What’s Next: Do Blazers Need to Start the Rebuild
In the game today you can’t go wrong with having a backcourt filled with two skilled guards who can get their shot at any time with a variety of moves. Having two all-stars who can sinitilate the crowd with their dribbling and shotmaking is almost an advantage, being that you're not worried about the casualties that a lot of nba players who rely on their athleticism face…no shade to Derrick Rose or John Wall, those are some of my favorite players. With Anfernee Simons, you're really getting the best of both worlds, a guard who is a former dunk champion and who has been learning in the shadow of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum for 4 years which helped develop his perimeter game. So, what reason could there be for you not to want to pair this young up incoming star up with Damian Lillard for the next couple of years and see what they can do?
With the Damian Lillard being out for most of this year's regular season, and the decision to trade long-time Portland guard CJ Mccollum it has enabled Anfernee Simons to have the ball in his hands and really be featured in the offense for the first time in his career. In the Trail Blazer's last 10 games Simons has averaged 21.9 points, along with 5 assists per game, and is shooting a career-best 41.9% from 3. He is even looked at as the favorite for the most improved player award by many, including ESPN reporter Jorge Soldano of “NBA: The Jump”. However, during this 10 game period, the Trail Blazers went 4-6 and remained to be below 500, still fighting for a spot in the play-in as the season winds down. So while highlights from Simmons, like the clutch stepback 3 against the Grizzlies almost mimicking the great Damian Lillard are great, they are still not translating the wins. This is because with Simmons you're just getting a younger more athletic CJ Mccollum in a sense… almost a Mccollum 2.0 in my eyes. So, even if you're looking forward to next season when this new tandem might get a chance to finally get a chance to touch the court together full time, no restrictions, what are you really looking forward to? Damian Lillard's best season came with a 53-29 record putting them as 3rd in the west. Since then they have made no roster movements and have been quite mediocre to say the least. So is this what you would be looking forward to…mediocrity?
The way I see it, Portland has two options. Trade Anfernee, and some other young pieces to try and get a marquee player to alongside Dame, or actually trade Dame and start building around Anfernee Simons towards the future. Lillard is set to make over 42.2 million next year compared to Simons making only 5 million so you are already saving money. Also, we know Dame is an amazing player but he is an aging one at that and he can’t do it alone. So, who would come over to Portland to play alongside a player who’d they probably have to take less money for, and still probably not win a ring because you're in the western conference? It’s not that enticing. What is enticing though is a bunch of young players you could lead who can play, plug in someone like Anthony Davis. Jaylen Brown, exc to be the focal point of the offense and you really got something there. Portland should start the rebuilding process and send Damian Lillard to a team he can actually win on. He deserves it for how loyal he has been to the franchise. Then they should give the keys to Anfernee Simons and let him take the team in that new direction they need.
