All things Anfernee Simons

[orlando_joe]

simons really just a short no defense sg...if going sg just go 2-way throw a bunch at nets try to get bridges 2-way great 3rd option sg
player that does not need 20 shots a game to earn his contract
now thats a player that fits

[eyriq]

35 YEARS OF BASKETBALL IN ORLANDO
And Penny Hardaway has been our best PG
Nick Anderson has been our best SG
Why????? Why don’t we value the guard position? Why can’t we/shouldn’t we for once fix this problem?

I'd have our All-Magic 1st team as:
Shaq
Paolo
Hedo
McGrady
Penny

[Skybox]

How much of the "need someone to orchestrate the offense" narrative is due to what Paolo said? I know it's always been something we've talked about needing, but it's starting to seem like it's becoming more important than getting a high volume sniper from 3 at one of the guard positions to space the floor. So are we leaning too heavily into Paolo's words here? We may not need another "offensive hub" but we absolutely still need a threat from distance.

I was kinda screaming this all season before Paolo said anything. It was kind of obvious considering he really struggled to get to his spots on the floor. The result of him being the primary initiator last season was a crazy amount of turnovers and a stagnant offense.

The two biggest problems are playmaking at the point of attack and volume scoring from outside. Ideally they find someone that does both of these things.

For sure.

Do you lean toward one over the other in importance?

I’d go 65/35 scoring & shooting vs playmaking…I DO value playmaking & pick and roll, but given what I believe Paolo & Franz are showing signs of becoming, I’m not sold on the need for a classic PG. I think Paolo & Franz can sometimes approach that same ratio…which is bananas for 20 yo 6’10 forwards.

[VFX]

How much of the "need someone to orchestrate the offense" narrative is due to what Paolo said? I know it's always been something we've talked about needing, but it's starting to seem like it's becoming more important than getting a high volume sniper from 3 at one of the guard positions to space the floor. So are we leaning too heavily into Paolo's words here? We may not need another "offensive hub" but we absolutely still need a threat from distance.

I was kinda screaming this all season before Paolo said anything. It was kind of obvious considering he really struggled to get to his spots on the floor. The result of him being the primary initiator last season was a crazy amount of turnovers and a stagnant offense.

The two biggest problems are playmaking at the point of attack and volume scoring from outside. Ideally they find someone that does both of these things.

For sure.

Do you lean toward one over the other in importance?

This all depends entirely on what kind of shooters Paolo and Franz become..

IF they remain two guys that take all their shots inside off isolation, THEN I want a volume shooter to stretch the floor.

IF they plan on opening things up by becoming + shooters, THEN I want someone to get them in better spots as a playmaker.

What they cannot do is run the same exact offense and get a playmaker that doesn’t stretch the floor. We already had/have those players.

[tiderulz]

If we are going to make a trade, the target should be Trae Young. Trae has arguably been a top 10 player twice already in his young career.

Trae may work but I feel like he is so overrated

I do think Young is overrated in the respect that if he is your unquestioned best player and your offense is the full blown Trae Young Show, you're not going to be a great team.

But the gamble for Orlando would be how Young would respond to joining the No. 3 defensive team in the league and to a team where he's not the no questions asked best player.

The idea would be for Young to just focus on what he's already great at, keep everyone else involved and not feel the need to be the man, while upticking his defense slightly (he was 268th in Defensive EPM in 2023, which would be workable).

Can he do it? Hard to say. He's played one way his entire career, so asking him to alter that, even slightly, might be challenging.

But if it works? Well then you've added a top 10 individual offensive player to an already elite defensive and rebounding team.

which core players do you want to give up? because with Trae's massive deal, assuming we keep Paolo, we will lose 1 of Franz/Suggs as we wont be able to pay them. Trae is paid $45mil on average for the next 3 years. He is a very good passer, but he still thinks he is Curry and takes these 35-40 ft 3 pt shots that he shouldnt be doing because he isnt that good a 3 pt shooter (35%)

[tiderulz]

who says that with the ball not in their hands every time down the court they have to sit in the corner and wait for a pass/shot? why cant they be moving all over the court and in the key?

It’s funny because Paolo is asking for a PG to take the ball out of his hands.

Paolo said he doesnt want another scorer, he wants a PG to organize the offense. Simons is a scorer who cant organize offense badum tss.
We really want to pretend smaller Tim Hardaway jr. will somehow fix our offense ? Paolo and Franz can move all over the court but Simons just cant create for them at high enough level. People act like Simons and Young are in similar tier as passers.

he didnt say he doesnt want another scorer. He said would like someone that can help set the table and wanted 2-way players. Simons is definitely more combo guard than PG. With him, its his shooting gravity that will benefit people.

[Catledge]

I've read this whole thread, and I'm persuaded to want Simons over Monk by a small margin.

I basically think Paolo is going to continue to be our primary playmaker no matter what he says, so we should get the pieces around him to make Paolo a more effective playmaker. A deadly catch and shoot guy is most important for that IMO.

[Knightro]

Trae may work but I feel like he is so overrated

I do think Young is overrated in the respect that if he is your unquestioned best player and your offense is the full blown Trae Young Show, you're not going to be a great team.

But the gamble for Orlando would be how Young would respond to joining the No. 3 defensive team in the league and to a team where he's not the no questions asked best player.

The idea would be for Young to just focus on what he's already great at, keep everyone else involved and not feel the need to be the man, while upticking his defense slightly (he was 268th in Defensive EPM in 2023, which would be workable).

Can he do it? Hard to say. He's played one way his entire career, so asking him to alter that, even slightly, might be challenging.

But if it works? Well then you've added a top 10 individual offensive player to an already elite defensive and rebounding team.

which core players do you want to give up? because with Trae's massive deal, assuming we keep Paolo, we will lose 1 of Franz/Suggs as we wont be able to pay them. Trae is paid $45mil on average for the next 3 years. He is a very good passer, but he still thinks he is Curry and takes these 35-40 ft 3 pt shots that he shouldnt be doing because he isnt that good a 3 pt shooter (35%)

I’m not worried about that until they hit the second apron.

Which wouldn’t happen for a long while.

[meatwad4343]

I'm not as high as him as some people are, I would take him, but I'm not offering much, especially not Anthony black in a package. Most I would do is Wendell plus the Denver pick but Portland probably doesn't go for that. He's just such a negative on defense that it about completely negates the impact he has on offense. If you're scoring 20 a game and giving up 25 you aren't really helping your team. If he can even improve and get to a below average level on defense it would be way better for us. But the rest of the team has to work overtime to cover up for him. I'd feel a lot better if we were also able to get an elite rim protecter like claxton in free agency to kind of mitigate the the defense issues.

Simons
Suggs
Franz
Paolo
Claxton

[Knightro]

How much of the "need someone to orchestrate the offense" narrative is due to what Paolo said? I know it's always been something we've talked about needing, but it's starting to seem like it's becoming more important than getting a high volume sniper from 3 at one of the guard positions to space the floor. So are we leaning too heavily into Paolo's words here? We may not need another "offensive hub" but we absolutely still need a threat from distance.

Personally? I think they need all of the above out of their backcourt.

They need more playmaking.

They need more 3PT shooting.

They need more scoring in general.

I am not ready to turn my nose up at anybody that provides one of those three things, is obtainable, and doesn't completely kill the team in other ways.

[p0peye]

How much of the "need someone to orchestrate the offense" narrative is due to what Paolo said? I know it's always been something we've talked about needing, but it's starting to seem like it's becoming more important than getting a high volume sniper from 3 at one of the guard positions to space the floor. So are we leaning too heavily into Paolo's words here? We may not need another "offensive hub" but we absolutely still need a threat from distance.

Personally? I think they need all of the above out of their backcourt.

They need more playmaking.

They need more 3PT shooting.

They need more scoring in general.

I am not ready to turn my nose up at anybody that provides one of those three things, is obtainable, and doesn't completely kill the team in other ways.

Agreed, but I want to see some bloody ambition from FO, not this crap they are throwing out for decades. Damn, I wish NBA had relegation system sending worst teams to G League and promoting G League champions to NBA and handing them top picks in draft to boot.

[tiderulz]

I've read this whole thread, and I'm persuaded to want Simons over Monk by a small margin.

I basically think Paolo is going to continue to be our primary playmaker no matter what he says, so we should get the pieces around him to make Paolo a more effective playmaker. A deadly catch and shoot guy is most important for that IMO.

never understood this line of thought. "who cares that Paolo doesnt want to be the primary playmaker". doesnt seem like a good strategy to me.

[tiderulz]

I'm not as high as him as some people are, I would take him, but I'm not offering much, especially not Anthony black in a package. Most I would do is Wendell plus the Denver pick but Portland probably doesn't go for that. He's just such a negative on defense that it about completely negates the impact he has on offense. If you're scoring 20 a game and giving up 25 you aren't really helping your team. If he can even improve and get to a below average level on defense it would be way better for us. But the rest of the team has to work overtime to cover up for him. I'd feel a lot better if we were also able to get an elite rim protecter like claxton in free agency to kind of mitigate the the defense issues.

Simons
Suggs
Franz
Paolo
Claxton

JJ Redick was very bad on defense coming out of college and was able to become a credible team defense player. and Simons has more tools to work with than Redick. I agree not throwing every asset to get Simons, but if the price is small why not. And i think people will be surprised at a player that has something to play for now and other players help holding him accountable

[Ducklett]

I'm not as high as him as some people are, I would take him, but I'm not offering much, especially not Anthony black in a package. Most I would do is Wendell plus the Denver pick but Portland probably doesn't go for that. He's just such a negative on defense that it about completely negates the impact he has on offense. If you're scoring 20 a game and giving up 25 you aren't really helping your team. If he can even improve and get to a below average level on defense it would be way better for us. But the rest of the team has to work overtime to cover up for him. I'd feel a lot better if we were also able to get an elite rim protecter like claxton in free agency to kind of mitigate the the defense issues.

Simons
Suggs
Franz
Paolo
Claxton

JJ Redick was very bad on defense coming out of college and was able to become a credible team defense player. and Simons has more tools to work with than Redick. I agree not throwing every asset to get Simons, but if the price is small why not. And i think people will be surprised at a player that has something to play for now and other players help holding him accountable

Everyone seems fine if we got him cheap, but I doubt the GM in Portland sees it that way. I just don't want to overpay for the opportunity to see if Simons is a real NBA player or a stat padder.

I am starting to wonder if making the playoffs this season was a mistake with how overreactionary it is getting with making moves.

[Audi]

I'm not as high as him as some people are, I would take him, but I'm not offering much, especially not Anthony black in a package. Most I would do is Wendell plus the Denver pick but Portland probably doesn't go for that. He's just such a negative on defense that it about completely negates the impact he has on offense. If you're scoring 20 a game and giving up 25 you aren't really helping your team. If he can even improve and get to a below average level on defense it would be way better for us. But the rest of the team has to work overtime to cover up for him. I'd feel a lot better if we were also able to get an elite rim protecter like claxton in free agency to kind of mitigate the the defense issues.

Simons
Suggs
Franz
Paolo
Claxton

JJ Redick was very bad on defense coming out of college and was able to become a credible team defense player. and Simons has more tools to work with than Redick. I agree not throwing every asset to get Simons, but if the price is small why not. And i think people will be surprised at a player that has something to play for now and other players help holding him accountable

Everyone seems fine if we got him cheap, but I doubt the GM in Portland sees it that way. I just don't want to overpay for the opportunity to see if Simons is a real NBA player or a stat padder.

I am starting to wonder if making the playoffs this season was a mistake with how overreactionary it is getting with making moves.

...pretty sure this is how it always is during the offseason, particularly when we don't have a high draft pick(s) to debate about. We are all bored as hell.

But to your other point on being hesitant to FAFO on whether or not Simons is just a stat padder...does it really matter much? I'm sure there is some stat padding going on - as would be expected from any top offensive option on a bad team. But what really is relevent to us is what we do know about him - that his reliably good, high volume shooting from deep - and the gravity that demands from defenses - is 100% the real deal.

[Residual-Heat]

I'm not as high as him as some people are, I would take him, but I'm not offering much, especially not Anthony black in a package. Most I would do is Wendell plus the Denver pick but Portland probably doesn't go for that. He's just such a negative on defense that it about completely negates the impact he has on offense. If you're scoring 20 a game and giving up 25 you aren't really helping your team. If he can even improve and get to a below average level on defense it would be way better for us. But the rest of the team has to work overtime to cover up for him. I'd feel a lot better if we were also able to get an elite rim protecter like claxton in free agency to kind of mitigate the the defense issues.

Simons
Suggs
Franz
Paolo
Claxton

JJ Redick was very bad on defense coming out of college and was able to become a credible team defense player. and Simons has more tools to work with than Redick. I agree not throwing every asset to get Simons, but if the price is small why not. And i think people will be surprised at a player that has something to play for now and other players help holding him accountable

Everyone seems fine if we got him cheap, but I doubt the GM in Portland sees it that way. I just don't want to overpay for the opportunity to see if Simons is a real NBA player or a stat padder.

I am starting to wonder if making the playoffs this season was a mistake with how overreactionary it is getting with making moves.

The Blazers at a point where they probably want to move Simons this offseason. He doesnt fit their future plans as they have Sharpe and Scoot, their roster is too expensive for a bottom 5 team, and Simons will be an expiring contract next season. They can choose to keep him and risk him leaving in FA in 2 years, or they can decide to trade him this season and take the best return they can get. I just dont think a lot of teams will be targeting Simons. Most teams already have a decent PG, and at 27 mill I dont think many will trade for him to be their 6th man.

[The-Stallion70]

I am starting to wonder if making the playoffs this season was a mistake with how overreactionary it is getting with making moves.

What? No way, how in the world would we have been better off with not making the playoffs? You're telling me you were happier when our team was ****? You're also acting like making the playoffs was a choice, hell no it was an achievement.

You dont have any positivity about the team, you dont want Simons, a player who can clearly help us. You think we shouldnt have the playoffs at all this year? No way man

[Ducklett]

I am starting to wonder if making the playoffs this season was a mistake with how overreactionary it is getting with making moves.

What? No way, how in the world would we have been better off with not making the playoffs? You're telling me you were happier when our team was ****? You're also acting like making the playoffs was a choice, hell no it was an achievement.

You dont have any positivity about the team, you dont want Simons, a player who can clearly help us. You think we shouldnt have the playoffs at all this year? No way man

Of course I want to make the playoffs and it was fun seeing people I know who don't give a single solitary crap about basketball or lapsed magic fans caring again. Plus the games were fun. But with how insane the twitteristas and people here's hot takes about this off season have been, I have thought it.

The buddy Ball Era made a lot of Magic fans check out. It is nice to see a lot of them back.

[RichCollab]

Simons is the new Cole? Great…

[OrlChamps2030]

I am starting to wonder if making the playoffs this season was a mistake with how overreactionary it is getting with making moves.

What? No way, how in the world would we have been better off with not making the playoffs? You're telling me you were happier when our team was ****? You're also acting like making the playoffs was a choice, hell no it was an achievement.

You dont have any positivity about the team, you dont want Simons, a player who can clearly help us. You think we shouldnt have the playoffs at all this year? No way man

Of course I want to make the playoffs and it was fun seeing people I know who don't give a single solitary crap about basketball or lapsed magic fans caring again. Plus the games were fun. But with how insane the twitteristas and people here's hot takes about this off season have been, I have thought it.

The buddy Ball Era made a lot of Magic fans check out. It is nice to see a lot of them back.

Dude - wanting a new starting guard isn’t a hot take..

NOT wanting a new starting guard is the real hot take