Will Anfernee make that jump without Dame

[GreenRiddler]

Now that he will have the offense run through him for the rest of the year as our best offensive player will we see Ant make that jump to a 25-28ppg player on good shooting splits?

So far he has 25ppg 5.3 asts on a 2.3 Ast/TO ratio with 42/41/100 shooting splits.

Last year in 11 games without Dame he averaged 28ppg 5 asts on a 2.375 Ast/TO ratio with 46/41/94 shooting splits.

The year before that in 30 games without Dame: 22ppg 5.5 Asts on a 2.0 Ast/TO ratio with 45/41.5/87 shooting splits

[Brandon-Clyde]

Honestly even if he scores at last year's level I would be happy with his scoring. Where the team needs to see improvement from him is on the defensive side and I am hoping that it will help that he won't have to defend bigger and more physical players than him.

[zzaj]

I can't tell if it's a blessing or a curse that the Blazers seem to be unconsciously good at identifying scoring guard talent. It's a blessing, in that having too much of a good thing is almost always going to be better than not having enough of a thing. It's a curse, in that...why couldn't it be a position of greater value?

I also can't quite tell if it bodes well for Scoot or not. Did they pick him because he was the natural choice to pick #3, or because they identified him as belonging there? My hope is that both are true.

[JasonStern]

Never got the Ant hate around here. He's Jamal Crawford 2.0. Solid scorer, but a SG in a PG's body. Limited defense. Not the best distributor. But again, he's getting you 25ppg at $24M this season. Doesn't seem to have any attitude or off the court problems. Future Blazers great? Probably not. But the Blazers are lucky to have a young three guard rotation locked up.

[Norm2953]

He's playing like the guy we saw in 2021, during that stretch before the AS break for remember
that team with Hart/Winslow was playing well and even Nurk looked like a changed man when
he was more than a #4 option.

It's not his fault he was a poor fit next to Dame. Perhaps next to Sharpe, he can match up against
the PG's in the league as opposed to the bigger SG's but that makes Scoot the sixth man, which may
or may not be in Portland's best interest long term.

[Norm2953]

Never got the Ant hate around here. He's Jamal Crawford 2.0. Solid scorer, but a SG in a PG's body. Limited defense. Not the best distributor. But again, he's getting you 25ppg at $24M this season. Doesn't seem to have any attitude or off the court problems. Future Blazers great? Probably not. But the Blazers are lucky to have a young three guard rotation locked up.

One can imagine our friend Skybox, who has tirelessly advocated for Simons being traded to Orlando, is happy
for Ant.

[Blazinaway]

He's playing like the guy we saw in 2021, during that stretch before the AS break for remember
that team with Hart/Winslow was playing well and even Nurk looked like a changed man when
he was more than a #4 option.

It's not his fault he was a poor fit next to Dame. Perhaps next to Sharpe, he can match up against
the PG's in the league as opposed to the bigger SG's but that makes Scoot the sixth man, which may
or may not be in Portland's best interest long term.

The very good news here is if he keeps playing like this his value to us and around the league only goes up, and it give us options which are always nice to have

[BlazersBroncos]

On a team with deep playoff aspirations the warts that Ant has can be troublesome, but hell if he hasnt made this team much more watchable since he has returned.

Brogdan is a good dude and player but we really should move him and lean heavily into Ant / Sharpe at guard w/ Scoot 1st off the bench.

[DusterBuster]

The reality is, Simons has made significant statistical jumps every year of his career. Each season has been a bigger jump than either CJ or Dame if memory serves (rapidly declining memory, so save yourself a long-winded post if this is wrong off the top of my head).

Admittedly, this year still needs a large print asterisk given how few games Ant has played so far, but I still believe he's a high quality player regardless. Higher quality than most people believe.

But to play devils advocate to my own point, the rules and scoring around the league have gone certifiably insane, so a +20ppg scorer in 2023 is not the same as what a +20ppg scorer in 2013 was. So it's important to keep perspective.

[monopoman]

The advanced stats have favored Simons getting better nearly every year, so it's a bit rough to come down hard on him. I think some just started to get these insanely high expectations for him and he hasn't quite done that yet.

If you expect him to be the next Lillard or close to that he isn't going to be that, he could easily be one of our best picks ever at his draft position though.

[zzaj]

He'll likely never be a decent defender...and that's okay if he can win enough possessions on the offensive end. The real key for Ant is going to be the FT line. If he can figure out how to consistently get 6-10 PPG at the line then that totally changes him as a player. It essentially changes him from CJ-esque to Lillard-esque.

What I would REALLY love to see is a backcourt of Ant/Sharpe paired with a SF facilitator like a Scottie Barnes, or a great defending/facilitating switching player like Ausar Thompson, or what a healthy Ben Simmons could have been in that role. That obviously isn't going to be a solution long-term, but it would be really interesting to see.

[Norm2953]

Let's wait and see how the team looks when Ayton/Grant get back.

Chauncey has had his entire team together for one game this season and even when he gets
Ayton and Grant back, we're still missing TL

[Norm2953]

He'll likely never be a decent defender...and that's okay if he can win enough possessions on the offensive end. The real key for Ant is going to be the FT line. If he can figure out how to consistently get 6-10 PPG at the line then that totally changes him as a player. It essentially changes him from CJ-esque to Lillard-esque.

What I would REALLY love to see is a backcourt of Ant/Sharpe paired with a SF facilitator like a Scottie Barnes, or a great defending/facilitating switching player like Ausar Thompson, or what a healthy Ben Simmons could have been in that role. That obviously isn't going to be a solution long-term, but it would be really interesting to see.

I'm hoping Rupert develops into the 21st century version of Nic but he's greener than Nic was when he was drafted.
He's averaging 14.1 ppg in 32 mpg with the Remix but whether he can play SF might depend on how much bigger and
stronger he will get for he won't turn 20 until June and is the youngest player on the Blazers roster.

[JasonStern]

Read on Twitter

[zzaj]

He'll likely never be a decent defender...and that's okay if he can win enough possessions on the offensive end. The real key for Ant is going to be the FT line. If he can figure out how to consistently get 6-10 PPG at the line then that totally changes him as a player. It essentially changes him from CJ-esque to Lillard-esque.

What I would REALLY love to see is a backcourt of Ant/Sharpe paired with a SF facilitator like a Scottie Barnes, or a great defending/facilitating switching player like Ausar Thompson, or what a healthy Ben Simmons could have been in that role. That obviously isn't going to be a solution long-term, but it would be really interesting to see.

I'm hoping Rupert develops into the 21st century version of Nic but he's greener than Nic was when he was drafted.
He's averaging 14.1 ppg in 32 mpg with the Remix but whether he can play SF might depend on how much bigger and
stronger he will get for he won't turn 20 until June and is the youngest player on the Blazers roster.

I've made no effort to hide the fact that I think Grant is the best SF on the team.

[Skybox]

Never got the Ant hate around here. He's Jamal Crawford 2.0. Solid scorer, but a SG in a PG's body. Limited defense. Not the best distributor. But again, he's getting you 25ppg at $24M this season. Doesn't seem to have any attitude or off the court problems. Future Blazers great? Probably not. But the Blazers are lucky to have a young three guard rotation locked up.

One can imagine our friend Skybox, who has tirelessly advocated for Simons being traded to Orlando, is happy
for Ant.

Not yet…not the “jump” I’m rooting for

2 frps and expiring salaries…let’s get this done! Embrace the tank and emerge a contender…find your Paolo, you’re closer than you think.

“Scoot/Sharpe 2024…the face of the future”…bumper sticker.

“Learn from the past or be doomed to repeat it”- CJ …other campaign slogan

[Skybox]

He'll likely never be a decent defender...and that's okay if he can win enough possessions on the offensive end. The real key for Ant is going to be the FT line. If he can figure out how to consistently get 6-10 PPG at the line then that totally changes him as a player. It essentially changes him from CJ-esque to Lillard-esque.

What I would REALLY love to see is a backcourt of Ant/Sharpe paired with a SF facilitator like a Scottie Barnes, or a great defending/facilitating switching player like Ausar Thompson, or what a healthy Ben Simmons could have been in that role. That obviously isn't going to be a solution long-term, but it would be really interesting to see.

Man, the vision of prime Simmons is hard to disregard…he was special. Sad.

He’d be great with Mikal, DFS, and the two Cams (all shooters) if he could just get it together.

[JasonStern]

Never got the Ant hate around here. He's Jamal Crawford 2.0. Solid scorer, but a SG in a PG's body. Limited defense. Not the best distributor. But again, he's getting you 25ppg at $24M this season. Doesn't seem to have any attitude or off the court problems. Future Blazers great? Probably not. But the Blazers are lucky to have a young three guard rotation locked up.

One can imagine our friend Skybox, who has tirelessly advocated for Simons being traded to Orlando, is happy
for Ant.

Not yet…not the “jump” I’m rooting for

2 frps and expiring salaries…let’s get this done! Embrace the tank and emerge a contender…find your Paolo, you’re closer than you think.

“Scoot/Sharpe 2024…the face of the future”…bumper sticker.

“Learn from the past or be doomed to repeat it”- CJ …other campaign slogan

No. That is dumb. Scoot could be the next Westbrook, or he could be the next Ricky Rubio. I've gone on enough Shaedon Sharpe hype posts to not do that here. But you start Sharpe at SG and Simons at PG. You play Scoot off the bench. If Scoot develops early, win for Portland. If not, you put him a position to develop as a player without dealing with pressure of being a top 3 pick. But whatever you do, you don't roll out a 3 guard lineup consisting of a SG in a SG body playing SF (Sharpe), a SG in PG's body (Simons), and an underdeveloped PG in a PG's body (Scoot). That's just setting the entire team up for failure. The Blazers will suck for a bit. But I really think we're a PF and moving Grant back to his natural SF position and letting ChatGPT coach over Chauncey away from being back to a play-in team.

[Skybox]

One can imagine our friend Skybox, who has tirelessly advocated for Simons being traded to Orlando, is happy
for Ant.

Not yet…not the “jump” I’m rooting for

2 frps and expiring salaries…let’s get this done! Embrace the tank and emerge a contender…find your Paolo, you’re closer than you think.

“Scoot/Sharpe 2024…the face of the future”…bumper sticker.

“Learn from the past or be doomed to repeat it”- CJ …other campaign slogan

No. That is dumb. Scoot could be the next Westbrook, or he could be the next Ricky Rubio. I've gone on enough Shaedon Sharpe hype posts to not do that here. But you start Sharpe at SG and Simons at PG. You play Scoot off the bench. If Scoot develops early, win for Portland. If not, you put him a position to develop as a player without dealing with pressure of being a top 3 pick. But whatever you do, you don't roll out a 3 guard lineup consisting of a SG in a SG body playing SF (Sharpe), a SG in PG's body (Simons), and an underdeveloped PG in a PG's body (Scoot). That's just setting the entire team up for failure. The Blazers will suck for a bit. But I really think we're a PF and moving Grant back to his natural SF position and letting ChatGPT coach over Chauncey away from being back to a play-in team.

I would say "that's dumb" -but I don't know you, so I won't be that kind of Forum tough guy. You want to put a generational PG who played 2 seasons in the G-League on the back burner and run a young team without a true PG or even a true PG in training? If Scoot's a flop -might as well find out sooner while you're down. I'm sure Ayton will enjoy getting all of his shots off of offensive rebounds while Billups "patiently " teaches Simons how to play PG and Scoot crochets on the bench. Why sell off Dame to claw your way to the play-in? I think POR has a really promising and well-matched trio in Scoot, Sharpe, and Ayton and then some really solid pieces best moved for picks, financial flexibility and/or better-fitting prospects in Grant ($130/4 more years ), Simons ($54/2 more years), and Brogdon - all of whom will generate trade interest from better teams. I love Williams-but he may be toast...POR has the luxury of waiting to see as they shouldn't be worrying too much about winning by any means necessary. Competing is good - I hate full-on tanking, but wasting developmental seasons for your most high-upside player on the roster while you're down is "dumb".

[JasonStern]

Not yet…not the “jump” I’m rooting for

2 frps and expiring salaries…let’s get this done! Embrace the tank and emerge a contender…find your Paolo, you’re closer than you think.

“Scoot/Sharpe 2024…the face of the future”…bumper sticker.

“Learn from the past or be doomed to repeat it”- CJ …other campaign slogan

No. That is dumb. Scoot could be the next Westbrook, or he could be the next Ricky Rubio. I've gone on enough Shaedon Sharpe hype posts to not do that here. But you start Sharpe at SG and Simons at PG. You play Scoot off the bench. If Scoot develops early, win for Portland. If not, you put him a position to develop as a player without dealing with pressure of being a top 3 pick. But whatever you do, you don't roll out a 3 guard lineup consisting of a SG in a SG body playing SF (Sharpe), a SG in PG's body (Simons), and an underdeveloped PG in a PG's body (Scoot). That's just setting the entire team up for failure. The Blazers will suck for a bit. But I really think we're a PF and moving Grant back to his natural SF position and letting ChatGPT coach over Chauncey away from being back to a play-in team.

I would say "that's dumb" -but I don't know you, so I won't be that kind of Forum tough guy. You want to put a generational PG who played 2 seasons in the G-League on the back burner and run a young team without a true PG or even a true PG in training? If Scoot's a flop -might as well find out sooner while you're down. I'm sure Ayton will enjoy getting all of his shots off of offensive rebounds while Billups "patiently " teaches Simons how to play PG and Scoot crochets on the bench. Why sell off Dame to claw your way to the play-in? I think POR has a really promising and well-matched trio in Scoot, Sharpe, and Ayton and then some really solid pieces best moved for picks, financial flexibility and/or better-fitting prospects in Grant ($130/4 more years ), Simons ($54/2 more years), and Brogdon - all of whom will generate trade interest from better teams. I love Williams-but he may be toast...POR has the luxury of waiting to see as they shouldn't be worrying too much about winning by any means necessary. Competing is good - I hate full-on tanking, but wasting developmental seasons for your most high-upside player on the roster while you're down is "dumb".

You play the best players. And, right now, that's probably Brogdon, so I will back-trace a bit and say you start Ant and Sharpe. Scoot should be coming off of the bench. There's no need to throw him at NBA starters. He has plenty of time to develop (or bust). But Ant's averaging 25.7ppg and 5.6apg. He hasn't done anything to not deserve a starting role. And playing Sharpe out of position just to fit two undersized guards in the lineup is, for lack of creativity, dumb.

The Blazers aren't contending, so they don't need to finalize the roster right now. They have two stud young guards in Sharpe and Ant. A third with a ton of potential in Scoot. And some promising pieces like Ayton and Camara. While I'm not a huge Cronin fan, I have to give him credit for being ahead of schedule when the Blazers decided to blow it all up.