NBA Draft 2018: Trail Blazers take Anfernee Simons at No. 24
By Kareem Gantt
The Portland Trail Blazers selected Anfernee Simons with the No. 24 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
The Portland Trail Blazers made the riskiest pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. That isn’t an assumption, it’s a fact. For most casual Blazer fans, they were quite taken aback by Portland’s pick. We can only imagine there is a ton of “Who the world is Anfernee Simons?” questions being asked. You honestly can’t fault Blazer fans for asking that question, as many of us didn’t know who this kid was until he was picked.
So, we did what any self-respecting NBA scribe would do — we went to YouTube and checked out the kid’s highlights, and boy, can this kid play?
Hailing from IMG Acadamy in Bradenton, FL (just south of Tampa), Simons is a truly gifted scorer, whose offensive talents are built for the NBA. He was so convinced that he had the skills to play in the NBA that he kicked college to the side and entered the NBA Draft.
In order to do this, he played a fifth year at IMG Acadamy, which, according to Bleacher Report, earned him the status of postgraduate, which, in turn, made him eligible for this year’s Draft.
How he will fit in with the Blazers is still a mystery at this point. Portland already has a talent-laden backcourt tandem of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, which would allow the Blazers to take their time with Simons. But, the conventional wisdom is that the Blazers may look to move McCollum this offseason (if the price is right), which will leave a spot open for another scorer to take the load off of Lillard.
Enter Simons, who has the swagger and tools to replace the potential loss of scoring that will be created if they, indeed, move on from McCollum.