Portland Trail Blazers: 3 candidates for a breakout season in 2019-20
By Ty Delbridge
1. Anfernee Simons
Heading into the 2019-20 season, Anfernee Simons has a ton of hype. The Blazers are expecting big things from their guard, and he should be in line for significant playing time at the backup point guard spot with Seth Curry gone.
He has become one of the more popular names this summer when fans and media talk about breakout candidates for the NBA next year.
Simons showed flashes of what he could do last season, including a 37-point, nine-assist performance in a win to cap the season and give the Blazers the No. 3 seed in the playoffs.
He showed up to the 2019 Las Vegas Summer League as one of the top players and did not disappoint. He averaged 22.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 56.3 percent from the field.
Simons is a gifted scorer, playmaker and is just an all-around smart player on both ends of the court. He is a smaller guard but has been learning behind some of the best smaller guards in the league in Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum.
Simons has explosive athleticism and is quick with the ball. He can impact the game with the ball in his hands and can also do damage off the ball as well. Trail Blazers GM, Neil Olshey said they are expecting big things from their first-round pick in 2018.
"“He’s as talented as anyone we’ve ever drafted since I’ve been here, in terms of just natural gifts,” Olshey said. “He’s not the player Dame and CJ were, but in terms of just natural, God-given, basketball ability, Anfernee is as gifted as anybody I’ve ever drafted. So we’re expecting big things from him.”"
His role this next season will be to be the spark plug off the bench for the second unit. It won’t be surprising either if Simons finds himself in a three-guard lineup at times with McCollum and Lillard.
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His ability to shoot off the dribble, catch-and-shoots, handle the ball and play defense should be a massive benefit to this Blazers team looking to make another deep run in the NBA Playoffs.