PORTLAND, Ore. —
On Tuesday's episode of Locked On Blazers, show host Mike Richman dedicated the entire episode to Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons, dissecting his strengths, weaknesses and what the future looks like for Simons and the Portland Trail Blazers.
According to Richman, a vocal portion of the Blazers fan base has been active on social media, calling for the Blazers to trade Anfernee Simons. Richman said some fans have even sent him their Simons trade ideas.
In this excerpt from the episode, Richman speaks at length about whether the Blazers should trade Simons:
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Let's talk about the "T" word. Everyone on the Internet wants to trade Anfernee Simons. By everyone on the Internet, I mean, every single post on r/ripcity. Everyone on Reddit is posting their Anfernee Simons trades. People are emailing me their Anfernee Simons trades and quite frankly, I hate [the trade ideas].
I hate them. I hate them.
Here's why I hate them.
I do not think it makes sense for the Trail Blazers to trade Anfernee Simons for a role player, a lateral move. Anfernee Simons is really good. If they trade him for someone really good who’s a little bit taller, I'm into it. But the Monte Morris and Kyle Kuzma idea, the Mo Bamba and Jonathan Isaac idea, the Keldon Johnson pitch that someone sent me, among others. No. No. Here's why.
A lateral Simons trade traps the Blazers in the middle
I'm a little bit flabbergasted by this. The point of an NBA team is to get a bunch of good players on your team. The fit [between Damian Lillard and Anfernee Simons] is an issue. And the fit is something they will have to address at some point. But after three-quarters of a season — and that's when the trade deadline will be — after three-quarters of a season with the Anfernee Simons and Damian Lillard backcourt, punting for a role player that's a little bit taller is a mistake.
Anfernee Simons is too good to do that. He's 23 years old. He's a 20-point-per-game scorer. He's shooting, at one point prior to a struggle, 40% from 3 on volume. He's an excellent, excellent offensive player. Punting on that for a role player, a forward, in the name of, "this team looks a little better on defense when they're bigger," gets you to the middle. It gets you to the middle with a different look.
If you are chasing the middle, if you want the high of finishing fifth in the West and winning a sixth game in the playoffs, winning one playoff round and not being good enough, get a different part! Trade for a role player that's taller! Go for it! Cash in the chips of your best and most valuable trade chip! And Anfernee Simons is exactly that. He's 23 years old. He's on a relatively reasonable contract. And he's a very good offensive talent. If you trade in that chip for role players that "fit the plan better," you are trading for the middle. You are punting on Damian Lillard's future and you are lying to yourself about it.
A Simons trade could make sense, but only for the right player
The only way the Blazers should make a trade for Anfernee Simons, the only way they should trade Anfernee Simons, is if they're trading for a borderline All-Star or an established All-Star.
Now you might say, “Mike, they traded CJ McCollum and they got a guy who had never made an All-Star team and wasn't even considered a borderline All-Star, and look at the talent they got." I'm with you. I'm with you. But that was an incredible needle-threading, and if they had swapped it straight across, Detroit wouldn't have even done it because they wouldn't have been interested in it. You had to find a perfect partner.
I think the CJ McCollum deal actually speaks to what I'm getting at. Patience is key. They were too patient with CJ. You do not want to wait too long. CJ's 29 years old. Ant’s 23. He’s 23 with high-level production. If you wait seven years, sure, yeah, flip him for Jerami Grant, that's fine.
But at this stage — not yet in his physical prime, already a starting-caliber guard in the league, under contract for three more seasons beyond this one — if you are not trading him for, at minimum, an OG Anunoby type, and OG Anunoby may be the best perimeter defender in the league, and even then, even a straight-across Anfernee Simons-OJ Anunoby trade (which I do not think the Raptors would accept), does not vault the Blazers into contender status. And I think that's what I'm trying to get at here. Hold onto your chips, because in the NBA, the best way to take advantage of teams is to wait until teams get desperate.
I do think the Rudy Gobert trade kind of broke the trade market a little bit. It's really hard to gauge what All-Star but not all-NBA types would get traded for. I recognize that it's a little bit broken. But the Rudy Gobert trade speaks to what I would like the Blazers to do. Wait for a team like the Minnesota Timberwolves, who is desperate for an upgrade and willing to overpay to do so, and then trade a good player you have.
Flipping Anfernee Simons for Kyle Kuzma and Monte Morris because you think [the Blazers] need a forward who can score and play a little bit of defense and a backup point guard, you're going to end up with Kyle Kuzma and Monte Morris. You're not going to end up with the upgrade that vaults you into contention, and you’ll have cashed in your chips.
You have to be patient and take advantage of a team that is desperate and has a need and has a moment. You cash it in for Jonathan Isaac, who's played two games in the last 1,000 days and Mo Bamba, who has lost his spot to Bol Bol, and you're just taller. That's all you are is taller. You're worse at basketball and you're taller. There is no reason for the Blazers to rush into a trade at the deadline.
Eventually, the Blazers need to break up the Dame-Ant backcourt, but not yet
I am on the record, and I still maintain, if the Blazers are going to vault themselves into contender status, they have to break up the Dame and Ant backcourt. But the time to do that is not now. It's in the offseason when teams are breaking things down for real. It's in the offseason when teams are up against it and jobs are up against it, and those pesky trade demands come up when folks are eyeing greener pastures in different spots. If you cash it in in-season, you are wasting your best trade chip. And wasting your trade chip is wasting Dame’s future.
Patience is the path forward. You do not trade Anfernee Simons unless you are getting a borderline All-Star or an established All-Star. If you do it for less, it is a mistake. It is a mistake. It's a mistake. I am of the belief they have to trade him eventually, and I'm also staunchly of the belief that eventually is not before the Feb. 9, 2023 trade deadline.
Simons is pretty good. He's got some weaknesses, and he's not a good fit next to Damian Lillard. I think we've seen that in nine months or however long it's been. Less than nine months of actual playing, but since they've kind of anointed that as the duo of the future, I think we have enough data to say this isn't great, or this feels familiar, and it's not the path forward. But if you are not patient about waiting for it, you're just going to end up in another cycle of the middle.
You've got to wait until something big comes up, because when there is a Kevin Durant out there to be traded for, when it is the summertime and one of the best players in the league is like, "I want out," if you do not have that part to trade, you are out of the market. Keep yourself in the market as long as possible.
Do not trade Ant right now. Don't do it.
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COMPLETE EPISODE: Anfernee Simons' present and future with the Portland Trail Blazers | Locked On Blazers