Wizenheimer wrote:DusterBuster wrote:I do find it funny those who are like “see!! Simons is not for real, his shooting is cratering!!” are then quiet when Simons bounces back. As though young players breaking out don’t have bad stretches of games…
his three point shooting has been pretty consistent throughout. His 2pt shooting had cratered. More than that is his playmaking floor game, which got hot along with everything else, has fallen way off. In that 9 game stretch he averaged 7.2 assists vs 2.3 turnovers. That's a 3.1 assist/turnover mark which is great. In the 11 games following that 9 game stretch he's averaged 4.8 assists vs 3.3 turnovers. That's a 1.5 assist/turnover ratio which is really bad for a PG. It's even poor for a SG
now, I think part of that is his inexperience. He doesn't recognize yet what's probable and what is risky as a passer. He should get better at it as he gains experience. Another thing I've seen is that Ant has been scouted now. Teams are trying to take away his right hand dribble. He's much more instinctive moving right. That's his comfort zone. I think that's why his 2pt shooting efficiency cratered and why his assist numbers dropped way down while his turnovers climbed. He leans right and teams are taking that away
something else is if you look at those 9 games, it was a stretch against pretty weak defenses in general and especially bad defense at point. For instance, there were 2 games against Miami, but Kyle Lowry only played in one of 4 halves. In the half he did play Ant had 6 points on 5 shots and 1 assist; he xploded in the 2nd half after Lowry was ejected. In the last 11 games, Portland played better teams with better defenders
I don't think Ant is a PG. I don't think it's a coincidence that he played better last night when Dennis Smith was running point and Ant was more off the ball. From what I've seen, Ant's floor game and shooting efficiency is better when he's not at point. I'm hoping that Cronin, or whoever is GM, won't be as damn blind to the value of a good backup PG as Olshey was. That he won't clear the decks forcing a situation that Ant to gets all the backup PG minutes out of necessity. Simons may very well be a bit better as a PG than CJ, but that's still settling. Blazers have needed a solid backup PG for years. Maybe Smith is the one
I'm still not sold on the idea of a Dame/Ant back court. Ant's defense is worse than CJ's and Dame is still Dame. Hopefully the Blazers can sign Simons for 15M less a year that CJ. If they get Ant for that type of deal maybe they can justify him as a 6th man who gets starter level minutes
I'm not excited on an Ant/Dame backcourt... really really don't want it cause it is just another retread of Dame/CJ with the same issues. I'm just pointing out a lot of posters like to really jump on any chance to point why a young player may be fools gold during a breakout season vs just admitting that breakout seasons for young guys usually have those types of ups and downs, especially as scouting catches up. I'm impressed he's been able to fight past that so far and I do want them to resign him...
But again, I'm really not stoked that it looks like the Blazers really want to go this route of Dame/CJ 2.0.
