The Portland Trail Blazers Need the Best Version of Anfernee Simons

The Portland Trail Blazers Need the Best Version of Anfernee Simons

In today’s show the Blazers need the best version of Anthony Simons an injury update plus a simple path to a championship welcome to locked on Blazers let’s get into it you are locked on Trailblazers your daily Portland Trailblazers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every

Day what up world it’s your past first point guard and Trailblazers reporter Mike Richmond you’re listening to another episode of Locked on Blazers part of the locked on podcast network available wherever you get podcasts and also on YouTube thanks for making the show your first listen coming at you

Each and every weekday Monday through Friday so make it a part of your daily routine make it your first list and tell your friends to do the same it’s locked on Blazers your team every day in today’s show a Friday show for you you were listening to Friday March 1st show

I appreciate you tuning in talk about Anthony Simons who has struggled in 2024 and why the Blazers need the absolute best version of him going forward regardless of his medium-term or long-term future with the franchise got an injury update some good news on uh a couple Blazers big men Plus close the

Show talking about why the Blazers are going to win the championship shout out to the the man who going the phrase J but uh yeah I gotta I I see the vision it’s simple a simple Championship solution to close the show stick around with me for that one let let’s start with Anthony

Simons Simons has been bad in 2024 not not awful but bad he he’s been bad um I think that is and I think that the sort of temperature of the fan based judging um anecdotally by just my friends looking at Youth and um and some

Others uh and also just like the the uh tamber of Internet commenters both on my YouTube channel Channel and as well as on Reddit is that I think people have soured a little bit on ants I think I think I think the the the sort of tambers changed a little bit and people

Are down on Ant this season and and rightfully so he hasn’t been very good in 2024 I I’ll say bad I think lowercase b bad but undeniably I think he’s been bad in 2024 on the year he is a below average effective field goal has a below average

Effective field goal percentage a below average true shooting percentage and he’s below the league average in free throw rate Andre zons is a bad defensive players always going to be that um there is no version of him that can be a below average efficiency offensive player and

Be good he has to be like his path to being a good player is being so good on offense that he’s undeniable and that the defensive struggles are like something you work around because you say like oh that dude that he’s just he’s like he’s he’s really stinking good so we we’ll figure

It out I mean his his like his path this is an unfair comparison to him but like his path is something akin to Damen L where it’s like that’s a below aage Defender to a straight up bad Defender and his and the reason that he’s going to be good is because he’s an

Elite offensive player Anthony Simons has not has been a below average efficiency score in the League this season and if you couple that with being a bad defensive player he’s been hasn’t been very good but there was a brief moment when he was legitimately good you

Know he he starts the season he he gets hurt in game one he finishes game one uh of the Blazers season against um you know opening night and then he against the Clippers gets hurt hurts his thumb mix misses the next 18 games and then he

Comes back and in December he comes back and it’s like oh he’s fine in 10 games in December Andy Simons averag 20 point 28 points 3.2 boards and 5.4 assists 28 and 5 a half on 4640 92 splits that’s 46% from the uh field including 40% from

Three and 92% from the free throw line 28 and 5 and half on 46492 it was like yeah like this dude is like that version of anthon Simons that guy is a someone you can build forward with that like even with his defensive deficiencies 285 on that level of of of

Efficiency and that volume of shooting and shooting 40% from three then that’s a dude you can build with because you can figure out how to make it work if someone scores and and makes plays and and earns attention at that level he’s the only dude on the team that draws

Consistent double teams like it’s it’s defenses treat him differently than they treat other players when he was getting it done in December with that productivity like great he’s going to you know he’s going to make things easier because he’s going to draw defensive attention and he’s going to be

Efficient and score and you’ll figure out the defense stuff at another point when he hasn’t been that in 2024 it has been troubling this is the bad part of the Season since the calendar flipped over a got sick like right around Christmas came back and uh you know had

And and came back in the new year and has has not been good I’m I’m I’m just saying like he missed time I’m not connecting the sickness to the struggling um I don’t I’m not a doctor um I’m a dork but like I’m a Bas I’m a

Basketball nerd but but just like game log wise he miss a couple games comes back in January after post Christmas he gets sick and comes back in January and since January in the year 2024 it’s 23 games he’s averaging 20.4 points 3.7 boards five assists but the problem is the efficiency has totally

Dropped off a cliff 40% overall from the field 37% from three and still 91% from the free throw line but ay Simons can’t be a below average you know 37% it’s like right at the leag average from three he cannot be a below average scorer because he doesn’t get the free

Throw line a bunch so his true shooting percentage is just naturally going to be a little low um effective field goal percentages is accounts for three-pointers being worth more true shooting percentage accounts for the value of free throws along with three-pointers beinging worth more but it’s like a normalized shooting

Percentage but 40% from the floor and 20 points per game Andrey Simons has scored 30 points three times in 2024 three times in 233 games in this calendar in since the calendar flipped he had four 30-point games in 10 December outings he was cooking now he’s not and you might

Say Mike I kind of know this dog like I’ve been watching I know he’s been struggling what’s the point here’s the point the Blazers need the best version of him they’re heading down the stretch of this season and they just need a Simons they don’t need to necessarily

Win a bunch of games they don’t need him to they just need him to get back to being a uh a good offensive player an above average offensive player an above average efficiency high on high volume a guy who can score they need him to score

Like 25 in a game and Dish out somewhere in the range of five assists 25 and five on slightly above average efficiency that’s what they need from ants and we’ve seen stretches where he’s been that I I I think like that’s a big number to just sort of throw out there

But we’ve seen stretches when he’s been that including as recently as December and here’s why they need it uh I mentioned sort of the the tamber has changed on an that the the folks I I think in general the fan base a little down on him this season and rightfully

So as I just laid out the reasons why he would be but whether he’s part of the long-term plans like they want to build with him and he’s part of the core going forward or he’s very specifically not and they need to trade him they need him

To be good whether he’s part of the the short medium or long-term PL he’s going to be part of the shortterm plans because he’s going to play out the rest of the season um unless they clandestinely shut him down but like uh it’s whether he is a a person that you

Have to trade because you are moving in another Direction choose to trade because you’re moving in another direction or choose to keep and build with because he’s because you like what he brings to the table uh and we we’ll talk ant trade stuff when we get deeper

Into the offseason I think it’s the big it’s a huge question I’ve kind of already broached it in a previous um a previous episode talking about malol brog and and amrey Simons and who to prioritize but like today it’s like just the basics that you need to know is is

Or how I feel and what I what I would like to share with you here is regardless the Blazers need to get the best version of Anthony Simons down the stretch and Inferno the dude who gets outrageously hot like um he’s he’s he just hasn’t had the games or the

Stretches where it’s it’s light stretches but not like a quarter and a half not like 18 game minutes where it’s like oh no one can guard him he has 22 in in a quarter and a half like he’s had those moments his hot is very hot um he

Had a stretch in December when he was really good they need him to be that again because like I said whether he is trade bait or whether he is building block they need him to be good for me like to be totally clear I think athre Simons has pretty much determined that

He cannot be a lead offensive engine on a good team whether he can be a good offensive player on a like if he’s not the lead engine on a on another on a good team but like where he’s two he’s the second or third option um I would I would like

To I think that’s something that I don’t know if I would like to see it but I think that’s something that maybe other teams could Bank on or whatever but I think it’s it’s pretty clear that he is incapable just with his his skill set and his abilities and not everyone can

Be the lead guy on a good team and I think it’s pretty clear that he can’t be that but if he can’t be that he can still be a good player if he’s an effective offensive player and we’ve seen enough stretches of it to know that it’s in there somewhere

Probably but he didn’t take the jump this year he just hasn’t made the leap and what the Blazers the Blazers don’t need him to make up for past sins of of January and February they just need him to be the best the best a diamonds over

The final five weeks of the season in March and the first week April and then get out of here and then they’ll figure out what’s next if he continues to struggle it’s bad for the team period because he’s becomes less valuable as a trade chip and then you maybe are stuck

With a player who has underachieved and you have to um get off him for something that you um you know for for a package that is less appealing or you keep him and you just have a player who is not who just never got back to his highest

Highs they need him to be the best version of himself it’s imperative no matter what you want them to do no matter what you want the next version of the Blazers to look like it is incredibly important that Inferno the best version of aony Simons return in the final five weeks of this

Season okay Blazers a kickoff a three-game road trip this weekend and the injury report has some news to know that’s what we will talk about in the second segment but first let me tell you about FanDuel go get buckets with FanDuel you’re down the stretch run of the NBA season America’s number one

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Shot that’s FanDuel an official sports book partner of the NBA all right let’s talk the injury report is there anything more exciting than looking at a injury report for the Portland Trailblazers yeah there’s a lot there’s there are many things um but I will say this in the grand

Scheme of injury reports this one has some good news on it uh you know the chn PHS told reporters uh prior to the last game against um excuse me prior to the last game that that uh scoot Henderson will not play in this upcoming three game Road Trip so he’s out no surprise

He’s on the injury report malcol brogs and out indefinitely um kind of unclear when when and if he will return he’s on the injury report right that’s not you’re not seeing that good news um that might be too good news to hope for in a season like

This but there’s names to know and their taller gentlemen uh the one that I think is uh sort of the there are two that are the most eye-opening let let let’s start with the bigger one DeAndre Aon he’s not listed as out He’s listed as doubtful

That is in and of itself that is good news about DeAndre Aon because he you know he he leaves the last game against the Heat with a right hand spring he fell on he Kevin Love took a charge cuz Kevin Love Takes charges cuz Kevin Love Can’t Jump and the NBA prioritizes or

Incentivizes players to slide under players who drive and take charges Kevin Love is really good at it he’s he’s he’s a great charge taker he takes a charge DeAndre lands on him and kind of gets his hand tucked under him and tucked him in him in between himself as he lands

And his own body weight and on Kevin Love and hurts his hand plays a little bit but but doesn’t come back out in the second half like returns after the injury but doesn’t come back out in the second half they just called it a right hand sprain but they hadn’t given any uh

Formal updates so the next time and and then they didn’t have uh uh media availability immediately following that game and then they traveled today to uh uh to head out on on their road trip to me to starting in Memphis with a couple games over the weekend so the first time

We were going to get an update or like a true update on aon’s status was going to be the injury report and on the injury report He’s listed as doubtful and not out and that’s important because if it was a long-term injury he would just be

Out doubtful suggest like in the sort of technical parland it means he’s going to has a 25% chance to play but it doesn’t even matter if he plays Friday right they play Friday and Saturday uh it doesn’t even matter if he plays Friday the the like the actual big news is that

You know Chon bulp said the x-rays came back negative and he’s not immediately ruled out for this game so it’s probably means that this is not a long-term thing DA has been the bright spot for the Blazers over the last month um just having him out there is incredibly

Helpful and uh because of just like he can score and they just need someone who can like their offense is so clunky they just like DeAndre Aon just like chucking up 18 Footers is almost as you know first of all he’s really good at it second of all it’s like on on this

Particular roster about as good a shot as you’re going to get um so they like they need him and it and it just helps so it just like makes the rest of everything so much more functional to have uh the quality of of a non offense particularly out there and he’s he’s

Been their I think their best defensive Center this year too like he’s going to help on both ends um he’s been like just good over the last month uh so while he might not play Friday and doubtful he could be listed as doubtful for the way the Blazers do it he could

Be listed as doubtful for a week but I think just the fact that he is not immediately ruled out of the game tells you that this is not a this is not a super duper long-term injuries great news great news um you know I don’t think we have details on it and obviously

Like I don’t really know what a hands brain is like is it a contusion like if you didn’t break a bone it seems like you just like whacked your hand really bad and it’s like a pain tolerance thing um it’s his right hand it’s his shooting

Hand if your if your hand is like badly bruised and like beat up because you landed on it and smashed into Kevin Love It’s probably hard to shoot a basketball so like get right and get get going um and so you can get going but I think

It’s legitimately good news that da is not like hasn’t been already ruled out and and and SE sees his name in the doubtful categorization uh the other name you need to know speaking of big dudes on the injury report Moses Brown upgraded to questionable Moses Brown has been out

Since January 1st when he when he uh fractured his wrist he had surgery to to repair that fractured wrist on January 10th and he was going to be out roughly 6 weeks we’re kind of right at that um a little a little bit longer but um listed as questionable is is good

News like I I’m not here to say like great great y’all Moses Brown back Blazers season is going to be better now like I don’t think Moses Brown’s very good um I thought it was somewhat curious that the Blazers decided to keep him over um Skyler Mae but at the time I

Thought it was like oh Moses Brown is significantly more tradable than Skyler Mae because you literally couldn’t trade Skyler ma based on his contracts and then when they kept everyone past the trade deadline I was like hm this is weird like I literally thought Moses Brown was being was kept on the roster

Like specifically as a piece you as a piece you could drink but since he’s still here and the Blazers are still small it’s I guess it’s good to be wrong it’s good to guess wrong because they just need size I like jaari Walker a lot

But I think playing him at Center in the NBA particularly against bigger teams and Memphis can be a big team if they want to be um depending on the lineups and health like I think playing Walker at the five like kind of strips them of strips him

Of some of his gifts he’s a good rebounder but if he is going to be you know six in is shorter than the dude next to him he’s just not going to win that many rebounding battles it’s hard to rebound out of your position if the other dude out of like that’s chasing

You down chasing a loose ball with you is like way taller and has way longer arms than you but Jabari playing four or playing like some sort of hybrid forward spot what whatever position you might think he plays at the one of the forward spots he can rebound because the guy

Who’s going to be try to block try to block him out for the most part is not as big as him there’s another big player on the court next to him to sort of eat up space on the glass and and and and Jabari is I just best best utiliz if you

Put a guy in the position he plays best you’ll get the best out of him and and Jabari struggled a little bit and then playing him asking him to play out of position I think doesn’t help so I think just having more big bodies that can play you know duath is almost certainly

Going to start at Center if if aon’s out you’re going to get some backup minutes I’m sure Jabari will play a little bit of backup five but um we will we will see if Aon is available but but like if it’s if it’s not it’s going to be wreath

It’s going to be Walker and then Mo Brown Mo Brown and I like just the thing that Moses Brown is that any that other dudes on the roster are not is big he’s 72 he’s a little skinny but he’s big like he’s he’s a very tall person uh IBU

Baji is not on the injury report either which means he will be available so he could get some backup minutes um I think bajgi is way more intriguing than Moses brown but I to me he’s not like way better at basketball he’s way he’s a better shot blocker but like the

Rebounding and sort of uh his feel on offense I don’t think to me I think it’s they’re I think baji has is just like more fun and I’d probably like rather watch him play but I don’t think like he’s this great upgrade over Brown so I think if Brown’s

Healthy get him on the court and see what he can do um like if nothing else the Blazers should should spend the rest of the season finding out what they have and basically every player on the roster and particularly a guy like Moses Brown who hasn’t played and they have he has

An an NBA contract and they clearly invest him a little bit as a as a exactly this like a depth piece big man and now they need some depth piece big man so let’s let’s get let’s get Big Mo out there and see what he can do all right to close the

Show I got I got good news a simple solution for the Blazers to win the championship the Blazers are going to win the championship as as my man Jr has said uh I will show you the path I will walk you through it it’s it’s easy super

Simple join me in the third segment and I will show you the solution first I want to tell you about prize picks it’s daily Fantasy Made Easy uh it’s the number one fantasy sports app with over 3 million users and it’s so simple to use you just pick more than or less than

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By laying out the path to a championship and it is simple but it starts with kind of understanding the the state of futility of the of the franchise join me in the Wayback machine uh the Blazers have mostly been excellent straight up this this team this team has mostly been excellent as

May be overstating it the Blazers have mostly been very successful uh over the course of of their nearly 50 years in existence or excuse me nearly 60 years in existence they’ve been good Portland has lost has had a losing season this will be their their third they’ve now lost 42

Games this year so this will be their third consecutive losing season I don’t think I don’t think they were going to win out if they went 41 and 41 but it was still on the table it was until they lost to the heat it was still on the

Table uh they could have ripped off 26 straight to close the season uh I don’t I don’t think they’re going to rip off 25 straight either but hey this it’s why they it’s why they play the games and listen Mo Brown’s back but there’s going to be three straight seasons of of

Um of losing basketball of having having a losing record and this is only the third time in franchise history in which they have had posted three consecutive losing Seasons this team was founded in 1970 it’s like they’ve been mostly very good they made the playoffs 21 consecutive Seasons starting in the 1983 playoffs

And running to the 03 playoffs things got a little dark after that uh in 0405 0506 and 0607 they had three consecutive losing Seasons that was the last time they posted three consecutive losing Seasons only one time in their existance have they had four straight losing Seasons only once since their since

Inception in 1970 have they lost have they posted four straight Seasons where they have a record below 500 they have mostly been very competitive mostly been a playoff team mostly been a team that’s kind of in the mix um you know at the ball but not the prom King type of thing

Um I don’t I he probably be at prom not a ball but I you know sometimes you mix your dance metaphors uh to begin this since Inception to begin this this experiment the Portland Trailblazers and a basketball and the even the far Outpost of the Pacific Northwest

Starting in 1970 the Blazers had six straight losing Seasons six straight ended in 7576 that was their last of six consecutive losing Seasons to begin the franchise uh experiment the following year 1976 1977 the Blazers would go on to win their first and only World Championship see where I’m getting

At losing a bunch in a row is actually the solution now it’s Friday and I don’t mean that but I want you to have a little bit of fun the best the best way to be good in the NBA is to be good um it’s hard to it’s hard to sneak

It but the 7677 team lays out the easy path to get there here’s a simple solution during the summer of 1976 the ABA broke up and it was um there was a dispersal draft as the teams merged the ABA kind died in the NBA swallowed it up that’s kind of more what

Happened but we call it the merger and when the two leagues merged Under the Umbrella of the NBA the Blazers were able to add a two-time All-Star front Court player and Maurice Lucas and team him up with Bill Walton and have this Elite front court that could go to

Toe-to-toe with greem Abdul Jabar and the Lakers and then square off against Julius Irving in the Sixers and win the stinking Championship the youngest title team team based on weighted average of total ages to ever win a title in the NBA that’s the solution the Blazers are already currently one of the youngest

Teams in the league if they were to have a losing season the following year they would be just the second time in in franchise history they had four you know this upcoming season they’d have four consecutive losing Seasons but here’s The Simple Solution you just add a two-time

All-Star front Court player and you let your young promising big man we’ll call him DeAndre Aon take a step forward and become one of the clearly five best players in the league and then win an MVP and a season later for a brief period Bill Walton was probably the best basketball player in

The NBA um uh you know a late season playoff run and then the following year when they started 50 and 10 like you know the better parts of two seasons Bill Walton was maybe the best player in the league that’s all that deand Dron has to

Do so here simple solution I got it for you this is how we’ll head into the weekend here is the simple path easy peasy find an Allstar forward below the age of 25 a rugged front Court player that can be an enforcer the enforcer in fact bring physicality attitude and

Professionalism to the Blazers front line have DeAndre Aton take a massive step forward and Bing Bang Boom Championship simple as that easy peasy I think yeah that’s cool I think I don’t think I need to say anymore right you got it that’ll work I think the real truth is that

Um this has been this stretch these three seasons has been as challenging a stretch as the Blazers have had in their history as a franchise like you have to go back to 1975 the majority of my listeners probably weren’t around in 1975 um or if you were you were a

Youngster and probably didn’t have the you know the straight the sort of investment that maybe you do now I’m sure some of you will tell me that you were around since 70 and remember it and I appreciate you listening uh because that’s cool as heck but like this stretch you

Know I I think that 04 to 07 stretch is regarding as like the darkest stretch of the franchise’s history um and and this one is the as bad as they’ve been record-wise since then um it’s not as kind of like the offc court stuff isn’t as messy but like they’ve traditionally

Been really good it’s been a long time since as a Blazer fan since they’ve been this um the path out of here is tough so you know keep your positivity and start thinking about how easy it is to add a Maurice Lucas level uh front Court

Player and have DeAndre Morphin a uh m VP and see you at the parade we’ll do five of these again next week that’s what we do wherever you get podcasts and also on YouTube tell your friends about the show I appreciate you listening talk to you soon

Anfernee Simons has struggled in 2024. Regardless of his medium or long term future with the franchise, the Trail Blazers need the best version of Simons to resurface in down the stretch of the season. Plus, injury updates on Deandre Ayton and Moses Brown and why The Blazers Are Going To Win The Championship.

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