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I think this is good for us and not in a 'I want to tank' reason, the way we played on Wednesday, we don't really need any help there. I think we all know his optimal role is on the bench. So this takes him out the starting lineup for a month or two and lets the team play without him for a while. Hopefully Sharpe gets the starting spot with Brogdan as the backup guard.

Oh wow...

No Simons till January. I agree this is a blessing in disguise. I wanna see:

Scoot/Mays
Sharpe/Brogdon
Thybulle/Camara
Grant/Murray (sorry I don't like 6'5" PFs, Ish)
Ayton/TL

Blazers HAVE to throw the S.S. into the fire and see what they have.

Oh boy here we go...

Bad timing, this was a huge opportunity for Simons to go show he can be a lead guard for a team and put up a bunch of points. In 4-6 weeks the team will have settled into a rotation and might be harder for him to get the usage we want to pump and dump by the trade deadline.

It has begun.

Feel bad for Ant. He's a great kid.

DeBlazerRiddem wrote:In 4-6 weeks the team will have settled into a rotation and might be harder for him to get the usage we want to pump and dump by the trade deadline.

Assuming we all just want to "pump and dump"

Sucks for Ant, but not really a big deal for the Blazers. Assuming the 4-6 weeks is accurate, he should only miss 14-18 games. Still plenty of season left at that point to get experience being a team leader or to showcase him before the trade deadline.

Real chance it's going to be Brogdon instead of Sharpe for its early in the season.

Magic fan here. First of all hoping the best recovery for Simmons I really like that kid. Besides that, I'm excited to watch Sharpe (he was my dark horse of the draft and wanted him so bad) and scoot tonight. Your FO did amazing overall this off-season even with Damian requesting destination kudos to the organization. I see good things coming for the blazers in the near future. And lastly I must confess rip city is my most likeable team in the west. Nothing else guys enjoy this new path, peace out!

Very tough for Ant after just one game. He has a real opportunity to put up big numbers this year - hope he’s able to come back and smash it!

Good opportunity for Sharpe.
Good opportunity to showcase Brogdon.
Gives more usage to Ayton/Henderson.
Helps us tank and get another good draft pick.

He will be back soon 100%

Injuries were bound to hit us at some point. A thumb injury is nothing compared to ruptured/broken… alright alright I made my point. We are so stacked at guard we’ll still be competitive, and then Ant can be supplementary to that.

I always imagined us with a 3 guard rotation +Mays. It will be nice not having to duct tape together lineups so that those guards all get enough run. Ant returns right around the time we can aggregate Malcom in a trade. Ant will come back, then Malcom will be moved and the roster becomes set for the rest of the year.

I feel bad for Ant, but at least this will force the idiot Chauncey to play Sharpe at his best natural position.

Sharpe is our starting shooting guard of the future, not our backup small forward of the future.

When healthy, Ant's best role is as a combo guard 6th man. He can play with both Scoot and Sharpe. Keeping Brogdon, the reigning 6th Man of the Year complicates things, but we spent two years tanking hard to get Scoot and Shaedon. Give them the keys and go all in on developing them. That starts with giving them as much playing time as possible, together, in the roles they are meant to play.

Running the offense through Ant and Ayton to make life easier for Scoot made sense to me. Still does … for this year. Scoot bringing it up and the ball in his hands plenty enough.

This opportunity to see Brogdon is good. Shaedon will have his struggles as a starting SG. Grant will have to step up as will Ayton — which was necessary but now a simply must do. [How Ant uses the next month makes a difference.]

Portland has 2 youngish centers of starter quality — Ayton in the tier above Nurkic / Timelord with Nurkic (IMHO). That’s a wait and see issue with other teams who want to win. With the guards, Scoot & Sharpe are penned in. One guard as a good trade piece in Brogdon and/or Ant. [Both?]

The safest best — Cronin the Barbarian has some deadline work to do.

Free Shae then. Right?

Semi serious question, if it's just his thumb, couldn't we tape it up and let him play reserve minutes in a defense-only role? Lord knows he needs the practice.

Effigy wrote:Semi serious question, if it's just his thumb, couldn't we tape it up and let him play reserve minutes in a defense-only role? Lord knows he needs the practice.

Bro, this ain't the 1960s...even though I love the idea. With so much litigation in our culture now and the high stakes of a hundreds of millions of dollars playing career, teams just don't take those chances any more--even if it's a relatively minor thumb injury. All it takes is for it to get knocked, both tendons to get ripped all the way, another surgery, stabalizer cast on his shooting hand for a couple of months, a month to get flexion back. By then maybe he gets the "yips" on his shot, and things start going sideways or team dynamics totally change...it's better just to trust the doctor's orders.