Simons is a nightmare

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Ant is trying to find his rhythm again. 6/13 from 3 tonight, around 12 3PA is what I want Ant at this year. I don’t expect 6 makes every night, but the threat of it makes a world of difference for the spacing.

The guy’s just played in his second game all season and looked better on defense than we’ve ever seen him, but I’m not surprised that some of you are clinging onto the 10/27 lol.
 
I hated Simons next to Dame, but we really need his outside shooting right now. Worst case, Ant averages 26+ and becomes a legitimate trade chip.

His defense looks a bit better this year? Really had me raising an eyebrow in that first game. I've never seen him play defense like that.
 
BankTeller said:
Ant is trying to find his rhythm again. 6/13 from 3 tonight, around 12 3PA is what I want Ant at this year. I don’t expect 6 makes every night, but the threat of it makes a world of difference for the spacing.

The guy’s just played in his second game all season and looked better on defense than we’ve ever seen him, but I’m not surprised that some of you are clinging onto the 10/27 lol.
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It's less box score to me than him disrupting the actual flow of offense. The team ran better with Scoot managing the ball than Ant. It's the same complaint I've had with certain times with Grant and Brogdon. He's a fine player but he doesn't fit the identity we're trying to build.
 
AmirIcon said:
It's less box score to me than him disrupting the actual flow of offense. The team ran better with Scoot managing the ball than Ant. It's the same complaint I've had with certain times with Grant and Brogdon. He's a fine player but he doesn't fit the identity we're trying to build.
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I’ll have to watch again, but I don’t remember THAT many possessions where we was holding a ball for a prolonged amount of time that resulted in him chucking up a shot. A looot of his misses were within the flow of the offense that were bunnies. The last missed 3 he threw up with 2 seconds left wouldn’t have changed the game, we were down 4, and he didn’t care.

Conversely, I remember a couple possessions of players not finishing, and Ant setting up guys like Reath to get to the line (something that won’t show up on the stat sheet). I remember writing in the game thread some time in the second quarter that his passing has been good and he was playing within the flow, with somebody replying to acknowledge he indeed was passing the ball well.

There’s so many nuances to that 10/27, that it isn’t even fair to say for a player who has played in his second game of the season. He easily could’ve also been 15/26. He drew like 1 shooting foul all game, didn’t look to get to the rack like he did in the first game.
 
I really want to see if they can find a way to run a three guard rotation with those three. I don't want Sharpe at the 3. The biggest question would be defense with Scoot-Ant, and running the offense with Ant-Sharpe. And I have real questions about who fills in if you trade Ant. Do you need roll players to back up PG and SG? Probably the cheapest and best option. Unlikely to find someone that can play 1 and 2 and is big enough to defend both, and would be happy as sixth man. Keep Brog?
 
BankTeller said:
I’ll have to watch again, but I don’t remember THAT many possessions where we was holding a ball for a prolonged amount of time that resulted in him chucking up a shot.
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I would not waste your time. It did not happen. The offense was fun to watch last night until the end. Every Blazer fan I was texting said the same. It is only on this board where ISO talk is an obsession. Ant made some tough shots last night to keep us in it, and he missed a couple late that would have won it. It happens.

The problem I saw was the lack of options on offense late when the Warriors double-teamed Ant. He was able to get rid of the ball without a turnover to Camara (Twice) but the next pass needed to go to Shae. But I don't blame Camara for shooting it as he was open. If we had Ayton, Grant, and Brogdon on the floor to help, things would have looked different.
 
Portland2014 said:
10/27

iso, iso, iso

he's back!
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Why am I not surprised someone went back to pull up this thread, some of you guys are cringe just pointing out negative things over and over without talking about the positives.
 
Ant in his two games back:

29.0/3.0/6.0 (3.5to) on .417/.435/1.00

Most national pundits thought he would be around the 24-25ppg mark on low shooting splits anyways. He’s just coming back. Ant is good enough at shooting that around 40% on the 10 3PA should be sustainable for him. I fully expect him to get back on track with his 2P% and getting back on track of improving his FTA.

Defensively, he looked like he had more good moments than bad moments live. He didn’t do anything special as a playmaker, he just made the right passes. I’m excited to see where he ends up at the end of the season, if this is the worst Ant we’ll be seeing.
 
BankTeller said:
Ant in his two games back:

29.0/3.0/6.0 (3.5to) on .417/.435/1.00

Most national pundits thought he would be around the 24-25ppg mark on low shooting splits anyways. He’s just coming back. Ant is good enough at shooting that around 40% on the 10 3PA should be sustainable for him. I fully expect him to get back on track with his 2P% and getting back on track of improving his FTA.

Defensively, he looked like he had more good moments than bad moments live. He didn’t do anything special as a playmaker, he just made the right passes. I’m excited to see where he ends up at the end of the season, if this is the worst Ant we’ll be seeing.
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His scoring SHOULD come down a bit when Grant and Ayton come back.
 
AmirIcon said:
It's less box score to me than him disrupting the actual flow of offense. The team ran better with Scoot managing the ball than Ant. It's the same complaint I've had with certain times with Grant and Brogdon. He's a fine player but he doesn't fit the identity we're trying to build.
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It fascinates me how the offense can be dead last in adjusted ORTG and AST% and bottom five in RIM% and 3P% but getting a shot-maker back "messes up the flow"... What flow? What identity are we building on offense exactly?
 
MarinerDNA said:
I hated Simons next to Dame, but we really need his outside shooting right now. Worst case, Ant averages 26+ and becomes a legitimate trade chip.

His defense looks a bit better this year? Really had me raising an eyebrow in that first game. I've never seen him play defense like that.
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I actually didn’t see that defense in the first game, but that was awhile ago. I’ve seen in the last two games. Ant had a couple bad defensive possesions against Luka, but also some really good ones where Luka missed. He also stood his ground and barely moved when Powell was trying to back him down. The crowd around me was audibly impressed with it, shame it ended in Powell finding someone cutting to the basket, because Ant put in a great effort on that one possession.
 
BonesJones said:
It fascinates me how the offense can be dead last in adjusted ORTG and AST% and bottom five in RIM% and 3P% but getting a shot-maker back "messes up the flow"... What flow? What identity are we building on offense exactly?
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at the end of this Mavs game, Billups ran 100% uncut freestyle non-structured offense. It was advanced City League pickup basketball. Drive kick shoot. If the Mavs trap Ant, spread out and shoot 3-pointers?? How did the Mavs break the doubles? Wow, look, Dallas made a ladder and attacked the hoop. Basic fundamental offense that goes m.i.a. during Billups ball.
 
Whyachi said:
at the end of this Mavs game, Billups ran 100% uncut freestyle non-structured offense. It was advanced City League pickup basketball. Drive kick shoot. If the Mavs trap Ant, spread out and shoot 3-pointers?? How did the Mavs break the doubles? Wow, look, Dallas made a ladder and attacked the hoop. Basic fundamental offense that goes m.i.a. during Billups ball.
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Did you just disregard the difference in personnel? Are you talking about Lively and Powell when you say made a ladder and attacked the hoop? Our only 7’0 guy in the game was a shooter.
 
BankTeller said:
Did you just disregard the difference in personnel? Are you talking about Lively and Powell when you say made a ladder and attacked the hoop? Our only 7’0 guy in the game was a shooter.
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that's how Dallas broke the traps. There are other ways to take advantage of a double team. Blazers did a Simons pocket pass to Jabari. Difficult but effective, it actually worked. There's triangles, there's give & go's, there's all kindsa stuff to take advantage of a double team. I honestly only saw 1 "play" one time. Everything else was chuck roast.
 
Whyachi said:
that's how Dallas broke the traps. There are other ways to take advantage of a double team. Blazers did a Simons pocket pass to Jabari. Difficult but effective, it actually worked. There's triangles, there's give & go's, there's all kindsa stuff to take advantage of a double team. I honestly only saw 1 "play" one time. Everything else was chuck roast.
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It’s just really hard for me to be critical of him right now given everything that’s against him. For 1, he was injured for like 20 games. 2, his starting PF and C have both been absent in those games. 3, the players he has around him aren’t good enough to do much yet. You mention the pocket pass to Jabari actually working, I can remember a couple of times in the 4th where Jabari got the pass and didn’t know what to do with it.

You’re entitled to be critical of him, I just won’t. I see too many good things going on right now with Ant to worry about “stalling the offense”. He hasn’t been up to this point.
 
For reference, this was Fox’s age 24 season, two seasons ago:
23.2/3.9/5.6 (2.8to) on .473/.297/.750 (5.9fta)
In this season, the Kings finished 12th in the conference, 30-52.

Ant’s current age 24 season:
25.3/2.7/5.3 (2.3to) on .419/.414/1.00 (4.0fta)
Current standing, 14th in the conference.

They are closer in comparison as players than you would think. Neither are true PGs, both are a threat to score (just in different ways). I think Ant’s playmaking has largely caught up to Fox’s—Fox might still be the ‘better passer’ if you’re looking at raw stats, but I think Ant is going to be this player going forward, where he averages between 6-7apg a season. The prior two years to this season, Ant’s 2P% (50.9%) has within range of Fox’s 2P% between ages 20-24 (51%).

The similarities are closer than you think. Fox’s 2P% really jumped last season at 58% (54% this season). Fox is like 1.5 years older than Ant, and has always had this reputation of being an elite PG prospect. Ant is closing the gap, on a much smaller salary.
 
Simons is going to be our starting PG for a long time folks. So much for Scoot Flenderson....
 
BankTeller said:
For reference, this was Fox’s age 24 season, two seasons ago:
23.2/3.9/5.6 (2.8to) on .473/.297/.750 (5.9fta)
In this season, the Kings finished 12th in the conference, 30-52.

Ant’s current age 24 season:
25.3/2.7/5.3 (2.3to) on .419/.414/1.00 (4.0fta)
Current standing, 14th in the conference.

They are closer in comparison as players than you would think. Neither are true PGs, both are a threat to score (just in different ways). I think Ant’s playmaking has largely caught up to Fox’s—Fox might still be the ‘better passer’ if you’re looking at raw stats, but I think Ant is going to be this player going forward, where he averages between 6-7apg a season. The prior two years to this season, Ant’s 2P% (50.9%) has within range of Fox’s 2P% between ages 20-24 (51%).

The similarities are closer than you think. Fox’s 2P% really jumped last season at 58% (54% this season). Fox is like 1.5 years older than Ant, and has always had this reputation of being an elite PG prospect. Ant is closing the gap, on a much smaller salary.
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This is why I think it's important for Portland to draft a talented point forward to compliment Simons, who plays more like a scoring combo guard.

That Sharpe is proving himself to be able to make plays, as well, means that trio of Simons-Sharpe and the Point Forward will be able to compliment each other.

More and more, I'm thinking Cody Williams could fit here especially since Buzelis has been kind of mediocre in the G-League (maybe a later draft pick for him?).

Ideally, if Portland secures Cooper Flagg or Cam Boozer at the 4? That's a starting line up with five players who can each hit 20ppg (on separate teams).
 
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MrDraftGuy said:
This is why I think it's important for Portland to draft a talented point forward to compliment Simons, who plays more like a scoring combo guard.

That Sharpe is proving himself to be able to make plays, as well, means that trio of Simons-Sharpe and the Point Forward will be able to compliment each other.

More and more, I'm thinking Cody Williams could fit here especially since Buzelis has been kind of mediocre in the G-League (maybe a later draft pick for him?).

Ideally, if Portland secures Cooper Flagg or Cam Boozer at the 4? That's a starting line up with five players who can each hit 20ppg.
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Amen Thompson would have been the fit as the point forward.
 
MrDraftGuy said:
This is why I think it's important for Portland to draft a talented point forward to compliment Simons, who plays more like a scoring combo guard.

That Sharpe is proving himself to be able to make plays, as well, means that trio of Simons-Sharpe and the Point Forward will be able to compliment each other.

More and more, I'm thinking Cody Williams could fit here especially since Buzelis has been kind of mediocre in the G-League (maybe a later draft pick for him?).

Ideally, if Portland secures Cooper Flagg or Cam Boozer at the 4? That's a starting line up with five players who can each hit 20ppg (on separate teams).
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Buzelis hasn’t been mediocre, he’s been injured. He just returned recently and had a decent game.
 
AmirIcon said:
Amen Thompson would have been the fit as the point forward.
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Yeah, I was a pretty big Thompson twin guy. I still think he or his brother was Pippen to Sharpe's "Jordan". Ausar's performances are similar to what I saw in Sharpe, last season, where there is a TON of potential and a natural feel for the game and I think, if Amen were given free reign in Portland rather than the forward-heavy Rockets, he would showcase something similar.

We'll see though

BankTeller said:
Buzelis hasn’t been mediocre, he’s been injured. He just returned recently and had a decent game.
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Even before the injury, he was just 'okay' in his G-League games. Again, that goes with my comparison to Chandler Parsons/Nic Batum as his median where, if he improves, he'll become Gordon Hayward/Rashard Lewis which, due to his unique skillset, I think he can but it's a bit riskier to take him.

It's a good thing his stock has fallen imo. If Portland can move Grant and/or Brogdon, they might be able to snatch up draft picks in what is a "weak draft" and nab him.

I know some want to ride this out with Grant and Brogdon but there's no reason Portland can't be the OKC Thunder (currently #2 in the West at the time of this writing) where Sharpe is SGA backed by talented players like Dort, Giddey, Williams, Wallace, Poku....with a legitimate second star in Chet showing up......and plenty of draft picks still available.
 
MrDraftGuy said:
Yeah, I was a pretty big Thompson twin guy. I still think he or his brother was Pippen to Sharpe's "Jordan". Ausar's performances are similar to what I saw in Sharpe, last season, where there is a TON of potential and a natural feel for the game and I think, if Amen were given free reign in Portland rather than the forward-heavy Rockets, he would showcase something similar.

We'll see though



Even before the injury, he was just 'okay' in his G-League games. Again, that goes with my comparison to Chandler Parsons/Nic Batum as his median where, if he improves, he'll become Gordon Hayward/Rashard Lewis which, due to his unique skillset, I think he can but it's a bit riskier to take him.

It's a good thing his stock has fallen imo. If Portland can move Grant and/or Brogdon, they might be able to snatch up draft picks in what is a "weak draft" and nab him.

I know some want to ride this out with Grant and Brogdon but there's no reason Portland can't be the OKC Thunder (currently #2 in the West at the time of this writing) where Sharpe is SGA backed by talented players like Dort, Giddey, Williams, Wallace, Poku....with a legitimate second star in Chet showing up......and plenty of draft picks still available.
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We both shared the same love for the twins. I somewhat disagree on your assessment of Buzelis, simply due to your player comparisons/projections. The only guy you stated that’s actually similar to Buzelis is Batum, and I do agree that’s is floor or basement. I hadn’t watched too much of Hayward at any point if his career so I had to check his stats, and I guess Hayward averaged more assists than I thought. I do think that Buzelis is a tier above Hayward as a playmaker and isn’t worse than Hayward at anything, as a prospect. In his peak, I think Buzelis will be a better rebounder and playmaker, probably even defender. The other two players (Parsons and Lewis) aren’t the same as Buzelis at all. Lewis was only a shooter, and although Parsons did a little more than that, he wasn’t particularly good at anything besides being a pretty good shooter, and averaged 12ppg in his career.

I do agree on the idea that Buzelis’s performances right now could benefit us though. I’ve had him as my 2A in this draft but continuously said he could slip to around 10 or even past 10. There were people here keen on getting Gradey Dick in any Dame or Holiday trade with Toronto, and I just think Buzelis is a much better prospect.

I think that between our pick, the Warriors pick, and two 2nds between 30-40 are plenty of picks to have in a ‘weak draft’. Between the two 1sts, we could land Buzelis if Schmitz really wanted him, with the available picks that we have. We currently have a total of one 1st in the Cooper Flagg draft (zero if we make the playoffs), I’d rather look for a second 1st in ‘25, or a later 1st in general.
 
Simons is finally playing the role that he needs to be playing to show his full potential and this is a good thing. We can keep Scoot on the bench and let him develop. There’s no rush. If it takes him a year or two, that’s fine. We have Simons on an affordable deal and he’s playing well.

We need a young stud forward to replace Grant.
 
BankTeller said:
For reference, this was Fox’s age 24 season, two seasons ago:
23.2/3.9/5.6 (2.8to) on .473/.297/.750 (5.9fta)
In this season, the Kings finished 12th in the conference, 30-52.

Ant’s current age 24 season:
25.3/2.7/5.3 (2.3to) on .419/.414/1.00 (4.0fta)
Current standing, 14th in the conference.

They are closer in comparison as players than you would think. Neither are true PGs, both are a threat to score (just in different ways). I think Ant’s playmaking has largely caught up to Fox’s—Fox might still be the ‘better passer’ if you’re looking at raw stats, but I think Ant is going to be this player going forward, where he averages between 6-7apg a season. The prior two years to this season, Ant’s 2P% (50.9%) has within range of Fox’s 2P% between ages 20-24 (51%).

The similarities are closer than you think. Fox’s 2P% really jumped last season at 58% (54% this season). Fox is like 1.5 years older than Ant, and has always had this reputation of being an elite PG prospect. Ant is closing the gap, on a much smaller salary.
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you're comparing 3 games for Ant to 59 games for Fox, and gauging by that?
 
wizenheimer said:
you're comparing 3 games for Ant to 59 games for Fox, and gauging by that?
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Yes, simply because I’ve set my expectations for Ant at 24-26/3-4/6 on increased efficiency from last season, and all he’s done is be on line with that expectation. It wasn’t like I had this idea of Ant staying the same player (20ppg, not much else) he he’s been and am now overreacting to three games.

If you’re someone like wizenheimer who already thought to Ant as a CJ-clone, then yes it sounds ridiculous to compare the two. I have faith CJ will be more than that, so it doesn’t sound far fetched to me.
 
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