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He is way rawer than most 20 yo guys that are considered prospects are

I admit I am the first to get tantalized by a Youtube mix tape, but the vids in this thread don't give us much to go on IMO. Half the highlights in that first Insta post were him pulling up for 3-pointers, who knows how many of those quick pull-ups he misses. He looked like a really good basketball player, but I have no idea where I'd want him in the NBA Draft. He also made some floaters in the lane against other high schoolers.

The kid looks nice. A little small to play SG but passable i guess. Could be real good if he has PG skills. Potential sleeper pick.

Fischella wrote:He is way rawer than most 20 yo guys that are considered prospects are

Can you be more specific than that? A little raw? How is he raw? In what ways does he look raw to you? In terms of effort on defense, he’s way ahead of a lot of college players. He gets down into great position, moves well laterally and makes good decisions off-ball. Sometimes he looks lost on defense, but that could be due to a lot of other factors.

You know who looked worse than Diallo when he was drafted? Kelly Oubre. Diallo is twice the prospect of Oubre before he was drafted (although Oubre was two years younger and one of the youngest players of his class). Still, if Oubre was picked in the teens, Diallo should be taken in the 20s, he has too many physical gifts that can translate to the next level. Even if he takes time to develop, he’s worth the risk, even if he only ends up being Corey Brewer.

I'm going back and forth with him right now - at first, I do get enamored by young engima's, especially with good physical tools, then I soured on him, thinking he was a score first combo stuck poorly between positions and can't contribute much outside of scoring, now I'm warming up to him again. He's not necessarily as undersized at SG as I first thought - 6'4.5 with a 6'7 wingspan is not that bad, and given his youth, perhaps I overplayed his frame issues - he should be able to make considerable changes to his body over the next few years.

He's a long way off, he's probably not going to be a PG at any point, and his defense needs to make improvements, but if he proves to be the dynamic shooter he's touted as in workouts then I do think he'll be a 1st rounder. He's considerably larger than someone like Malik Monk (6'3, 6'4 wingspan), and has better handles, perhaps more shiftiness as well. A slightly smaller D'Angelo Russell seems to be a reasonable comparison in many ways, similar build, smooth but not explosive floor game (though Simons has superior hops/open court athleticism), strong handle and J, though the big difference being that Russell has great vision and passing instincts.

He's probably a 20-30 guy in my eyes. He'll probably be a long term project on a contending team. I think he has starting upside long term, so good value there, if a low floor as well.

Be interesting to see the Spurs take him - they could groom him like they did Dejounte Murray. Those two would be an interesting combination in the back-court actually.. Dejounte has size, can defend either guard spot I imagine, boards, does all the other peripheral things, whilst Simons is more scoring/floor spacing focused.

That said, the Spurs are also in dire need of some young, modern front-court prospects, of which there should be some near there range, so they could go a number of ways.

I feel like Zhaire Smith is a much better version of Simons.

Him and Zhaire smith are completely different types of players. Smith is more utility and defense. Simons is going to be all offense and you have to teach him to run a team and defend.

I'd echo that.

I think Zhaire Smith is going to grow another inch or so and be an Andre Iguodala-caliber player -- good defense and good enough offense.

Physically, Simons looks a bit like D'Angelo Russell, but right now he's looking like a shot creator almost like a Jamal Crawford. He's definitely a score-first player.

Physically hes year or two way bc his body is really underdeveloped but pure talent wise hes my #1 shooting guard in this draft. You cant teach his athleticism and scoring ability. Stylistic comparisons are markelle fultz/ better handling malik monk.

You'll like these highlights...

Malik Newman.

Catchall wrote:You'll like these highlights...

Watch on YouTube

That defense is so much worse than college ball, that is glorified AAU-ball. I am actually incredibly intrigued with Anfernee Simons, but holy cow.

He's a more talented version of HS Donovan Mitchell. I am not sure if he will become good, I don't know his personality type. He will get drafted off of talent alone.

Here's an article on Anfernee Simons with some video clips from his games:

https://www.thestepien.com/2018/03/16/anfernee-simons-wrong-initiator/

Looks really good in SL rn. Silky smooth

Looks really good in SL rn. Silky smooth

He is just so natural scoring the ball. I think he falls somehwere between Lou Williams and Jeremy Lamb. His frame and defense may limit him to a 6th man role, but thats still tremendous value late R1. To get a elite bench scorer that late is nuts, and I full believe he will become a 13-16ppg bench guy with an outside chance to become a CJ McCollum level starter.

Love this kid.

Portland should trade him to get some real help for Dame and CJ.

I rated him the #1 sg in last years draft. His athleticism to skill combo is very rare among players not to mention has nice measurables. It will be interesting to see what Portland does whether they will hand him the keys or look to cash in and move him for another piece.

I'm really in at this point on Simons. I think he has a chance to be better than Coby White, tbh.

GimmeDat wrote:I'm really in at this point on Simons. I think he has a chance to be better than Coby White, tbh.

If he would have went to school this last year there is no doubt in my mind he would have been a top 5 pick.

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