If Simons sticks around (as our 6th man), I'm kinda feeling Banton as the perfect backcourt-mate for him. Seems like those two fill each other's weak spots perfectly.
IMO, that's the only reason to keep him around instead of Brogdon. If Simons isn't on board with being a 6th man behind Scoot/Sharpe, then he needs to be dealt to a team that actually wants to start him.
If next season is anything like this one, the Blazers can have Scoot, Sharpe, and Simons on the roster and still need Banton and another guy to fill in for the games missed due to injuries.
I hear what you’re saying but my stance is usually that if Joe Fan is aware of why Ant isn’t playing, surely Greg Opposing GM is too.
I would get rid of any player on the team who does not want to win. Which actually would not be very many but they all want to win. Was Ant a barrier in Scoot's and Shae's development this past year? No of course not because it is a long-ass season with lots of minutes and lots of injuries. Why will next season be any different? Scoot and Shae (and Ant for that matter) have half a year before next season starts, to work on their game. I would like nothing more than the two of them to be ready to start and force Ant to the bench. To me, that will be the best scenario going forward. And if that happens my guess is Ant will accept it. He wants to win and having him as a scorer off the bench does have upside. He will still get his 30 minutes and as he alluded to.....they will figure it out. Having said all that I am ok with trading him if we get value back. But there seems to be a lot of contradiction on what his value is. A lot of those who want him traded also say he has little value. So maybe we just keep him and let it play out.
True, but how do you know that it's not, not my fault? And platypuses are pretty much known to be jinxes.
Banton needs to stop being such a gunner, then. Every time I watch him he seems to call his own shot. And he doesn't seem to be using all that length for D. He's a poor man's Jamal Crawford, when we want a poor man's Shaun Livingston.
No doubt he shot a lot, but in a lot of the games he played in they had no other shooters in the game. It is like evaluating a player who only gets in at the end of a blowout. They are meaningless. Granted the last game was a bit of an extreme, but look at this lineup. Who else was going to shoot? STARTERS J. MinayaF K. MurrayF M. BrownC D. BantonG R. RupertG BENCH D. ReathC I. BadjiC T. MooreG
Someone else posted an interesting trade proposal, which I'll paste below. ORL gets: Simons and RW3 ($36M) POR gets: Jonathan Isaac, Wendell Carter Jr, Gabe Houston ($32M), 2025 1st (from Denver protected 1-5), a 2025 second, 2026 ORL unprotected first. We could cut Isaac and only pay half his salary. Carter Jr. Would be a great backup option who likely gives us more games than RW3 and spreads the floor better. 2FRP's and a SRP sounds fair. This would allow us to use all four of our picks and draft a guard. Knecht and Tyson are the only wings I'm sold on in this upcoming draft, so the ability to take a guard would be ideal. Trade Thybulle and Brogdon, and then we could definitely take Castle and/or Sheppard, whoever we want. The team would probably be worse, but there's two franchise-type wings in the 2025 draft.
I agree that Ant is not going to fetch back two 1st round picks, especially with Portland adding the negative value of Timelord to a deal; and yes, I think he has negative value. Why Portland, of all teams, decided to add a big with degenerating knees is purely dumb and beyond logical justification * another possible issue with the trade idea I'm not sure about is Issac: I was under the impression that the new CBA mandates that Issac's salary next season would have to be fully guaranteed before he was traded. If so, the Blazers wouldn't get the savings from waiving him * I don't see any reason to complicate the trade by adding Houstan (or Issac; or Timelord). If Orlando likes him his inclusion will make them more reluctant to part with any pick I have suggested, tentatively, that an Ant for WCJ + a 1st might work. Orlando may have more than enough cap-space this off-season to make an unbalanced trade like that work within the CBA. I'd like to think that Portland could ask for the better of Orlando's 2025 first or Denver's 2025 first the reason I'd like to think Ant could bring back the better of those two firsts is that every time I've suggested trading Ant somebody will object by saying Ant's shooting and iso ability is too valuable to Portland. So then trading Ant for an effective journeyman big and non-lottery first seems like fair market value for a player like Ant with the attributes his advocates claim. of course, that's the cul-de-sac we drive into around here when talking about Ant trades. Either he has the value of Franz Wagner or he doesn't even have the value of a single late 1st round pick. His middle name is enigma
Anyone who thinks we're going to get a really good young big like Carter Jr. for Simons is fooling themselves, IMO. Yes, Orlando is one of the very few plausible trade destinations, but they might not even want to give us Isaac, given how transformative he's been for their defense, except if they believe his injuries are going to flare up again.
Somewhat correct on Isaac - his salary has to be guaranteed to match in the trade. So no the full $17 million doesn't have to be guaranteed - but any amount needed to match salaries yes would become guaranteed.
LOL some of you are going to be in for a rude awakening IF Simons ever gets traded. He isn't valuable.
Yeah I'd tend to think WCJ has more value than Simons. Blazers probably have to include a FRP to do the deal (which I wouldn't do) At best Blazers could only cough up a 2nd or get an even swap. Thinking the Blazers are going to get a FRP or multiple FRP as well is delusional.
It's odd because your so negative on Simons..... then you think he is worth WCJ... plus Blazers salary cap relief, plus a FRP?
