Anfernee Simons-Potential?

Blazinaway · Post #61 » by **Blazinaway** » Fri Oct 11, 2019 4:13 pm

Woj and Lowe on breakout candidates

d-train · Post #62 » by **d-train** » Fri Oct 11, 2019 8:39 pm

Simons has shown he can beat up on non NBA talent. I'm waiting to see how he does against great NBA level defense. He was outplayed by Bruce Brown in the 1 summer game against a good defender. And, Fox absolutely clobbered Simons in the 16 minutes he played the last game against Kings.

JRoy · Post #63 » by **JRoy** » Fri Oct 11, 2019 9:32 pm

I’m not as high on Simons as I am on Collins. He has a knack for knocking down shots off the dribble but seems unremarkable as defender or playmaker for others.

BlazersBroncos · Post #64 » by **BlazersBroncos** » Fri Oct 11, 2019 9:57 pm

I’m not as high on Simons as I am on Collins. He has a knack for knocking down shots off the dribble but seems unremarkable as defender or playmaker for others.

I mean, has anyone ever assessed Simons as anything other than a pure scorer? All the hype has been that he is uniquely natural scoring the ball. He seems to project as an ideal 6th man for the time being, or designated scorer off the bench, whatever you want to call him.

Basically, Seth Curry but closer to 38-40% from 3 and much better creating his own shot, finishing and running the floor.

He certainly has CJ potential. Dude is a baby and already can pick his spots on offense.

He looks taller to me than last season as well.

monopoman · Post #65 » by **monopoman** » Sat Oct 12, 2019 1:26 am

His game is very similar to CJ but just less polished, but that would make sense **** he might end up being a slightly better CJ in a few years.

Right now I think both are about equal in terms of shooting ability CJ has shown more against better teams though for sure.

Matt800 · Post #66 » by **Matt800** » Sat Oct 12, 2019 2:40 pm

monopoman wrote:His game is very similar to CJ but just less polished, but that would make sense **** he might end up being a slightly better CJ in a few years.

Right now I think both are about equal in terms of shooting ability CJ has shown more against better teams though for sure.

I dont think he is much like cj. He has worse ball handling and is much more athletic than cj. Cj has some of the best footwork in the league, and is a career 40+% 3 point shooter. Simons has some craftiness but he has a much more basic game. Simons might be more like lillard offensively. Although he does seem to use more midrange and floaters than lillard.

GEE · Post #67 » by **GEE** » Mon Oct 14, 2019 10:18 pm

This kid is dripping with talent, and confidence. I have no idea where his ceiling is if he continues to improve, but this year it's clear, he'll be given playing time against legit NBA talent, and meaningful minutes every night. We'll just have to wait and see how he handles the grind.

zzaj · Post #68 » by **zzaj** » Tue Oct 15, 2019 4:28 am

I'd trade Simons in less than a hearbeat for Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

That kid is going to be an incredibly solid NBA player. He was my favorite player out of this draft. How he slipped to #17 I'll never know...

kumquat · Post #69 » by **kumquat** » Thu Nov 14, 2019 3:29 am

Anyone else impressed by the defense Simons has been playing?

Sinobas · Post #70 » by **Sinobas** » Thu Nov 14, 2019 2:52 pm

zzaj wrote:One of the things keeping Simons' ceiling slightly low is his body. His body is never going to be a thick, Wes Mathews type. Right now he has issues getting knocked off balance and diverted on his drives and finishing. Let's hope he can continue to add some core strength and weight without sacrificing any quickness.

He's only 20 and will thicken up a bit. But I don't see a correlation between "thickness" and ceiling. Sometimes those think guys get to the foul line more because it's more obvious when they get pushed. What you said about getting knocked off balance on his drives is a defensive foul.

Sinobas · Post #71 » by **Sinobas** » Thu Nov 14, 2019 2:54 pm

zzaj wrote:I'd trade Simons in less than a hearbeat for Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

That kid is going to be an incredibly solid NBA player. He was my favorite player out of this draft. How he slipped to #17 I'll never know...

Simons is alredy an incredibly solid NBA player. Just go ahead and try to put your hand through him. Can't do it, he's tangible.

zzaj · Post #72 » by **zzaj** » Thu Nov 14, 2019 4:57 pm

Sinobas wrote:
zzaj wrote:I'd trade Simons in less than a hearbeat for Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

That kid is going to be an incredibly solid NBA player. He was my favorite player out of this draft. How he slipped to #17 I'll never know...

Simons is alredy an incredibly solid NBA player. Just go ahead and try to put your hand through him. Can't do it, he's tangible.

NAW has looked pretty terrible since his minutes have been restricted. He's certainly trying to do too much when out on the floor...I still think he will end up the more complete player long-term.

Roy The Natural · Post #73 » by **Roy The Natural** » Thu Nov 14, 2019 5:14 pm

zzaj wrote:
Sinobas wrote:
zzaj wrote:I'd trade Simons in less than a hearbeat for Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

That kid is going to be an incredibly solid NBA player. He was my favorite player out of this draft. How he slipped to #17 I'll never know...

Simons is alredy an incredibly solid NBA player. Just go ahead and try to put your hand through him. Can't do it, he's tangible.

NAW has looked pretty terrible since his minutes have been restricted. He's certainly trying to do too much when out on the floor...I still think he will end up the more complete player long-term.

The problem with NAW is that he's a marginal ball handler, and a slightly above average athlete. He's going to need to make his mark off the ball which limits his upside. I don't think he'll ever be a true bucket getter.

Simons is extremely athletic and longer. Simons needs to clean up his ball handling but his athleticism allows him to get by defenders with fairly rudimentary moves. Simons will get stronger. I see no reason why he couldn't get a bit bigger and stronger. He won't ever be built like a truck, but he'll be fine.

I like NAW as a prospect but he's more of a Robert Covington high level role player upside type, where Simons upside is on-ball star.

Myth · Post #74 » by **Myth** » Sat Nov 30, 2019 7:11 am

What is going on? Simons has sucked since about the time we got Melo (maybe right before that). I'm still very high on his potential, but I was starting to get high on him in the present until about 2 weeks ago.

Roy The Natural · Post #75 » by **Roy The Natural** » Sat Nov 30, 2019 7:41 am

Myth wrote:What is going on? Simons has sucked since about the time we got Melo (maybe right before that). I'm still very high on his potential, but I was starting to get high on him in the present until about 2 weeks ago.

He's super young. He's going to be up and down. He needs to make better decisions, and needs to work on his ball-handling a bit. He'll be fine though.

Wizenheimer · Post #76 » by **Wizenheimer** » Sat Nov 30, 2019 4:51 pm

Myth wrote:What is going on? Simons has sucked since about the time we got Melo (maybe right before that). I'm still very high on his potential, but I was starting to get high on him in the present until about 2 weeks ago.

the first thing that happened was all of the off-season hype going super-nova and getting light years ahead of the reality. Some of it was ridiculous and the Blazer front office essentially set up Simons to be 'disappointing' if he wasn't Lou-Williams good off the bench

the 2nd thing that happened is there was a major miscalculation on just how much play-making there's be on the bench. Simons is in no way a PG; and Hezonja is terrible. That's left Simons playing with Bazemore, and Bazemore as the bench option for running the offense. This has been a major issue since the Aldridge team broke up. Olshey's refusal to invest in a backup PG leaves the 2nd unit rudderless most of the time, and Stotts has a tendency to platoon his rotations. When you build a bench that makes Turner's play-making absence noticeable, you've failed

Simons has talent, that's obvious. But he's very young and inexperienced. And because of having almost no play-making in the 2nd unit, Simons has been left to try and create too much of his own offense. He only has a 44% assisted FG rate, and that's simply too low for a player that young who has yet to develop a varied set of moves. Simons got scouted and he doesn't have the tools yet to overcome the scouting adjustments

he will get better as he gains experience and develops his core strength. Maybe a lot better, although I think all the chatter about him having all-star talent was premature and overboard

GEE · Post #77 » by **GEE** » Sat Nov 30, 2019 6:13 pm

All good points Wiz. I would just like to add that Simons is also getting "The treatment" from the refs; The same lack of love for calls, that most 1st & 2nd year players get. Not worried about him at all though; future for him looks bright.

Stotts really only needs Simons for roughly 10 minutes a game right now, backing up the PG spot, with more minutes and more shots, only when we have big leads and in blowouts. That's just how I'd play him for now.

BlazersBroncos · Post #78 » by **BlazersBroncos** » Sat Nov 30, 2019 6:30 pm

Ya, it sucks that he is having a rough patch but anyone with realistic expectations should assume this would be an up and down season for him. He is basically a HS-to-NBA player who redshirted his rookie season and is not being asked to contribute on a playoff aspiring team. That's a lot. Lets remember how long it took Jermaine and Travis to contribute, Simons is way ahead of the curve compared to other HS players in the Blazers past.

I still believe he has 20ppg potential with a outside chance at being an allstar. But even if he only marginally improves he is going to be a bucker getter and excellent bench scoring option. That's worth a pick in the 20's, and that's worst case IMO.

d-train · Post #79 » by **d-train** » Sat Nov 30, 2019 9:10 pm

Simons has been given a greenlight and a fairly long leash. On one hand that gives him opportunities to play like a bigtime player, but on the other hand with that blank slate there are a lot of decisions to make. It's one thing to know when to shoot or pass when you are a catch-and-shoot player. It's magnitudes more complicated when you are the lead guard and have the responsibility to run the offense. It's a lot to deal with when you are the first one with the ball and must decide when to shoot, create a shot, pass, or move the ball off the dribble to shuffle the opportunities . You have your plays and reads but you can't win a basketball game by simply playing from a script.

Anyhow, Blazers problems have little to do Simons or any other player off the bench. Other than, bench players are supposed to get plugged into a smooth running well oiled machine. The machine wasn't running smooth. We started the season with 4 returning players and a plan to use Whiteside in a way that included another playmaker in the frontcourt. At least 3 (that we know of) of our returning players have been injured or played injured. Whiteside has also been injured and played injured. The only place where there could possibly be a miscalculation is in the playmaking of these 5 players. Simons, Bazemore, and Mario are not among these 5 players, so there is no miscalculation here. And, Collins has been out since the 3rd game, so I don't know how you can lose the player that would be counted upon for frontcourt playmaking until Nurkic returns, and say there was a miscalculation. Now, Melo is filling the role of frontcourt playmaker. And, he's doing it better than Collins or Nurkic could do it. Of course, Collins and Nurkic can do some things Melo can't do.

Goldbum · Post #80 » by **Goldbum** » Sun Dec 1, 2019 1:58 pm

He’s young. The offense has changed (for the better) since adding Melo, Ant is still finding his place in that offense. Give him time to play off and integrate and he will be better than he was pre Melo