Game 36: Portland vs Dallas 5:30pm Chargetv KUNP

[BlazersBroncos]

Worth noting that with Grant out, we have Camara playing more of a true SF role. Previously he was crashing the boards much more to make up for Jerami being allergic to rebounds.

Now we have Camara playing as a true SF, Deni as a sort of point-PF and the returns for both statistically are overwhelmingly positive.

Grants presence on this team is messing with both of those guys hitting their potential and playing their natural spots.

[Wizenheimer]

Where? Show me where. Shem said 6th. I can't find that statistically anywhere. So until I see it with my own eyes I won't believe it.

The Blazers announcers literally talk about it every other game. Sharpe is #4 in the league, Simons moved up from #7 to #6. They even out the list on the screen.

Ah well, I mostly watch with the sound off. Sometimes I'll turn it on for certain calls, but...I can't stand Colabro.

Looking at NBA.com's Clutch stats if you go by points alone, Simons is tied for 5th (at 3 points) with Caleb Houstan, Torrey Craig and Jaime Jaquez...Trendon Watford is #1...so tells you how valuable that stat is.

If you go by FG% Simons doesn't make the top 50.

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/clutch-traditional?ClutchTime=Last%203%20Minutes&PointDiff=3&dir=A&sort=PTS

Sounds like the team is cooking up some special "positive" stats for viewers to me. Given "clutch" is always going to be super noisy, you could probably prove just about anything if you work them right.

Now maybe our goalposts are different...maybe they have access to stat tracking last shots in games through Synergy or something (NBA.com tracks last 3 minutes for "clutch"). But again, if you're making the last game winning shot 80% of the time only a handful of times in multiple sub-.300 seasons? Well, I just question whether that "clutchness" realistically has any real value...I seriously doubt it would be to a GM who is weighing Simons' worth to their franchise.

In any case, not really sure why I'm dying on this hill. How "clutch" Simons is is pointless if he's not leading the team to Ws...and so far he hasn't shown he can singularly win games for the team in any meaningful way.

Simons was pretty good in raw clutch stats last season, but the key there is 'raw'

if you look closely at that list of stats, among players with 10 games or more of clutch stats, Simons is 3rd in points; but he's 1st in FGA. In 10 games, he doesn't have a single assist but has 2 turnovers. That matches the eyeball test. But what really matches the eyball test is if you track all the way over to the right of that page, Simons as a -1.5 plus/minus. That's one of the worst marks for players with 10 games or more

[Walton1one]

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/clutch-traditional?ClutchTime=Last%203%20Minutes&PointDiff=3&dir=A&sort=PTS

This is the epitome of OVER analyzation

- last 3 minutes of the game
- 3pt differential or less
- ranked by pts scored

What an absolutely garbage set of variables to throw out to TRY and make a player look better than they are. The fact that Cronin spouted this in his PR interview and then clearly has sent marching orders for Blazer broadcasting and media toadies to regurgitate this drivel is embarrassing, for him.

This kind of garbage fool's no one, certainly not other teams, so its' intent is to prop him up for the fans, which is pathetic.

Let's filter this by JUST POR, oh, what do we find here? Simons 2.1 FGA, next highest is Sharpe @ .8. So he is taking almost 3x as many attempts in those situations than the next POR player...and low and behold, he is scoring more points in that subset of a subset of a subset of a game...

Absolutely stupid drivel, from a team that seems to be obsessed with it. Maybe Cronin should actually WATCH the games instead of relying on nonsensical garbage like this....

BTW
Simons pts per FGA in this subset of variables = 1.42
Sharpe 2.25
Avdija 2.20

See? I can play this game as well

[DaVoiceMaster]

Everyone can come up with something to make a player/team look good. The Blazers have done the clutch thing several times now for i think points in the last 5-minutes of a game. Sharpe was #4 and Simon was #6, yet the Blazers have a crummy record and pretty much suck so make of it what you want. They're never gonna say their players suck and point out all of their flaws so make of it what you want. It doesn't change the Blazers record any.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Where? Show me where. Shem said 6th. I can't find that statistically anywhere. So until I see it with my own eyes I won't believe it.

The Blazers announcers literally talk about it every other game. Sharpe is #4 in the league, Simons moved up from #7 to #6. They even out the list on the screen.

Ah well, I mostly watch with the sound off. Sometimes I'll turn it on for certain calls, but...I can't stand Colabro.

Turn the sound up for a bit cuz Colabro has not been doing the games lately.

[Ptownsblazin12]

The Blazers announcers literally talk about it every other game. Sharpe is #4 in the league, Simons moved up from #7 to #6. They even out the list on the screen.

Ah well, I mostly watch with the sound off. Sometimes I'll turn it on for certain calls, but...I can't stand Colabro.

Turn the sound up for a bit cuz Colabro has not been doing the games lately.

Colabro and Hurd makes me miss Mike and Mike even more! Loved Barrett but couldn’t stand Rice but I would take them any day over these two.

[zzaj]

Ah well, I mostly watch with the sound off. Sometimes I'll turn it on for certain calls, but...I can't stand Colabro.

Turn the sound up for a bit cuz Colabro has not been doing the games lately.

Colabro and Hurd makes me miss Mike and Mike even more! Loved Barrett but couldn’t stand Rice but I would take them any day over these two.

Rice had some insightful stuff to say, from a coach’s perspective before the booze hit him, lol…MB was just a homer—didn’t much care for his calls. I always listened to Wheels in those years.

Colabro just sounds checked out to me. Hurd is okay in terms of color calling, but he’s too probe to getting locked into inane, useless, not interesting, not funny, side bits.

[Walton1one]

Miss the Snapper, never shied away from calling it like it is and had great insight

[Wizenheimer]

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/clutch-traditional?ClutchTime=Last%203%20Minutes&PointDiff=3&dir=A&sort=PTS

This is the epitome of OVER analyzation

- last 3 minutes of the game
- 3pt differential or less
- ranked by pts scored

What an absolutely garbage set of variables to throw out to TRY and make a player look better than they are. The fact that Cronin spouted this in his PR interview and then clearly has sent marching orders for Blazer broadcasting and media toadies to regurgitate this drivel is embarrassing, for him.

This kind of garbage fool's no one, certainly not other teams, so its' intent is to prop him up for the fans, which is pathetic.

Let's filter this by JUST POR, oh, what do we find here? Simons 2.1 FGA, next highest is Sharpe @ .8. So he is taking almost 3x as many attempts in those situations than the next POR player...and low and behold, he is scoring more points in that subset of a subset of a subset of a game...

Absolutely stupid drivel, from a team that seems to be obsessed with it. Maybe Cronin should actually WATCH the games instead of relying on nonsensical garbage like this....

BTW
Simons pts per FGA in this subset of variables = 1.42
Sharpe 2.25
Avdija 2.20

See? I can play this game as well

strong arguments

to flesh it out a bit on FGA:

Anfernee Simons 2.1
Jerami Grant 0.8
Shaedon Sharpe 0.8
Deni Avdija 0.5
Scoot Henderson 0.5
Deandre Ayton 0.4
Dalano Banton 0.3
Toumani Camara 0.3

Simons averages as many shots as Grant, Sharpe, and Avdija combined

Blazer broadcasting has been pushing Simons as the face of the Blazers all season, and they haven't been subtle about it. This is simply Simons going iso...one on one at the end of games. Cronin and Chauncey favoring Simons

well, on isolation plays Simons isn't good. He's averaging 0.8 points; that's only in the 38th percentile. Sharpe is averaging 1.02 points on isolation which is the 82nd percentile. Camara is averaging 1.00 points good enough for the 80th percentile. Avdija is averaging 1.24 points which is the 100th percentile but he rarely goes that direction. Even Scoot is better than Simons averaging 0.82 points which is the 42nd percentile

by the way, Sharpe is better than Simons in PnR too. He's in the 85th percentile while Simons is in the 75th percentile.

[Walton1one]

Yeah, great points, of course all one has to do is watch the games and you can see this with your own eyes