentor Wizard Mentor

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2008
    Messages:
    13,835
    Likes Received:
    13,631
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Master of Xen Foro
    Location:
    La Grande, OR
    Sure.
    I just don't think people should confuse Ant, NBA player with Ant, NBA PG. He's played well, and shown things that NBA players can't do. That is why I'm excited.

    Ant, the PG. Yeah, the jury is out. Will need a lot more seasoning, and may not ever learn it, a la CJ. We'll see.
     
    TBpup likes this.
  13. BBert

    BBert Weasels Ripped My Flesh

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2008
    Messages:
    26,296
    Likes Received:
    19,787
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Selfless Public Servant
    Location:
    South Blazerlandia
    I don't care whether Anfernee turns into a true PG, or a SG, or a scoring guard. He will be good and he will have a place on the team. In the meantime, find a vet backup PG, for insurance if nothing else.
     
    kjironman1 and hoopsjock like this.
  14. Rastapopoulos

    Rastapopoulos Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2008
    Messages:
    37,390
    Likes Received:
    21,980
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Ballin'
    I agree with this. Simons is a gifted scorer, and can be groomed as CJ's understudy, but I want a solid pass-first PG who plays D. But who?
     
  15. kjironman1

    kjironman1 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 16, 2014
    Messages:
    18,871
    Likes Received:
    19,670
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Nah
    He did some things that worked but overall this is against weak opposition and he is woefully lacking experience to step up this year.
    Blazers need a solid backup PG.
     
  16. B-Roy

    B-Roy If it takes months

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2008
    Messages:
    30,244
    Likes Received:
    22,997
    Trophy Points:
    113
    It's going to be a process with Ant. He's gonna have to learn by playing. To be honest, I'm not really worried based on who he's replacing. Curry was a shooter who never handled the ball. The backup PG was Turner who was a host of issues for a bunch of other reasons. Half the plays just involve bringing the ball up and moving it around the perimeter. Simons will handle it just fine.
     
  17. e_blazer

    e_blazer Rip City Fan

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2008
    Messages:
    23,215
    Likes Received:
    28,652
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Consultant
    Location:
    Oregon City, OR
    IMO, people are overstating this point. First, I have no doubt that Olshey will add a PG to the roster. That said, last year's second unit played most of the time with ET doing the major ball handling. Hezonja can do the same thing with this year's squad. Also, I think that using Summer League play to say that Simons can't be a distributor is pretty dubious. If you're going to note that he's playing against weak opposition to make a statement against his abilities as a PG, you have to at least also state that he's playing WITH some weak teammates offensively. Assists are a lot easier to come by when the guys you're playing with are experienced and the offense is better established than what we see in Summer League.
     
  18. James lamphear

    James lamphear Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 21, 2018
    Messages:
    7,860
    Likes Received:
    5,531
    Trophy Points:
    113
    It seems he is lot stronger and 3 point shot looks lot better this year. His overall game has improved from his passing to his rebounding. His defense is pretty good too. Simons needs get in the weight room it nice see playing pick games but there also other things he needs to work on like his body.
     
    TorturedBlazerFan likes this.
  19. Pridan

    Pridan Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2017
    Messages:
    101
    Likes Received:
    156
    Trophy Points:
    43
    I've really liked the flashes of potential from Devin Robinson. I'd absolutely be giving him the second 2-way spot if it continues throughout the tournament. Has some serious x-factor!
     
  20. tlongII

    tlongII Legendary Poster

    Joined:
    Sep 15, 2008
    Messages:
    16,455
    Likes Received:
    10,935
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Systems Analyst
    Location:
    Beaverton, Oregon
    Ant will be fine at PG and he's going to play right away this season. He has some work to do but I'm confident he'll figure it out. People that are projecting that he won't play much early this season are going to be surprised.
     
    Wizard Mentor likes this.

Share This Page