I think the playoffs are different than the regular season. I do not think Simons would have gotten a ton of play in these playoffs honestly because you have to choose him or Pritchard. It?s tough to have two guys people can attack and Pritchard has a bit more strength to resist at times than Simons. Same for Brunson since he is pretty strong so he is not as easy to pick on as Simons in my opinion. I would take Simons back if we trade Pritchard otherwise not really worth what we would likely have to pay for him.
Well I'm just some schmo on the internet. So let's allow his coach tell us how Simons' defense is completely different now:
https://www.tiktok.com/@nbcsboston/video/7595799206477024567
And here's video evidence of the transformation he made from the first two months of the season to the last two:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy6N9ogl8C0
That's better evidence than what my personal opinion is on a keyboard.
Simons finished the season hurt after reaggrevating an injury from the Celtics training camp, so I am not sure he would have gotten any playing time. I also am not convinced that some nice things were not said about him just to try to improve his trade value.
That said, I liked him and would be happy to have him back next year. Defense aside, we could have used his offensive energy during the Philly series if he were available.
We do not have enough scorers.
We are going to have to live with somebody who is subpar defensively. Whether that is a guard like A Simons or a big man like Vucevic. We need some more offense. We cannot just have 4 guys who can get baskets and then a bunch of garbage men (Queta, J Walsh, Hugo, Baylor, Garza).
It would be great to get a two-way player with shot creation skills but those guys cost a ton of money / trade assets. We do not have much of either of those. We have the MLE.
Exactly. TP.
I think the issue is if Pritchard isn't capable of doing what Simons is doing, what is he here for? He's supposed to be our bench guard scorer. Now we apparently need two of them, both of whom aren't great on defense. I know they're not exactly the same player, but we have other needs on the roster as well.
This wouldn't be as big of a concern if White actually was shooting up to his potential and Pritchard didn't get overwhelmed by the tougher defenses in the playoffs. Shooting is supposed to be one of their specialties, and now we're saying we also need a third guard for whom shooting is his primary skill.
I do like Simons and if you can get him for a bargain, go for it. It would have to be cheap enough so it could be moved if necessary, however, because I think if we're trying to go where we need to go, we eventually do need more heft at the position.
I guess what I'm saying is more shooting is nice, but I thought the big picture goal after the disappointing playoff result was 1) more rim pressure on offense so we're not so 3 reliant and 2) upping our overall size, athleticism, and physicality on the team. Even if there's no clearcut alternative two-way guy out there, is there an opportunity cost to signing Simons and playing him the minutes he expects over some other player (Ron Harper Jr.!). Or, maybe a drafted player since this is a guard-heavy draft. It would be nice to get a long-term guard for the future to eventually replace White or Pritchard in the next few years (or even now if White is on the trade block).
