Game Thread Sunday, July 7th, 7 PM PDT: Blazers vs. Rockets on NBATV

[BBert]

Ok, not talking about you in particular, but I'm already tired of people looking at the boxscore and seeing 6 turnovers and pontificating. 1 or 2 of the turnovers were bad decisions, but 3 of them were just strength related. He had the ball, the defender makes contact (sometimes a lot of contact), and he lost the ball. He's already made strength related gains from last seasons. As he goes along, these types of turnovers will disappear, as they have for Dame.

I remember the one turnover where the defender ran into him like a linebacker while he was dribbling, and he lost the ball out of bounds. A clear foul that was not called. What was funny was that a minute later, the announcers were comparing the guy to a DB. Funny but not funny.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

Some of them certainly were not his fault to be sure. My concern would be that given how poor some of the defense is in SL and how much he had the ball in his hands when he was in the game, 2 assists is quite low. By contrast, Gary 'Black Hole' Trent had 5 with 1 turnover.

Granted, it is SL and much of this is to be take with a grain of salt, but was hoping to see more than 3 assists in two games so far. That seems quite sparse.

Sure.
I just don't think people should confuse Ant, NBA player with Ant, NBA PG. He's played well, and shown things that NBA players can't do. That is why I'm excited.

Ant, the PG. Yeah, the jury is out. Will need a lot more seasoning, and may not ever learn it, a la CJ. We'll see.

 

[BBert]

I don't care whether Anfernee turns into a true PG, or a SG, or a scoring guard. He will be good and he will have a place on the team. In the meantime, find a vet backup PG, for insurance if nothing else.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I don't care whether Anfernee turns into a true PG, or a SG, or a scoring guard. He will be good and he will have a place on the team. In the meantime, find a vet backup PG, for insurance if nothing else.

I agree with this. Simons is a gifted scorer, and can be groomed as CJ's understudy, but I want a solid pass-first PG who plays D. But who?

 

[kjironman1]

Not me, not at all. Simons played great.

Nah
He did some things that worked but overall this is against weak opposition and he is woefully lacking experience to step up this year.
Blazers need a solid backup PG.

 

[B-Roy]

Nah
He did some things that worked but overall this is against weak opposition and he is woefully lacking experience to step up this year.
Blazers need a solid backup PG.

It's going to be a process with Ant. He's gonna have to learn by playing. To be honest, I'm not really worried based on who he's replacing. Curry was a shooter who never handled the ball. The backup PG was Turner who was a host of issues for a bunch of other reasons. Half the plays just involve bringing the ball up and moving it around the perimeter. Simons will handle it just fine.

 

[e_blazer]

Nah
He did some things that worked but overall this is against weak opposition and he is woefully lacking experience to step up this year.
Blazers need a solid backup PG.

IMO, people are overstating this point. First, I have no doubt that Olshey will add a PG to the roster. That said, last year's second unit played most of the time with ET doing the major ball handling. Hezonja can do the same thing with this year's squad. Also, I think that using Summer League play to say that Simons can't be a distributor is pretty dubious. If you're going to note that he's playing against weak opposition to make a statement against his abilities as a PG, you have to at least also state that he's playing WITH some weak teammates offensively. Assists are a lot easier to come by when the guys you're playing with are experienced and the offense is better established than what we see in Summer League.

 

[James lamphear]

In SL I pretty much only watch to see if guys are making NBA plays. In fact Trent was really freaking hot last night, but Im not sure he had a great game in that regard. I think the most NBA like thing he did was a couple of his passes the wrap around pass on a drive and he also made a good over the top pass on a double team that resulted in a dunk.

It seems he is lot stronger and 3 point shot looks lot better this year. His overall game has improved from his passing to his rebounding. His defense is pretty good too. Simons needs get in the weight room it nice see playing pick games but there also other things he needs to work on like his body.

 

[Pridan]

I've really liked the flashes of potential from Devin Robinson. I'd absolutely be giving him the second 2-way spot if it continues throughout the tournament. Has some serious x-factor!

 

[tlongII]

Ant will be fine at PG and he's going to play right away this season. He has some work to do but I'm confident he'll figure it out. People that are projecting that he won't play much early this season are going to be surprised.