Make Your Best Offer: Anfernee Simons

[JRoy]

It's interesting that Blazer fans are so down on Scoot.

Whenever I saw Scoot play this year (not as often as I like), I liked what he was doing.

He played pretty well against the Magic this last week.

More importantly, it did not look like he was scared of the moment.

I would be bullish on Scoot long-term. I think he will be OK.

Appreciate the opinion. I think Scoots intangibles are fine. It is skills that are weak.

[AaronB]

It's interesting that Blazer fans are so down on Scoot.

Whenever I saw Scoot play this year (not as often as I like), I liked what he was doing.

He played pretty well against the Magic this last week.

More importantly, it did not look like he was scared of the moment.

I would be bullish on Scoot long-term. I think he will be OK.

I think Scoot will be OK, too. As in, an OK player. Not an above-average one, let alone a star.

I agree with you about his attitude: he plays with confidence and tenacity, and the only reports we've gotten of his demeanor make him out to be a good teammate and a humble, hard worker. I like the guy a lot.

But the results so far have been atrocious. He can't shoot or finish inside, he has to monopolize the ball to initiate offense, and he's a turnover machine. The Blazers are dead-last in shooting, 28th in turnovers, and 29th in ORTG. His individual stats suck. His defense exhibits effort but little impact.

He's not good. He can work on the turnover economy and defense to become a respectable two-way game manager type point guard, but his scoring and playmaking show no signs of him developing into an elite point. He projects as a bench player or low-impact starter until he demonstrates otherwise.

Neither is Sharpe good. But at least you can squint and see the tools for a big jump in his game, if he works at it and gets some disciplined coaching.

I was accused of not being very sympathetic (probably true) earlier in this thread, but I would submit an example of a player that had the right attitude, but not the skills and that is Suggs. Suggs has become an outstanding player. Well above average and I don't care what people say about the stats. That guy can play.

If the attitude and the the make-up and the athletic ability are there, I think that Scoot has the opportunity to improve the way Suggs has improved. I liked what I saw attitude-wise when they played the Magic.

[Tim Lehrbach]

It's interesting that Blazer fans are so down on Scoot.

Whenever I saw Scoot play this year (not as often as I like), I liked what he was doing.

He played pretty well against the Magic this last week.

More importantly, it did not look like he was scared of the moment.

I would be bullish on Scoot long-term. I think he will be OK.

I think Scoot will be OK, too. As in, an OK player. Not an above-average one, let alone a star.

I agree with you about his attitude: he plays with confidence and tenacity, and the only reports we've gotten of his demeanor make him out to be a good teammate and a humble, hard worker. I like the guy a lot.

But the results so far have been atrocious. He can't shoot or finish inside, he has to monopolize the ball to initiate offense, and he's a turnover machine. The Blazers are dead-last in shooting, 28th in turnovers, and 29th in ORTG. His individual stats suck. His defense exhibits effort but little impact.

He's not good. He can work on the turnover economy and defense to become a respectable two-way game manager type point guard, but his scoring and playmaking show no signs of him developing into an elite point. He projects as a bench player or low-impact starter until he demonstrates otherwise.

Neither is Sharpe good. But at least you can squint and see the tools for a big jump in his game, if he works at it and gets some disciplined coaching.

I was accused of not being very sympathetic (probably true) earlier in this thread, but I would submit an example of a player that had the right attitude, but not the skills and that is Suggs. Suggs has become an outstanding player. Well above average and I don't care what people say about the stats. That guy can play.

If the attitude and the the make-up and the athletic ability are there, I think that Scoot has the opportunity to improve the way Suggs has improved. I liked what I saw attitude-wise when they played the Magic.

And, as a fan of both Scoot and the Blazers, I can appreciate the optimistic comparison to Suggs, a guy who doesn't post gaudy stats but helps a good team win games.

It's been a rough season. It's hard to feel positively about anybody playing for this horrific squad. But again, I like Scoot and will hope for the best, even though I'm skeptical.

[Skybox]

Scoot has no upside...send him along as a salary dump with Simons to ORL.

Seriously, I really like Scoot and I was impressed with his response to Suggs' aggressive physical D- he pushed right back.

[BlazersBroncos]

As a Blazers fan down on Scoot the comparison to Suggs is hopeful. They both had pretty rough rookie seasons and are known for a upper tier work ethic so fingers crossed.

Still worth noting that at 6'5 Suggs has more positional versatility and his improvement efficiency wise seems to come as they have taken him off ball. Dont see that as an option for Scoot.

Its a hell of a success story to see the shooting improvement that Suggs has shown. If Scoot can turn into the same caliber of do-it-all hustle glue guy with a reliable 3 I will be happy with the pick.

[Waynearchetype]

De'aaron Fox had an equally tragic rookie campaign. Billed similarly to Scoot as quick, couldn't convert that, became a shooter. Turns out once that falls the rest opens up. Scoots FT% is 10% over Foxs rookie number.

You don't want to be in that position, but a ton of great players have had lackluster rookie campaigns and turned out alright. I think a lot of the pessimism is coming from +/- numbers which mean f all in the context of a bad team and a single season.

Rookies improve fouling, turnovers, shooting. The rest is there and I still feel like he can be a top guard one day.

[BlazersBroncos]

De'aaron Fox had an equally tragic rookie campaign. Billed similarly to Scoot as quick, couldn't convert that, became a shooter. Turns out once that falls the rest opens up. Scoots FT% is 10% over Foxs rookie number.

You don't want to be in that position, but a ton of great players have had lackluster rookie campaigns and turned out alright. I think a lot of the pessimism is coming from +/- numbers which mean f all in the context of a bad team and a single season.

Rookies improve fouling, turnovers, shooting. The rest is there and I still feel like he can be a top guard one day.

I don’t see any athletic similarities between Scoot and Fox. Fox is slighter but has wild quickness. His first step and burst is absolutely elite. Scoot is hard to stop when he has a head of steam but I think we were sold a false bill when it came to short area quickness and first step.

[JRoy]

De'aaron Fox had an equally tragic rookie campaign. Billed similarly to Scoot as quick, couldn't convert that, became a shooter. Turns out once that falls the rest opens up. Scoots FT% is 10% over Foxs rookie number.

You don't want to be in that position, but a ton of great players have had lackluster rookie campaigns and turned out alright. I think a lot of the pessimism is coming from +/- numbers which mean f all in the context of a bad team and a single season.

Rookies improve fouling, turnovers, shooting. The rest is there and I still feel like he can be a top guard one day.

Fox could dribble without carrying and had real quickness.

[Waynearchetype]

De'aaron Fox had an equally tragic rookie campaign. Billed similarly to Scoot as quick, couldn't convert that, became a shooter. Turns out once that falls the rest opens up. Scoots FT% is 10% over Foxs rookie number.

You don't want to be in that position, but a ton of great players have had lackluster rookie campaigns and turned out alright. I think a lot of the pessimism is coming from +/- numbers which mean f all in the context of a bad team and a single season.

Rookies improve fouling, turnovers, shooting. The rest is there and I still feel like he can be a top guard one day.

Fox could dribble without carrying and had real quickness.

Fox 0-3 ft shooting was worse than Scoots. What are you on about? Dude struggled just as hard as Scoot with doing anything with his speed his rookie season (and was a year older).

[JRoy]

De'aaron Fox had an equally tragic rookie campaign. Billed similarly to Scoot as quick, couldn't convert that, became a shooter. Turns out once that falls the rest opens up. Scoots FT% is 10% over Foxs rookie number.

You don't want to be in that position, but a ton of great players have had lackluster rookie campaigns and turned out alright. I think a lot of the pessimism is coming from +/- numbers which mean f all in the context of a bad team and a single season.

Rookies improve fouling, turnovers, shooting. The rest is there and I still feel like he can be a top guard one day.

Fox could dribble without carrying and had real quickness.

Fox 0-3 ft shooting was worse than Scoots. What are you on about? Dude struggled just as hard as Scoot with doing anything with his speed his rookie season (and was a year older).

Was that hard to understand?

Scoot can barely dribble and is nothing special as an athlete.