#24 Anfernee Simons

[Labinot41]

Is Simons really 6.3? He looks like 6.0 or 6.1 to me

 

[riverman]

Is Simons really 6.3? He looks like 6.0 or 6.1 to me

watch him dunk in the workout film....he's just really young looking...as prunetang mentioned...he's probably not done growing...

 

[James lamphear]

watch him dunk in the workout film....he's just really young looking...as prunetang mentioned...he's probably not done growing...

We are just old and all those kids looks like babies.

 

[BBert]

Drafts are always up to debate, but I like that the Blazers went for big upside. You can always play it safe, but when you hit on potential, the reward is golden. Welcome to Portland Fellas.

I also agree with the strategy. At no. 24, if they concluded there was no clear difference maker on the board, swing for a home run. If they whiff, oh well, didn't really lose much. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

 

[Sarni]

Why are people making the claim that this was a high risk pick by NO and that he finally did something risky. He absolutely did the OPPOSITE of that. He took a guy no one expects to play at all in the next year (maybe two), so when / if he doesn’t really get on the court well no one expected otherwise. It’s completely low risk as the expectations are basically nothing, by the time we think he’ll play we will all have moved on to different drafts, different rosters. Last year was a much higher risk, trading up for a guy and proclaiming him to be part of the foundation of the team.

I don’t know how I feel about this draft for the Blazers, it didn’t really do much for me. One guy has potential but more than likely won’t be playing for a while, the other guy basically plays No defense at all. It’s a wait and see.

Whoever he took at no. 24 couldn’t be expected to contribute next year. Who out of the last three drafts went 24 or so and contributed to his team in first season and made them better? Kuzma, Hart at Lakers and Anunoby at Raptors. In 2016 maybe Murray and Siakam but they contributed more in 2nd year.

Let’s not act as if we had a top lottery pick. The argument above could have been done for 2017 draft and Collins.

 

[riverman]

Whoever he took at no. 24 couldn’t be expected to contribute next year. Who out of the last three drafts went 24 or so and contributed to his team in first season and made them better?

Jordan Bell comes to mind

 

[riverman]

Paul Allen has always had a big hard on for young rookie point gaurds.

creepy

 

[BBert]

It is difficult/impossible/stupid to even try to "address you needs" with pick #24. BPA.

Simons already has the SKILLS to play right away. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the strength or stamina to do so.
My guess is that he'll be completely spent just playing summer league. He also is clueless about nba basketball.
He referred to himself as a "good defender". When the press pressed him for specifics, he couldn't give any. He
seemed to have no idea what good defense involves. So, he's not ready physically, and he has a steep learning curve
to understand the Blazers offense and defense.

Hopefully, the Blazers will implement the following plan with Simons:
1) "Gary, we want you to continue your weight room regimen your dad put you on. Oh, and whenever you go to
the weight room, take Simons with you and make sure he does all the stuff you do."
2) "Baldwin. We want you to spend time guarding Simons every practice. Introduce him to the nba for us...."

I think he'll be ready physically and mentally to play 20 mpg in a year, but I tend to be optimistic about these things.

I don't mean to beat the dead horse, but I'm looking at this like the Blazers traded the No. 24 pick in this year's draft, because they didn't see a difference maker on the board, for a top 10 (top 5 if I dream big) pick in the 2019 draft. Based on my assumptions, I think that's a pretty good deal. It doesn't matter if he doesn't contribute this year, this pick is for next year.

 

[BBert]

For the pro tank crowd who wants us to lose our way into the lottery, we just got a lottery pick in next year's draft, and we didn't have to suck to do it.

The pro BPA crowd say you always take the best player available, regardless of position. Now people ate bitching that Simons plays the same position as Same and C.J.

In every draft there are 1, 2, sometimes 3 players taken at 24 or below who end up being better players than half, or more, of the guys taken in the lottery.

Will Simons end up being one of those guys? It's impossible to predict. If it was possible, those guys wouldn't be available at 24 and lower. Everything I've read about this guy says he's a five star recruit that would have gone in the lottery next year. So, kudos to Neil for swinging for the fences and not just making a safe pick.

BNM

This. So much this.

 

[BBert]

My car has those! I love 'em! (Especially because I need to fix the window switches for the main front windows...)

I think they got rid of those little wing windows because they made it easy to break into cars. But yeah, low tech air conditioning at it's finest.

 

[BBert]

I may be wrong but wasn't he supposed to go to Louisville last year and bailed when Pitino was fired and ended up at IMG instead?

Yes, you may be wrong. But in this case, you are not.

Unless you are wrong about being wrong.

 

[riverman]

I think they got rid of those little wing windows because they made it easy to break into cars. But yeah, low tech air conditioning at it's finest.

and the quickest way ever to defog a windshield

 

[illmatic99]

I may be wrong but wasn't he supposed to go to Louisville last year and bailed when Pitino was fired and ended up at IMG instead?

Yes, he lost a crucial year of development. Say what you want about NCAA, but these colleges have a far more proven track record in developing players than IMG

 

[Scalma]

Yes, he lost a crucial year of development. Say what you want about NCAA, but these colleges have a far more proven track record in developing players than IMG

Anfernee disagrees. Says he was allowed to live in the gym and work on his game instead of going to classes.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Good. If he played college next year, he could be a top 10 pick.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Whoever he took at no. 24 couldn’t be expected to contribute next year. Who out of the last three drafts went 24 or so and contributed to his team in first season and made them better? Kuzma, Hart at Lakers and Anunoby at Raptors. In 2016 maybe Murray and Siakam but they contributed more in 2nd year.

Let’s not act as if we had a top lottery pick. The argument above could have been done for 2017 draft and Collins.

It's not even really a criticism of the pick though. At 24 it's always who knows what you'll get. However, I don't see this as a "risk" at all for NO. Next year if Simons doesn't play, well we expected that. The year after that we will have another Draft, another round of FA's, and who knows what trades happen. If Simons doesn't play again, well it's easy to just say he didn't work out, or the roster changes put better players in front of him. Last year jumping up taking Collins and in the coming days saying I expect him to be part of the foundation moving forward, is much riskier than the Simons pick. My entire point is that I've read several people say this is high risk, high reward! What's the risk? They had the 24th pick, no one wanted it apparently, so they had to take someone. They took a guy that they admit isn't ready for the NBA, and the scouting reports say might be 2 years away from ready. If Simons never pans out, it's pretty easy to brush it off.

It might be a good pick, because if he does pan out you got a player! There really is almost no risk in this pick for NO though, especially short term as the guy is expected to basically not play for a year or two.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Wasn't a top 10 pick (was a HUGE reach at 13), is smaller, less athletic than Simons, but hey, they both committed to Louisville, so I guess they have something in common.

BNM

 

[Boob-No-More]

It's not even really a criticism of the pick though. At 24 it's always who knows what you'll get. However, I don't see this as a "risk" at all for NO. Next year if Simons doesn't play, well we expected that. The year after that we will have another Draft, another round of FA's, and who knows what trades happen. If Simons doesn't play again, well it's easy to just say he didn't work out, or the roster changes put better players in front of him. Last year jumping up taking Collins and in the coming days saying I expect him to be part of the foundation moving forward, is much riskier than the Simons pick. My entire point is that I've read several people say this is high risk, high reward! What's the risk? They had the 24th pick, no one wanted it apparently, so they had to take someone. They took a guy that they admit isn't ready for the NBA, and the scouting reports say might be 2 years away from ready. If Simons never pans out, it's pretty easy to brush it off.

It might be a good pick, because if he does pan out you got a player! There really is almost no risk in this pick for NO though, especially short term as the guy is expected to basically not play for a year or two.

So, pretty much any pick you make at 24 is low risk, because the expectations are low.

Or, in other words, is their such a thing as a high risk pick this late in the draft when all the blue chippers are already off the board?

BNM

 

[Propagandist]

Why are people making the claim that this was a high risk pick by NO and that he finally did something risky. He absolutely did the OPPOSITE of that. He took a guy no one expects to play at all in the next year (maybe two), so when / if he doesn’t really get on the court well no one expected otherwise. It’s completely low risk as the expectations are basically nothing, by the time we think he’ll play we will all have moved on to different drafts, different rosters. Last year was a much higher risk, trading up for a guy and proclaiming him to be part of the foundation of the team.

I don’t know how I feel about this draft for the Blazers, it didn’t really do much for me. One guy has potential but more than likely won’t be playing for a while, the other guy basically plays No defense at all. It’s a wait and see.

Exactly. The last high risk thing Olshey did was trading for Afflalo, and it didn't work. High risk is trading something of value for something that just might work but also might not. Like if we'd traded for Paul George or Carmelo (phew!) last summer. This taking a gamble on unknown quantities is different...because there is an out. If Simons doesn't work out, no one is going to lambaste Olshey about it--he's a child that went to high school for 5 years--but if it does work out then Olshey is a genius.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

So, pretty much any pick you make at 24 is low risk, because the expectations are low.

Or, in other words, is their such a thing as a high risk pick this late in the draft when all the blue chippers are already off the board?

BNM

Well if he had Drafted another guy and said hey we expect him to be a rotational player at least that’s placing expectations and “risk for NO”, onto it.
Taking a project, and placing no expectations on him is about as low risk as possible. The risk here is for Neil right he’s the GM.

 

[BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94]

Exactly. The last high risk thing Olshey did was trading for Afflalo, and it didn't work. High risk is trading something of value for something that just might work but also might not. Like if we'd traded for Paul George or Carmelo (phew!) last summer. This taking a gamble on unknown quantities is different...because there is an out. If Simons doesn't work out, no one is going to lambaste Olshey about it--he's a child that went to high school for 5 years--but if it does work out then Olshey is a genius.

Even as bad as Melo was, he’d still be better than ANY of our wings.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Well if he had Drafted another guy and said hey we expect him to be a rotational player at least that’s placing expectations and “risk for NO”, onto it.
Taking a project, and placing no expectations on him is about as low risk as possible. The risk here is for Neil right he’s the GM.

There wasn't a player on the board at 24 that any GM in his right mind would say that about. Especially the GM of a 49-win playoff team.

BNM

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

There wasn't a player on the board at 24 that any GM in his right mind would say that about. Especially the GM of a 49-win playoff team.

BNM

Fair enough, but my argument wasn’t that. My argument is that people saying this was a high risk pick, well in my opinion it wasn’t.

 

[CupWizier]

Even as bad as Melo was, he’d still be better than ANY of our wings.

Not at the cost it wouldn't have been. I'll take Harkless at 10 mil over Melo at 27mil.

 

[BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94]

Not at the cost it wouldn't have been. I'll take Harkless at 10 mil over Melo at 27mil.

Carmelo expires after this coming season. Who cares if he makes 27 mil? Besides I imagine the trade was gonna be Hark, Turner, and Napier for Melo or Hark, Meyers, Napier, and Biggie. Which I would still do today.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Fair enough, but my argument wasn’t that. My argument is that people saying this was a high risk pick, well in my opinion it wasn’t.

Not trying to speak for anyone else, but what I think they may be referring to is, because of his complete lack of college experience, there is a high risk he'll flame out.

In other words, most people associate high risk with high potential for reward. The guy has high potential, but there is a high risk he'll never reach it.

BNM

 

[BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94]

Not trying to speak for anyone else, but what I think they may be referring to is, because of his complete lack of college experience, there is a high risk he'll flame out.

In other words, most people associate high risk with high potential for reward. The guy has high potential, but there is a high risk he'll never reach it.

BNM

I mean, this can be said for about 2/3rds of NBA prospects. The scary thing about HS kids/Simons is that we as fans haven’t got to really see him play. That’s why college is important.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Not at the cost it wouldn't have been. I'll take Harkless at 10 mil over Melo at 27mil.

As inconsistent as he is, I'd take 25-year old Harkless at $27 million over 34-year old Carmelo at $10 million.

Carmelo is done. He has always sucked at defense, but when he was younger, his offense made up for it. Not any more. He sucks worse than ever defensively and his offense is rapidly catching up with his defense.

BNM

 

[CupWizier]

Carmelo expires after this coming season. Who cares if he makes 27 mil? Besides I imagine the trade was gonna be Hark, Turner, and Napier for Melo or Hark, Meyers, Napier, and Biggie. Which I would still do today.

no way that package would be comparable to what New York wanted as they didn't want long term contracts.

 

[Boob-No-More]

I mean, this can be said for about 2/3rds of NBA prospects. The scary thing about HS kids/Simons is that we as fans haven’t got to really see him play. That’s why college is important.

Especially for an 24th pick, any 24th pick, but at least with college kids you have plenty of tape of them competing against players of comparable ability.

BNM