Anfernee Simons, Portland Trail Blazers.
Portland Trail Blazers General Manager Neil Olshey drafted Anfernee Simons with the 24th pick of the 2018 draft. Some basketball pundits thought that Portland had the steal of the draft. He was once ranked ninth on ESPN’s list of high school players. Simons played an extra year of high school ball at IMG Academy. A step not usually taken by players with the potential to jump right into college ball.
On the other hand, some critics pointed to the lower level of talent Simons faced at IMG. Because of that, he was labeled as more of an “unknown,” and it led to his drop in the pre-draft rankings. Olshey, who has had success drafting guards, saw something in Simons. The GM gambled on a player at a position where the team was stacked.
Simons’ first season in Rip City saw him deep on the bench. The rookie spent most of his time learning from players ahead of him in the pecking order. It wasn’t until the last game of the season that fans saw his real potential.
In a starting role for the final game of the season, Simons scored 37 points. He connected on 13-of-21 from the floor, including 7-for-11 on three-pointers with 9 assists and 6 rebounds. His standout performance was part of a gutsy, come from behind, 136-131 victory over the Sacramento Kings.
Simons joined Lebron James and Kevin Durant as the only teenagers in NBA history to score at least 37 points with 9 assists in a game. More surprising, it came from a player that saw minimal court time throughout his rookie season.
The following season, Simons became Portland’s first guard off the bench, a role previously occupied by Seth Curry. After a hot start to Simons’ second season, he hit a sophomore slump. His percentages dipped, and eventually, so did his time on the court. Coach Terry Stotts opted for starting shooting guard CJ Mccollum to play the point on the second unit.
As CJ began to take over Simons’ role, Gary Trent Jr. emerged as a young, feisty 3-and-D player to pair with him. GTJ pushed Simons further down the bench. After a first-round exit in the 2020 playoffs, the Blazers pondered if Simons was a long-term solution as the team’s backup point guard.
Over the first few months of this season, it became apparent that Simons reclaimed his shooting touch. His three-point percentage rose to over 40 percent, a vast improvement on his first two seasons. A mid-season injury to Mccollum thrust Simons back into position as the Portland Trail Blazers lead guard off the bench. It’s a role in which he is starting to excel.
McCollum’s return and Trent’s trade to Toronto for Norman Powell led to Simons regaining a familiar role. Stotts saw enough from him to trust Simons as Portland’s lead guard off the bench again.
Shortly after the All-Star weekend (Simons won the dunk contest), he tied an NBA record, making his first nine, three-point attempts in a single game. Simons also made four straight treys at the end of the previous game. That also tied a league record with 13 straight threes. His reputation as a marksman is growing.
Stories recently came out regarding a potential deadline trade the Trail Blazers considered for Orlando’s Aaron Gordon. Highly coveted, Gordon is an athletic forward who would have fit the prototype front-court player the Blazers lacked in recent years. The trade didn’t happen because Orlando insisted on including Anfernee Simons as part of the deal.
After reading these rumors, it got me thinking about Olshey’s attachment to Anfernee Simons. He’s a player whose stats didn’t shout out anything special over his first two seasons. Despite an increase in shooting percentages hasn’t exactly jumped out this season either.
Due to playing behind Arvydas Sabonis, Rasheed Wallace, and Brian Grant, O’Neal didn’t get enough on-court time to showcase his talents. Had Jermaine begun his career as a starter on a bad team, he probably would have been able to show his potential much sooner. The Portland Trail Blazers coach back then, Mike Dunleavy, said years later that he was firmly against trading O’Neal in the summer of 2000.
It’s tempting to imagine what could have been if Jermaine O’neal had stayed with the organization long enough to take over for a declining Sabonis. A frontcourt duo of Rasheed Wallace and O’Neal could have locked down the power positions for a decade.
Olshey may be holding onto Simons with the thought that the guard has the potential to be heir to Damian Lillard, in the same way, O’Neal could have been for Arvydas Sabonis? Maybe Olshey is trying not to make the same mistake Bob Whitsitt did by trading Jermaine O’Neal too early in his career?
Granted, Lillard and Sabonis are vastly different players at different points in their careers when these events took place. Simons is nearly ten years younger than Lillard. Olshey likely sees Simons as a prominent backup guard in a Lou Williams type-role. Then a 25 or 26-year-old Simons can transition to taking over for a 35/36-year-old Damian Lillard?
Do you think Simons has the potential to eventually become an NBA star? Let us know in the comments below or on social media.