Is Simons really just Jake Layman?

Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

This is a ridiculous take. Sorry it just is. He's never been afraid to shoot the ball.

The kid needs strength. Plain and simple. Lower and upper body strength will make him a better finisher.

He gets bumped off his route to the rim because he needs to get stronger.
this and he needs to learn to playmake...passing..throwing a lob, driving and dishing...he is not a great passer
 
this and he needs to learn to playmake...passing..throwing a lob, driving and dishing...he is not a great passer

PG is the hardest position to learn offensively and defensively.

He now has one of the best defensive, team orchestrating PGs of all time to teach him now.

Not the coach that doesn't hold players accountable and doesn't seem to be able to teach PG play. Like @Orion Bailey said, I'm excited to see what coach can do with the kid. I think a 3rd PG (playmaking) would even push him to get better in this area.

God I want to trade CJ pretty bad now... Even for Tobias Harris at this point.
 
The most recent pic of him leads me to believe he has been working out hard. Imagine if he attacked the rim like Norm, who is FEARLESS.
 
Skill set right now is very limited

strengths
good spot up 3 pt shooter
Super athletic (slam dunk champ)

weaknesses
Bad defensively (lateral movement seems slow)
Always seems to be step behind or chasing his man.
For as athletic as he is he doesn’t get many steals, is rarely on a break away for dunks (might be because of our defense)
Rarely drives to basket (this is my biggest concern for him offensively) a kid that athletic should be getting baskets at the rim. While this is my biggest concern it’s the one area I could see him improving since he’s young and playing a little scared he will mature

He’s gifted, my concern is he’s played enough that we should have seen a few more breakout games. If they are great players you usually see more glimpses of greatness. Also guys who are great believe in themselves and don’t shy away from things like driving to the basket.
You're really selling the kid short calling him only spot up shooter who's athletic. Your analysis is pretty lacking...

Strengths:
He's capable of creating his own shot.
Deceptively quick (1st step is really quick)
He has good footwork. He's a very solid ball handler.
Has good offensive instincts by being in the right place at the right time.
Shows pick and roll potential with a good understanding of how to use on ball screens.

In your weaknesses you missed his biggest one, STRENGTH.
That's what most of his defensive deficiencies are caused by (lack of strength and COACHING)
That is also why he doesn't drive to the basket much. He needs to put on about 15 lbs of lean muscle.

my analysis isn’t lacking it’s just different then yours. I want the kid to be great and hope he improves but at this point that’s how I see him. Again no knock on him tough to develop with limited time and touches with two great players in front of him
 
This is a ridiculous take. Sorry it just is. He's never been afraid to shoot the ball.

The kid needs strength. Plain and simple. Lower and upper body strength will make him a better finisher.

He gets bumped off his route to the rim because he needs to get stronger.


As someone who played, shooting an open outside shot and missing it is perceived differently than driving to the basket and missing a shot, and they should be. They are two very different things. One can quite easily be described as a ball stopper depending on how often they attack the basket, whereas a shooter is always expected to shoot an open shot.
 
As someone who played, shooting an open outside shot and missing it is perceived differently than driving to the basket and missing a shot, and they should be. They are two very different things. One can quite easily be described as a ball stopper depending on how often they attack the basket, whereas a shooter is always expected to shoot an open shot.

A ball stopper is one who does nothing with the ball when they get it. Holding it without shooting or driving is ball stopping.

Brandon Roy was a bit of a ball stopper.

The ball is moving when you attack the basket (without holding it) and people can react based upon that type of movement of the ball.

This is completely different from what I'm saying. I'm saying he is reluctant to drive because he isn't strong enough.
 
A ball stopper is one who does nothing with the ball when they get it. Holding it without shooting or driving is ball stopping.

Brandon Roy was a bit of a ball stopper.

The ball is moving when you attack the basket (without holding it) and people can react based upon that type of movement of the ball.

This is completely different from what I'm saying. I'm saying he is reluctant to drive because he isn't strong enough.


Regardless of weight he’s scared to drive because he’s not confident. He can overcome that but needs to happen this year

ball stopper is someone who doesn’t pass once they get it. Melo was a ball stopper his whole career
 
I wish Ant had the confidence in himself that Olshey has in him. The guy gets lost on defense a lot and I think it's because he second guesses himself. He turns down open driving lanes on offense because he doesn't think it's his place. Maybe coach Billups can get in his ear and get him to try to do all of the things he should be doing. Then we can see if he even has these deficiencies. Right now there's assumptions about what he can't do but all I see is a guy who doesn't think he can so he isn't trying... not out of laziness but out of a lack of confidence. The only thing he has confidence in right now is his spot up jumper and that's working.
Lack of confidence? Yes, probably so. But the good players fight through that and figure it out. The fact that Simons hasn’t figured it out in three seasons is telling. He’s got some skills, but I’m not sure he’ll ever have an NBA game.
 
One thing I haven’t seen talked about much is his upcoming free agency. Team already has so much money invested in guards, if simons can’t show improvement playing point, what’s his future in Portland? Wouldn’t be surprised if he was used similarly to Trent at the deadline.
 
One thing I haven’t seen talked about much is his upcoming free agency. Team already has so much money invested in guards, if simons can’t show improvement playing point, what’s his future in Portland? Wouldn’t be surprised if he was used similarly to Trent at the deadline.
Gonna be our next Will Barton. Question is, who's the Afflalo for whom he'll be dealt in an ill-fated attempt to convice Dame we're a contender?
 
One thing I haven’t seen talked about much is his upcoming free agency. Team already has so much money invested in guards, if simons can’t show improvement playing point, what’s his future in Portland? Wouldn’t be surprised if he was used similarly to Trent at the deadline.
If CJ is traded for a forward then that guard rotation opens up and if Ant can show some improvement he'd be a nice player to have around for 7-10M, going forward. At the same time if he is starting to show some hints of something better, you're right that he could be good in a deadline trade.
 
If he's really a legit 6'5 at this point as rumored, he's an NBA shooting guard. He certainly seems to have added some muscle to his frame.


I'm not sold he'll ever be starting quality, but he's definitely in the Layman/Crabbe/Connaughton/Trent/Little list of overlooked perimeter players who will have a career in the league.

Interestingly, Simons and Trent are by far the best shooters in the bunch. (I pulled data on the closest age to Simons in the NBA.) It's not even remotely close. Pretty important, given that none of these guys are really known for other skills.

Maybe the thread should've been called, "Is Simons really just Gary Trent?"
 
Last edited:
If he's really a legit 6'5 at this point as rumored, he's an NBA shooting guard. He certainly seems to have added some muscle to his frame.


I'm not sold he'll ever be starting quality, but he's definitely in the Layman/Crabbe/Connaughton/Trent/Little list of overlooked perimeter players who will have a career in the league.

Interestingly, Simons is by far the best shooter of the bunch at that age. (I pulled data on the closest age to Simons in the NBA.) It's not even remotely close.

A 6'5" Simons and a 6'7" Nas (also rumored) on our bench would get me hyped going into this season.
 
If he's really a legit 6'5 at this point as rumored, he's an NBA shooting guard. He certainly seems to have added some muscle to his frame.

c'mon...6'5??

he was measured as 6'2.25 in the pre-draft camp. I can believe a player growing an inch or so after turning 19...but nearly 3 inches? That's really a stretch. And he sure wasn't 6'5 just 3 months ago the last time I saw him play. Allan Crabbe was 6'5 and Simons is nowhere close to being as big

as for Simons, he has one developed skill and that's 3 point shooting. Fortunately, that's one of the most valuable skills in the NBA. But there are also a lot of one-trick ponies in the league with that skill. Simons needs to develop something else, especially considering his bad defense
 
c'mon...6'5??

he was measured as 6'2.25 in the pre-draft camp. I can believe a player growing an inch or so after turning 19...but nearly 3 inches? That's really a stretch. And he sure wasn't 6'5 just 3 months ago the last time I saw him play. Allan Crabbe was 6'5 and Simons is nowhere close to being as big

as for Simons, he has one developed skill and that's 3 point shooting. Fortunately, that's one of the most valuable skills in the NBA. But there are also a lot of one-trick ponies in the league with that skill. Simons needs to develop something else, especially considering his bad defense


I doubt it too. But that's apparently the current Reddit rumor.
 
I doubt it too. But that's apparently the current Reddit rumor.


ok...so I read that thread a little and saw this:

upload_2021-9-1_10-5-25.png

so then...the first thing is it's Marang jacking his jaws again. And he says Ant was 6'3.5 when he was drafted

well, here are Ant's pre-draft measurements:

upload_2021-9-1_10-7-13.png

so, Ant wasn't even 6'3.5 in shoes yet. He was under 6'2.5. I think Ant being 6'5 is just homeristic bullshit. He may have grown to 6'3; he'd need to wear shoes with 2 inch soles then. But the NBA stopped 'accepting' in shoes measurements...as they should have, a long time ago
 

Attachments

  • upload_2021-9-1_10-5-25.png
    upload_2021-9-1_10-5-25.png
    22 KB · Views: 31
  • upload_2021-9-1_10-7-13.png
    upload_2021-9-1_10-7-13.png
    4.2 KB · Views: 30
Last edited:
ok...so I read that thread a little and saw this:

View attachment 40491

so then...the first thing is it's Marang jacking his jaws again. And he says Ant was 6'3.5 when he was drafted

well, here are Ant's pre-draft measurements:

View attachment 40492

so, Ant wasn't even 6'3.5 in shoes yet. He was under 6'2.5. I think Ant being 6'5 is just homeristic bullshit. He may have grown to 6'3; he'd need to wear shoes with 2 inch soles then. But the NBA stopped 'accepting' in shoes measurements...as they should have, a long time ago

but his hair grew another inch or two! Add it all up.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top