Trail Blazers Needed Anfernee Simons Back
Simons' return has made everyone's lives easier.
PORTLAND, Ore. — It's only been two games, and both were losses. But it hasn't taken long for it to become clear how much the Trail Blazers needed Anfernee Simons back, and how much easier having him as a scoring threat is going to make life for Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe.
In his first game back after suffering a torn thumb ligament on opening night, Simons had 28 points in a loss to Golden State. On Friday against Dallas, he had a personal 11-0 run in the second quarter to cut the Mavericks' lead from 17 to six. He matched that total in the third quarter en route to 30 points on 10-of-21 shooting on the night.
“He changes things for us,” head coach Chauncey Billups said. “Having him back, it helps everything. He’s been really good defensively as well, back scrapping out there. But from an offensive standpoint he just gets different coverages. When he’s out there it opens up."
The Blazers' lineup is once again a game of musical chairs because of injuries. Their starting frontcourt has missed the last two games, Deandre Ayton due to knee soreness and Jerami Grant still in the concussion protocol. In the same game Simons returned against the Warriors, Malcolm Brogdon exited with knee soreness.
One day soon, maybe Billups will have a full deck to play with. Maybe Simons and Ayton will get to run pick-and-roll together, which they didn't get to do much of in the one game Simons played at the beginning of the season, due to Ayton's foul trouble. Maybe Brogdon will be able to move back to the bench to play alongside Henderson, furthering the rookie's development.
On opening night against the Clippers, Simons started at shooting guard, just as he did last year next to Damian Lillard. The plan then was to hand the reins to Henderson right away. Henderson wasn't ready, and then got hurt and has been coming off the bench since he came back from an ankle injury last month. Now, Simons is the full-time starting point guard until further notice. He was preparing for it since the summer, when Lillard requested a trade, and the playmaking aspect of his game has opened up.
“I’ve gotten so much better since emphasizing that during the summer,” Simons said. “It’s more that I’m now just out there thinking the game, instead of just thinking about the actual coming off the pick and roll and shooting the ball, passing, actually thinking about if I see Tim Hardaway come up early, I need to dish it out early. Just out there thinking the game way more than I usually would, just thinking of counters. Thinking about what I can do next. It worked out in certain situations for me.”
The Blazers have continued to battle in these games. Outside of the blowout loss to Oklahoma City, they've been in most of them. And because they lost Simons at the beginning of a season in which there have been so many new pieces to integrate, it can be easy to overlook what a scoring threat like that can do to help along a group still figuring out how to play together.
“All the eyes are on him when he’s on the floor, so it’s kind of like playing four-on-three at different points in the game,” Henderson said. “With his shooting ability and he can pass on the drive, Ant makes the game way, way easier for everybody.”