Portland Trail Blazers: 5 goals for Anfernee Simons’ rookie season
By Ty Delbridge
1. Play in 50 games
No matter what Simons does this season, his No. 1 goal as a rookie should be to see the floor. The Blazers don’t have a G League team and like to develop their players within. The best way that Simons will learn the speed of the NBA and develop his game is by getting minutes.
He needs to go against guys who are bigger, better and stronger than him so he can figure out he needs to work on to survive in the league. Simons is a talented player and is a guy who can help this team win as a rookie. Even he is just a 3-point shooter this season as he grows into his body, he can be a factor for this Blazers team.
Portland had Zach Collins stay with the team the entire season, and he made vast improvements by the time the playoffs rolled around. Collins appeared in 66 games for the Blazers last season.
Caleb Swanigan played a lot of the season in the G League, but still appeared in 27 games. Since Simons was the Blazers’ only first round pick this season, I expect him to see more games than Swanigan did so 50-plus games is a good number to shoot for.
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Anfernee Simons is joining a team with good guards and may not be as needed as Collins was last season. But if he can get on the court at a consistent rate and play in some meaningful moments in his rookie season, it could really help his development and confidence moving forward. The Blazers are in win-now mode and need to see what they can get out of the rookie this season.