MAILBAG: Is This the Summer to Trade Anfernee Simons?
Plus, trade partners, roster needs, offseason targets and more.
As promised, part two of this week’s mailbag. You can read part one below if you missed it:
This installment covers Anfernee Simons’ future, what types of players the Trail Blazers may be looking for on the trade market this summer, and a new CBA wrinkle.
Hi Sean, do you think Anfernee will have a real shot at earning the starting point guard of the future spot this upcoming season? Or is it pretty much Scoot’s to lose given his age and where he was drafted. Anfernee having as much gravity as he did showed he can be special with better teammates around him to capitalize on that. Just curious if he will actually get a real shot to start alongside Sharpe or if Scoot is gauranteed to start.
- Jay
I don’t think anyone is guaranteed any role. If anything, I’d say that if all three guards are on the roster, Simons is the most set as a starter because of experience and seniority. I don’t think, if he’s still here, you can justify having him come off the bench behind a second-year player and a third-year player, both of whom have proven very little.
What position he plays depends on who he starts alongside. If it’s him and Henderson, he’ll play the two. If it’s him and Sharpe, he’ll play the one. Maybe they start all three together, but that’s tough from a size standpoint as we saw for almost a decade with guard-heavy lineups built around Damian Lillard.
It’s going to depend on what the roster looks like and who looks good during camp in October. But, as we’ve written here many times in the last few weeks, Joe Cronin has some things to figure out this summer.
Do you think Cronin has already made up his mind between keeping Scoot or Simons? It has to be one or the other, and he will forever be linked with Scoot, so it has to be Scoot, right?
I’m assuming he is just biding his time with Simons to get maximum return on a trade. Moving past the 2024 draft was probably a benchmark to avoid more 2024 picks a compensation, so should we expect a Simons trade no later than next year’s trade deadline?
- Kacy H.