It’s easy to get caught up in the bright lights and ‘Woj bombs‘ of the NBA offseason. And in a covid hastened period wherein trades, the draft, and free agency all occur within a matter of days, it can feel magical. Your team could be at the bottom of the league and you’re praying for salvation, or be the reigning champions looking to build on their success. No matter your place the previous year, this stage of the offseason is where you shed the past and look to the future. Everyone’s slate is blank and anyone can win. Which is why when your team drafts your favorite prospect or trades for a solid player, you feel like a kid on Christmas who finally got the new toy they’d been asking for.
For the Portland Trail Blazers, their shiny new toy came early.
On Monday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that “The Rockets are finalizing a trade to send Robert Covington to Portland for Trevor Ariza and 2020 first-round pick and 2021 protected first-round pick.” The addition of Covington is significant. He’s the type of 3-and-D wing player with size that can make an immediate impact, filling a key role Portland has been searching for since the departure of Nicolas Batum in 2015. It’s tempting to look at new additions to a team and let your imagination run wild, but if you’re the Blazers, the toys already in the closet are what will ultimately make the biggest difference. If Portland is going to make a leap towards title contention, it will be because of players already on the team making super developmental strides.
Enter: Anfernee Simons (the Ant-Man), and Zach Collins (the Wasp: White Anglo-Saxon Protestant).
Quick note: I’m not really sure whether Zach Collins is Protestant. He went to Gonzaga which is a Catholic school. So he’s probably not. More points to him not being Protestant than to him being Protestant. Anfernee Simons is actually nicknamed the Ant-Man.
Okay, back to the article.
Anfernee Simons – The Ant-Man
Simons is a baby. Not an actual baby, but baby adjacent. Just look at that adorable face. The 21-year-old guard is about to enter his third NBA season. And despite appearances, he doesn’t play like a kid.
A reminder that @AnferneeSimons can fly pic.twitter.com/N4JDqrpbwG
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) June 25, 2020
The hype has been there since he came into the league, but at such a young age, he hasn’t been forced to carry the burden of expectation thus far.
That is about to change.
Did I mentioned the hype? There’s been a lot of it.
#RipCity is slowly unveiling their secret weapon to everyone else: @AnferneeSimons.@PaoloUggetti: https://t.co/qzWJNKKYaX
— The Ringer (@ringer) July 21, 2019
Whether from the Portland front office or executives around the league, the murmurs about his talent have evolved into screams. Simons has shown flashes of his potential throughout the past two seasons, behind the three-point line as well as at the rim. His defense is raw, but at 6″3 with a wingspan over 6″9, the sky is the limit. Being able to come off the bench to spell Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum as well as a capability to effectively play alongside them will be crucial to his success. What the Blazers need most from the Ant-Man, though, is consistency.
Such is also the case for his (maybe Protestant) teammate.
Zach Collins – The Wasp
Last season was supposed to be the year we saw it all click for Collins. A the 10th overall pick in the 2017 draft, the 6″11 big was due for a breakout campaign in his third NBA season. That was until he injured his left shoulder in the third game of the season against the Dallas Mavericks.
Zach Collins leaves game with left shoulder injury#ripcity pic.twitter.com/siIj4s3FGR
— NBC Sports Northwest (@NBCSNorthwest) October 28, 2019
He would eventually return to play during the NBA restart in Orlando, but again, not for long. He suffered a season-ending ankle injury during the team’s play-in game against the Grizzlies and required surgery. Even before his injury in the bubble, his play was erratic. His professional career to this point has been marked by flashes of promise followed by inconsistent play. A front-court of Jusuf Nurkić and Collins should be imposing. Both are essentially seven-footers who are above-average passers and capable rim finishers. But Collins doesn’t yet have the frame to stand up against the stronger big men in the league, defensively or offensively. Foul trouble has plagued him. The upside in Collins lies within his ability to spread the floor and knock down open three-pointers. This is unfortunately his biggest inconsistency.
Becoming Super
The Blazers have their stars. Lillard and McCollum are not approaching career plateaus, nor are their contracts soon expiring. That foundation is set. The team is also making additions. Look at Covington or the impending return of Enes Kanter. Portland has a formula for success, but their ceiling is highest when they get steady contributions from players other than Lillard and McCollum. Consider the team’s bubble performance in Orlando. Gary Trent Jr. was one of the biggest stars in the NBA restart prior to his inevitable regression to the mean. But his temporary success changed the way the team played together and opened up more high-quality shots for Lillard and McCollum. What if Simons could consistently give the team 14-16 points per game and play solid defense? Can Collins stay healthy and improve his three-point shooting percentage to somewhere near the 35-38% range? What if both things happen?
Hometown fans often give their team’s players more credit than they deserve. Maybe not in cities like Boston or Philadelphia, but certainly outside of psychotic sports towns. Blazers fans fell in love with the likes of friendly and reliable Ed Davis and Spanish heartthrob Rudy Fernández. No one in the league looked at either of these players as potential pieces of a championship team. Collins and Simons are the rare cases of talented young players recognized not just in Portland but across the NBA. At this stage, it’s still hypotheticals and talks of potential, but for Portland’s Ant-Man and the Wasp, the formula is there.
They simply need to tap into their powers to become super.
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