Why the Trail Blazers Have had Success without Anfernee Simons and Deandre Ayton in the Lineup

28 comments

1. Because DA doesn't fit the game style. He's crowding the paint. ain't moving and cause no movement on offense. make fake screens, so the ball handler gets stuck and must give him the ball for a mid range. On D, he is too soft and can't protect the rim and too slow to get out of the paint, and if he does, they crossover him easily, so he doesn't fit the defensive identity of the young core either.
   While Big D is a huge defensive asset. he can't get out of the paint fast enough either, but can defend the rim so well that others can cover for that. and on offense when he screens it is noticeable.
   Rob is good both ends and his movement and game style makes everyone better especially Deni and Beneton but also Scoot. If Rob was healthy he should've been the starter.

   About ant it is mostly he can't D well. Both by the way are super talented, I can go same way about that. They just don't fit the game style.

2. I’m old enough to remember the blazers best 4 game stretch in 2022. The starters were Ant, the other CJ, Winslow, Hart, and Nurk. All due respect to these four gentlemen, but I’m not so sure CJ, Winslow, Hart, or Nurk was the engine behind that winning streak. I’m curious what the small sample size crew thinks of that…

3. king kong op, he have great future

4. I love seeing so many people watching the podcast 🤘

5. When you add Simons, Ayton and Grant in the same lineup the defense is terrible.

6. Rob is not a better center than Ayton. In h2h matchups, Ayton has averaged 18&13, while Rob has only averaged 5&5. Stop trying to create a narrative that the team is better without Ant and Ayton. They're hitting their 3's that's the difference. They're making shots that they were missing early in the season. During clutch time Atlanta game showed why they weren't better without Ant and DA. They couldn't buy a bucket because they had no shot creators. Rob is good on defense but he can't shot or create so teams just sit in the paint. That doesn't happen with DA. Atlanta also outrebounded Portland. Ayton not starting because of his contract he's just better. Chauncey plays whose better Camara is playing over both Mattisse and Deni who both make more him.

7. If Scoot was Nba Starter ready,, Ant would already be gone

8. Treat them as the 14th and 15th player on the roster, that's what they are right now, we lost on their stock already,let them earn it if they can, if not just ride out their contract.

9. Rob makes everyone around him better

10. Because Simons is a volume shooter with a low FG percentage and a ball hog since he is a shooting guard. Hence, other players miss many opportunities. In contrast, when he's not around, other players get involved and get more touches like Banton, Sharpe, Cling Kong, Time Lord, etc who have a higher FG percentage than him. While Ayton is less athletic than Time Lord and smaller than Cling Kong, that's why those 2 bigs thrive compared to him. Hope the Blazers trade Ayton and Simons and continue their rebuild

11. When they make 3s everybody looks good. And the start of the season they were way too passive and deferential. They now are playing much harder. It will be interesting to see how Ant and Ayton play when they get back with this new energy and focus. They do have too many guys that need to play, so they will have to be creative in managing that challenge.

12. Simons doesn't want to be here, plz just trade him. It would be nice to close the book on the Terry Stotts era of letting undersized guards not worry about playing defense. CJM and Simons have fought through about 3 screens combined in their entire NBA careers.

13. In order to get picks back for trading our vets, we should take some truly horrendous contracts.
    Crazy fun house trade:
    Blazers receive- Bench Simmons, Zach LaVine, Zaire Williams, '25 first (MIL 5-30), '27 first (HOU), '28 first (CHI), '30 first (CHI)
    Nets receive- DeAndre Ayton, Anfernee Simons
    Bulls receive- Dorian Finney Smith, Jerami Grant

14. DA seems easily tradable but Simons has little to no market right now, can you get him to buy into a 6th man role like a lou williams.

15. Simons and Ayton needs to go. Empty calories and no leadership, no defense.

16. I love our Lord savior Jesus Christ ❤.. it’s always better in life to be to early than to late 🎉❤.. talking about tin foil hats RFKJ and awesome pick

17. Banton is currently doing more to help the Blazers than Simons.

18. Time to get the max value for these guys and move on.

19. KLING KONG!!!!!!
    🏀⚡️🏀⚡️🏀⚡️

20. I’m on the trade the vets train. They are miserable to watch and defense is 80% effort. If they can’t trade them, they can play off the bench until they decide to buy in and play defense.

21. Really had hopes that Simons was gonna develop into a more dominant player, but we’re likely seeing his peak at this point.
    He could also find himself on a really, really good team and develop as a third option that way. Like Klay.

22. they reached their peak salary, not hungry anymore. they also believed that since they have the most salary, they should take most shot and minutes.
    and in sports it just does not work like this. the hungry play the best.

23. Because those two don't play defense or team ball

24. Listening to this episode I was visualizing a team building decision tree – with scenarios as a function of time, health, various player development outcomes, contracts, and enter subj. Ayton and Simons, etc. Never-ending but fun stuff…

25. I know you hate this Mike, but uh… maybe it's because us "haters" of Ant are right all along, and he HURT THE TEAM, not helps. A major net negative. Rob is also a much more positively impactful player than DA is, especially with his anchoring ability defensively. As much as I like DA (and love picking on him with my own entire cinematic lore universe behind him being the Menace of the Outback Steakhouse), he really needs to play with more assertiveness, confidence and aggression offensively. His defense this season already seems to be improved, with better focus and effort, but he's not going to match someone like Rob on the latter. Now with Donovan dominating defensively too, it allows the other guys to have even more free flowing offense.

26. Sorry, Coach Haters, you have to give Chancey more than a little credit for the team's current success.

27. super unselfish team when simons is gone, we need to get rid of ant and ayton

28. Thank you Ant 🫡

    Don’t let the door hit you on your way out, DA