Rip City Project
Fansided

Portland Trail Blazers: Trent Jr, Simons show potential in Summer League

By Austin Carroll

Las Vegas, NV - JULY 7: Anfernee Simons #1 of the Portland Trial Blazers and Gary Trent Jr., #2 of the Portland Trial Blazers look on during the game against the Houston Rockets during Day 3 of the 2019 Las Vegas Summer League on July 7, 2019 at the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Bart Young/NBAE via Getty Images)
Las Vegas, NV - JULY 7: Anfernee Simons #1 of the Portland Trial Blazers and Gary Trent Jr., #2 of the Portland Trial Blazers look on during the game against the Houston Rockets during Day 3 of the 2019 Las Vegas Summer League on July 7, 2019 at the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Bart Young/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Sunday night’s dominating 97-87 victory over the Houston Rockets showed just how talented the Portland Trail Blazers young core really is.

First thing’s first, it’s time for me to eat crow. Harsh criticism and generalizations should never have been placed on the shoulders of the Portland Trail Blazers‘ promising duo of 20-year-old players.

If anyone still doubted them, Sunday night proved that Gary Trent Jr and Anfernee Simons can flat out ball. Simons showed much more progress towards becoming the player the Blazers want him to be while Trent Jr played out of his mind looking more and more like a bonafide NBA player.

Let’s take a look at how the Blazers’ Summer League team performed in last night’s victory and what it could mean for the future.

After shaking the rust off in his first game back, Anfernee Simons looked much more comfortable out on the court yesterday. Going 6-for-11 from the field and knocking down four 3-point shots, Simons scored a very efficient 16 points. However, Simons is not a pure scoring guard anymore. Portland needs him to develop his ball handler abilities and become a secondary distributor off the bench, and giving up 6 turnovers while only dishing out 2 assists is certainly not a step in the right direction. Hopefully he can carry this positive momentum and continue improving as a pure point guard.. Guard. Portland Trail Blazers. ANFERNEE SIMONS. B

A+. Apparently last game was just the set-up episode and Gary Trent Jr was prepared to go all out after channeling his chakras… or something. Point is, Trent Jr was the best player on the court last night. No, that’s understating it. Trent Jr had the single best performance we’ve seen in the Summer League thus far, putting up 31 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists while carrying the team to a win. That scoring total is the highest mark we’ve seen in this year’s Summer League. More importantly, Trent Jr showcased the ability to have an effect on the game even when he isn’t scoring with his rebounding and passing ability. Best of all, he proved he has the most valuable NBA trait of all after knocking down seven of his eight 3-point attempts. If he keeps this up, expect major minutes in the rotation for Trent Jr next season.. Guard. Portland Trail Blazers. GARY TRENT JR.

Portland Trail Blazers. JAYLEN HOARD. B+. <a href=. Forward

How Damian Lillard changed NBA history with one shot. dark. Next

Check back in tomorrow as the Portland Trail Blazers take on the Utah Jazz in the third game of their Summer League schedule. Tip-off is at 3:00 p.m. PST. You can watch the game on ESPN2.