YelloC wrote:Simons seems to be the boards new favourite target. I don’t see it.
He seems like a dime a dozen undersized SG that doesn’t move the needle.
It seems like there’s 10 Simons drafted each year when you can find one undrafted.
1.He will be making 3m in 2021 free agency
2.Shooting guard is a position of need.
3.He is 20 years old putting up 11ppg off the bench shooting 56% from midrange and 38% from 3
4.He isn't a spot up shooter, and can create his own shots. When you play good defenses you need guys who can create their own shots or else it will be really hard to score when your shot-creators are getting shut down, and we don't have a lot of those (Lowry/Siakam/FVV and Norman Powell once every blue moon).
5. If he's 20 years old putting up 11ppg off the bench shooting 56% from midrange and 38% from 3 with Portland, just imagine how good he could become under Raptors player development...
6. NBA scouts have described many of today's NBA superstars as average/below avg. similar to how you're describing Simons. Obviously if Simons were a 28ppg scorer none of our assets besides Siakam would land him. Which is why you have to take chance on these guys before they show their max potential. Think about when OKC traded Ibaka for Sabonis and Oladipo, if prime Oladipo was on the Magic they would have never done the trade (although it still was a dumb trade on Orlando's side, but for the sake of it lets pretend Orlando was a contender at the time). If OKC never took a chance on Oladipo who was a 14ppg scorer (now 23ppg scorer with highest steals avg in the NBA in 2017) and Sabonis who was a 6ppg scorer and 3.5rpg (now a 20ppg and 13.3rpg) they would have never landed a Paul George (superstar type player) for an Ibaka. I would bet that you (as well as many other ppl) wouldn't have predicted Oladipo and Sabonis would be all-star caliber player and describe them as average (because there was a ton of players in the same class that were putting up the same/better numbers) until they broke out. What i'm trying to get at is; the only way we are ever going to land potential stars/superstars without trading stars/superstar/handfull of first rounders, is if we evaluate the young guys to our best ability before they break out so we can get them for role players/vets. Imagine if Simons becomes Oladipo 2.0; (although unrealistic, he still has the potential) then we would have 2 stars (Siakam/simons) for just the price of Ibaka who is currently regressing+would cost way more than simons. Imagine if the Bucks accepted the Warriors' offer in 2011 of Steph Curry for Andrew Bogut instead of counter-offering Bogut for Ellis and Udoh... Ellis was 26 averaging 20ppg and curry was 23 averaging 14ppg in 2011, but because the Bucks took the safer alternative they missed out on a 2x unanimous MVP and the best shooter in NBA history. To be fair Ellis and Curry were both better than Bogut so Bucks would've never lost the trade, however they could have had one of the biggest steals in NBA history if they took the chance on Curry.
7. It is not really taking a big risk if he's performed the way he's performed with the limited amount of minutes he is given. If we were trying to trade for Dennis Smith Jr/Lonzo Ball/Markelle Fultz I would understand your concern, but in Simmons' case he's shown he can ball and be very efficient at a young age. Worst comes to worst; Simons doesn't develop at all and he stays at his current talent level forever; he will still be 1.Better than Ibaka in 3 years (im assuming Ibaka will regress given his age) 2. He will cost way less than Ibaka. 3. Worst case scenario will be even worse considering Ibaka should be still better than Dennis Smith Jr/Lonzo Ball/Markelle Fultz (or any of those riskier young guys) if they were to stay at the same skill level
The only thing I predict Simons still not to be good at, at max potential is defense because of size. Then again I thought FVV would be a horrible defender, but was proven wrong after seeing the numbers he held Curry to during the finals. So who knows!
