I believe many fans know that at the deadline for the trade, the Blazers completed a number of transactions, the most important of which was to send away CJ McCollum, who has been playing for the team for many years, and after the team completed this transaction, it also indicates that the Blazers will enter the reconstruction phase. Although the team still has Lillard as a core player, he may be absent for a long time due to injury, and in a way, the Blazers have entered a rebuild, and the team's goal this season is to focus on developing young players.
After trading a number of key players, the Blazers' young players also got more opportunities to perform, including Anfinny Simmons, who won the dunk king in the 2021 All-Star Game, who was reused, who gained more playing time and the ball than before, becoming the absolute offensive core of the team in the game.
Simmons did not disappoint, he improved rapidly in the game, played a series of highlight performances, and became the team's most trusted offensive strength in the game. In the past three games, Simmons has averaged 30 points and 6.3 assists per game, shooting 48.6% from the field, and on the outside, the dunk king can average 6 three-pointers per game and shoot 46.2% from the field, which is definitely star-level.
After the team completed the trade, Simmons showed his excellent scoring ability and became the absolute core of the Blazers in the game. In addition to personal data, he is also very good at leading the team, in the past three games, the Blazers have won three consecutive games, and their current record is 10th in the West, only 2.5 wins behind the Lakers, and the record is close to the Lakers. While the Trail Blazers are well on track to rebuild, under Simmons, the team is very hopeful of a play-off spot this season and is expected to hit the playoffs.
Simmons, the player selected with the 24th overall pick in the first round of 2018, didn't get much playing time in the first three seasons of the league because Lillard and CJ were on the bench most of the time and didn't play well enough. This season, Simmons also got more performance opportunities because of injuries to Lillard and CJ, and after CJ was traded to the Pelicans, Simmons became the absolute backcourt core of the team. So far this season, Simmons has averaged 16.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, averaging 3 three-pointers per game and shooting 39.7 percent from the field. His career-highs in points, rebounds and assists per game this season are all there for all to see.
In the author's opinion, Simmons's rise process is somewhat similar to CJ's, which is to get the opportunity to perform after the team's lineup changes, and then seize the opportunity to sit firmly in the team's starting lineup and become the core player. CJ is now traded to the Pelicans by the team, and Simmons is in the top spot, and he's now playing the kind of performance CJ did back then. For now, Simmons is very hopeful of succeeding CJ and becoming a player like him. After Lillard returned from injury, simmons and Lillard's backcourt combination is believed to help the Blazers re-emerge as a strong team in the West.