The Orlando Magic are Reportedly Interested in TRADING for Anfernee Simons. Could It Finally Happen?

The Orlando Magic are Reportedly Interested in TRADING for Anfernee Simons. Could It Finally Happen?

In today’s show, we’re talking a real life Anthony Simons trade rumor, plus lessons learned from the first round of the playoffs. Welcome to Locked on Blazers. Let’s get into [Music] it. You are Locked on Trailblazers, your daily Portland Trailblazers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. What’s up world? It’s your passers first point guard and trailblazers reporter Mike Richmond. You’re listening to another episode of Locked on Blazers, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, available wherever you get podcasts and also on YouTube. Thanks for making this show your first listen. Coming at you each and every weekday, Monday through Friday. So make it a part of your daily routine. Make it your first listen. Tell your friends to do the same as Locks on Blazers, your team every day. In today’s program, you’re listening to Monday, May 5th show. We made it. It’s May and we got a real deal offseason trade rumor. As far as I can tell, the first time this rumor that has been very hot in Blazers Land has actually made anything that you would call like official reporting world. We’ll talk about that in Afford Simons in the City. Beautiful in the first segment. And then I want to talk about some things that we’ve learned from the first round of the playoffs. I just watched the first round of the playoffs wrap up. The Golden State Warriors advancing. Some stuff we can learn, maybe not specifically from the Warriors, but some larger trends. Uh, and you know, obviously I watched the Nuggets absolutely wax the Clippers on Saturday evening as well. Uh, and in two kind of boringish game sevens, but uh, I think there’s some stuff that I’ve learned watching this first round of the playoffs that are helpful when thinking about as the Blazers move forward and they want to be one of these teams that competes at this level. Uh, and we’ll talk about the lessons learned a couple a couple from those two uh, from not from those two games, but from the the first round as a whole. But let’s let’s get into the news of news. According to Jake Fiser, who reported this on Sunday, May 4th for the Stein line, that’s Mark Stein’s substack where Jake Fischer writes, uh, that it it was a, you know, a larger piece about various, you know, emptying the notebook on various various rumblings heard around the league, but it included the following. I’m going to read it verbatim here. As a new offseason Beckhams, another trailblazer has been increasingly projected as an Orlando target. Lillard’s former Blazer backcourt mate Anthony Simons. The 25-year-old is an Orlando native who would certainly blend in nicely from a timeline perspective alongside Paulo Beno, 22, and France Vagner, 23. Wait, Anthony Simons to Orlando. Haven’t we been talking about this for two years? We have, dear listener, we have it has been the obvious thing, but as far as I can tell, this is the first time that it’s been like sub like any type of reporting that like substantiates it as having real interest from the parties involved has popped up. I noted this been a thing that we t we’ve talked about here on the show. I’ve talked about it. Um, you know, I’ve uh I’ve done crossover episodes with with Phil over at Locked on Magic and we’ve talked about it. I know that he and and and the listener base over there at at Locked on Magic. They have discussed it. Obviously, Ant is is like an Orlando native, which people kind of like to do that. That’s why that’s why people think the Blazers need Peyton Pritchard or whatever. Um like uh it it’s been a thing that has mostly been talked about by fans and podcasters and like people who have access to Trade Machine and see the Orlando Magic’s obvious needs, but I’m not sure that anyone’s ever reported real interest in this. Um, correct me if I’m wrong, but like but from what I can tell and from, you know, I’ve covered this pretty closely over the years. Uh, this is the first time anyone’s ever reported like Orlando is actually interested in this because I think prior it was like Mike Richmond, the podcaster thinks this is a good idea, but not any like real real interest here. And obviously Jake um Jake Fischer is not reporting like this is a done deal or whatever, but um this is the first time that that this I would say that this has elevated itself to actual rumor status as opposed to just like here’s a trade idea that would work and everyone agrees that’s a good idea. It would work. Um so what would it look like? I know you’re asking. First of all is obvious obviously makes sense because for a variety of reasons. Let me talk about why it makes sense first and we’ll get into actual package. Um the the Warrior, excuse me, the Warriors. I got Warriors in the brain. Um the Orlando Magic cover for Afrey Simons specific flaws and Avery Simons provides the exact skill set that they need. They need someone who can really shoot and particularly shooting off the dribble. A little bit of half court ability to score in the half court either as a spot-up guy where Ant has been very very very good or as a guy who can score off the dribble where Ant has been kind of up and down but sometimes excellent. Um, and I would say like the context in Portland is a little bit different than the context he’ll be playing in with Orlando. And the context is what I really want to why I really think the fit is has value. Paulo Ben Carroll gets to do initiator point guardy stuff. France Vagner gets to do initiator point guardy stuff. When Jaylen Suggs is healthy next year, he’ll get some on ball reps to be maybe not like the lead guard because he’s more of an off offg guard guy, but he still runs pick and rolls for them to be sure. like he um I I would say before uh before the injury and and the last year and a half, he’s like trending that way for sure as like someone who who runs pick and rolls. So, they don’t need Afrey Simons to be a lead point guard type of of of lead initiator. He can be mostly off the ball. That’s huge. And they’re really good on defense and really really big and really physical. And Simon showed the during at least the second half of this season that like he can be competitive on defense. He’s still going to be the obvious weak link, but his like he can he can make his flaws just sort of like talent and anticipation and strength as opposed to like interest. He you know you you crank the interest level up and then it’s just about like you know sometimes you’re just going to get bullied. Sometimes you’re going to be slow to react like some but that stuff but like I think I don’t think an Simon’s problem said the second half of this year was that he played like scared or or not hard enough. Um he just isn’t he’s just a bad he’s a bad defensive player and he’s always going to be that way probably. Um, but they are an elite defensive team that can cover up his needs and and need what he looks need they need his strengths on offense shooting um and and some playmaking and at least in particularly some sort of just like ability to create your own shot which Simon’s actual skill in the league and uh and and the long range and the long distance shooting which at times he’s been an elite long range shooter. I think this year he was not quite that. Um so what would it look like? What would it look like? That’s why you’re screaming. You love fake trades. It’s fake trade season. It’s you listen to a podcast about the Portland Trailblazers in May. You’re dying for me to cook something up in the trade machine. So, I did. I did cuz I love y’all. I really do. Thanks for letting me do this in early May. The dream deal looks something like this. Contavius Caldwell Pope. I mean, actually, your dream deal, dear listener, is absolutely outrageous and I hate it. Don’t email it to me. But I think like a within like re within real realistic parameters, the dream deal looks something like this. Contavius Caldwell Pope, Anthony Black, and Denver’s first round pick this year. That’s the 25th pick in the draft in 2025. KCP’s basically the money to make it work, but also it’s like of, you know, he had a down season this season and he’s owed uh, you know, making north of 20 million and and like, you know, if he’s if if age is catching up with him, etc., etc. lowered or or whatever it might be. You know, he can be he’s a good defensive player still. Um he just kind of the the offense didn’t come around the way it had. The shooting did not come around the way it had in Orlando as it had in previous stops. But like KCP can come off the bench and be a really useful part for the Blazers. Anthony Black is a really interesting six seven. He’s probably not a one. It’s pretty obvious he’s not a point guard. Um but like guard two guard with some size. It’s a guard multiple positions. Um, I’d be really intrigued by him. He seems very blazery to me. Um, shooting was better this season than it had been, but you wouldn’t call him a shooter by any means. And then a first round pick for Anthony Simons. That would be a heck of a haul. Get you get KCPA AB and and and a first for Ant. Cash it in. Run. Run to the phone to submit it. Um, you can cook up other versions of this. Um I I think an okay version of this would be you still get the pick, but you don’t get they’re like they don’t want to trade Anthony Black. So you get Gary Harris. You get two veterans. Uh it’s, you know, the Blazers will need are likely to need guard depth because obviously going to trade away Simons in this deal. And I I would imagine Delano Bansson is not on the team next year based on his uh his contract being up, him entering free agency. I wouldn’t love that one as much, but I think like if you trade Afrey Simons, you’re thinking about the future and a first round pick helps you, you know, place your vision on the future while getting some veterans that can help in the now. You can cook up other versions of this and some of you will and I’ll ignore them when they come to my inbox because I’ve already talked about it. Um, Jonathan Isaac could be involved. Cole Anthony could be involved. I think there’s a world where Eva you can cook up some version similar to the one I just proposed that Wendell Carter is is involved. Um, I don’t love Jonathan Isaac on the Blazers because I already think they have like they don’t the team isn’t screaming for like more defensive specialist non-shooters. Um, Isaac is a great defensive player though. Um, Coanthony, listen, he he did go to the right college. He I’m glad he spent eight months in Chapel Hill. I want to say this quietly so some of my friends who know me don’t hear, but he’s he’s not very good. He’s bad. Um, he seems like a really fun personality, but he’s not very good. I wouldn’t be that excited about Cole Anthony coming to the Blazers. I mean, I would because Gotar Hills, but like I’m gonna keep it a buck. He’s just not that good. And Wendell Carter, even though he did go to the wrong school, he’s fine. He’s like an average slightly below average probably for me. Average below average starting center in the league. Like he’s fine. Um, yeah, I would I would that would be that either of the I wouldn’t I wouldn’t be upset like I wouldn’t be like why’ they do it if they have Isaac or Anthony or Carter in there, but those are not my preferred targets. But I think the most important part here is that this actually has legs. This isn’t like something that I cooked up with Phil from Locked on on Magic. I don’t know if it has legs. This has real reporting behind it to say the Magic are in are are thought to be a team that could be interested in Afrey Simons from a reporter who breaks news and Jake Fischer. This is like this is not um this isn’t some trade machine post on on Reddit. This is not um you know like uh an AI generated article on a formerly uh respected news magazine website. This is like this is real like this has some real this has some real interest real reporting backing it. So I would say for the first time you could say that the that the Simons to Orlando stuff is a real rumor. Will it happen? I don’t know. And do you like any of these trades? You probably don’t. Um because you want to you’re like just trade them for fronds. Um we’ll see. Um I think one of the challenges the Blazers will face, and we’ll talk about this in a future episode, is like if they trade Afrey Simons, the thing that they’re bad at already shooting is likely to get worse. Um and I think that’s something they will have to balance. that is something they will have to face and balance and deal with and and maybe just like live with quite frankly if if that’s the move that they make because when you are a one of the worst shooting teams in the league and you trade your your best shooter that that probably that probably doesn’t bode well for like improving your shooting. Um let’s talk playoffs though. I think the Blazers are in some ways built for the type of playoff basketball we have seen. It’s just whether they can qualify to start playing the style that we have increasingly watched in these playoffs. Join me in the second segment. We’ll talk about physicality and the Portland Trailblazers. First though, I want to tell you that this show is sponsored by Better Help. The world has a lot of made a lot of progress when it comes to mental health, but there’s still a long way to go. Too many people still avoid therapy because they’re afraid of being judged. But the truth is, taking care of your mental health should be just as normal as going to the gym or eating healthy. And this is mental health awareness month. Let’s normalize getting help and encourage everyone to prioritize their well-being. Because when people feel supported, families, workplaces, and entire communities are better for it. And and listen, therapy can be incredibly valuable if you are dealing with a major acute trauma in your life. But it’s not just about dealing with the big problems. It’s about maintaining your mental wellness just like you do with your physical health, just like you do by eating healthy. And with BetterHelp, getting started is easier than ever. It’s fully online, has a network of over 30,000 licensed therapists, so you can switch therapists anytime at no extra cost. We’re all better with help. Visit betterhelp.com/lockedonba to get 10% off your first month. That’s betterhelp.com/lockedonba. [Music] All right. So, I watched the playoffs this weekend. I’ve been watching them all weekend. I watched them all the weekend. We got two game sevens. Watch them with some friends. They were The first one was a super dud. I actually thought Warriors was Warriors Rockets was pretty entertaining. Um, but it just it wasn’t it didn’t The Rockets didn’t have the juice. They didn’t to make it competitive down the stretch. The Clippers, they went out like the Clippers sometimes do, which is super extra sad. like wait why they maybe they shouldn’t have been here and then they’ve put it just when teams lose in the playoffs particular when they lose bad and particularly when older teams lose bad and I think it’s happened to both LA teams and Luca is not old but like LeBron is uh but like and but the Clippers are old they’re older like they just like don’t they have they don’t really have young players that that are they don’t really have prospects right they don’t they don’t have like someone who’s going to like be part of what’s next who’s like a young player um you start to be like uh oh did they just like did we just watch this team bump in bump up against their ceiling and they, you know, and and they’ll never get they’ll never get above this stage. It does sometimes feel like that in playoffs. They feel very final. They feel very like some just sometimes you just lose. The Clippers lost. They went out sad though. But what I felt like watching that game and I felt like watching that series is the same thing I felt like watching Warriors Rockets on Sunday night. And to some extent it’s what I felt like watching Knicks Pistons. Um it’s it has been a theme of the playoffs. They’re like unrecognizable if you were just to pick a game up in say late April versus the middle of November. They’re just letting them play to a level of physicality that is that is just not not available to you when you watch a regular season game. Personally, I find this version of basketball more fun. I find it more fun when there’s more physicality. I do think it’s probably bad that the NBA has two different rule books. One for the games that we think don’t mean as much and one for the games that we think define everything about a player’s legacy and talent level and whether we put them in the category of trash or whether we put them in the category of goat. Um because there’s only two categories you as you know. Um, I think it’s probably bad that the rule book changes, but I do enjoy this version of the rule book. I like I I really do. I I enjoy um particularly like where I’ve seen the physicality really show up and and just like and where the rules maybe just like don’t exist. Drives to the rim. You could be so handsy once a guy gets below the foul line. It seems like if a guy is driving hard to the rim and doesn’t have a clean drive and like you’re hip-to-hip with him, you can put your hands on them. You can contest, you know, chest to chest more. You can you can just there’s just a level of physicality particularly on attacks toward the rim that are that is there are fouls every time in the regular season and in the post jockeying for position and once a post player catches it. Um go watch when Nicolic gets a switch if they guard Nicholas with a small guy that small dude is allowed to do any type of violence. Nicholas Batsum Chris Dunn they’re allowed to do any level of violence uh that that is you know blow the shoulders to to to Nicolic and they don’t call it. He’s just getting he’s they’re physical with him, right? And he’s physical right back. He’s throwing Batum off with his off arm. Like it’s it’s a fun little battle. I thought they were I thought um even like when when Zubots, he doesn’t get a lot of direct post ups, but when he did a handful of times, they were physical with him when he got a switch. I thought uh Aaron Gordon was allowed to be super physical with Kawhai during the series. Um, I thought the Knicks when they played their best games is when the Wings, um, like when when Bridges and and an Obi turned up their physicality on the perimeter. I thought that was the best version of the Knicks in this series. Um, a series they could have lost and ended up winning. Um, yeah, like and and just and the Rocket and Rockets Warriors like incredibly physical. Uh, Draymond obviously operates outside the rule book, but like I thought they let him be physical in a way that is um, you know, certainly he wouldn’t be allowed in the regular season, but it was fun. like Shenun gets bullied, right? The Shenon and and then he does some bullying right back. Um it’s it’s different. But what it got me thinking about was about the the Portland Trailblazers because a past era of the Blazers were they weren’t this was not their game, right? This was not the Damon CJ era. maybe some some players on that team, but I would say like you were talking general identity of of those teams, even the best versions of those teams, they were down to mix it up and maybe like, you know, get into a get make, you know, get into the mud a little bit, but they weren’t like tone setting physical, right? Like that wasn’t um you know, they they set the tone in just different ways. That wasn’t the type of team they were. Um and it’s and and to some extent on the the current team, it’s been a knock on certainly DeAndre over his career that he doesn’t play with enough physicality. I think it’s been a knock on every Simons to some extent here and there that like physicality is the thing that takes him out of the game. Although I think the actual physicality is like the actual knock on M is like just a little bit miscast. He’s not a lead guy. It’s okay. Not everyone is a lead guy. Just a little bit miscast. Um but for certain physicality is a problem with Ary Simons. I’m I’m kind of being joking a little bit and and Aiden can be physical but doesn’t always play that way. But like Denny Odia sets the tone with physicality. He’s incredibly physical. I think one of Donovan’s best skills is a willingness to be physical. Um, Tumani Kamara, incredibly physical now, a flopper and a king of kings when it comes to flopping, but like incredibly physical in and of his own like at the same time. He’s he’s someone who plays with real physicality. And I think um I think that’s pretty fun. And not is it not only is it just like fun that the Blazers play that way, like I think that’s that that that was a mark of them this season is that they were willing to be physical. But it’s not it’s not just like an enjoyable brand of basketball. This is the brand of basketball that if you get to the highest levels, you have to be able to play. And it’s so much easier to play it as part of your identity than to like put on the costume of all right, now we’re good. Now it’s the playoffs and let us get let us show that physicality. Let us get in there. Now, it’s not up and down the Blazers roster. I don’t think you could say like every player plays that way, but I would say like even guys who you don’t probably aren’t going to be like in the playoff rotation the next time Blazer good like Jabari Walker hard to know his future, but like he he’s down to be physical. Chris Murray, I think one of his best skills is physicality on defense. Like he doesn’t get punked. The offense is a whole another adventure for him, but he does not he is physical and and and is tough on that end. Um like I I think they have to some extent those dudes. Shaden Sharp plays strong. I don’t know if like true physicality is his thing because the handle’s not quite there and all like I think that could be a challenge for him, but he’s not someone who backs down from from like contact at the rim. He’s really good at at absor absorbing contact. And Scoot Ederson, while um I think like really extensive like playoff level pressure defense would probably take him out of his game at this stage in his career, he’s like he is built at least has the physical tools to make you think like yeah, he could this could be the the way he plays and if the Blazers establish this identity, this could be a this could be a whole thing. I’m not trying to necessarily sell you on the Blazers like being ready for the playoffs, but I do think that they have the parts that the highlevel basketball seems to be composed of. Guys who are when the Blazers were at their best this season, they were a defense that was physical and opportunistic and got steals and got out and ran and like, you know, maybe fouled a little bit too much, but fouled too much in the name of playing hard. And I think that is the level that’s the line that you need to be comfortable getting up to right away. way and the Blazers already kind of approached that line when they’re at their or approached that line when they were at their best this season. The other thing I want to talk about to close the show is depth. I think depth is really important, but I think when you get farther along in the playoffs, you kind of see the difference in depth versus, yeah, they got they got a lot of players. That team’s pretty deep versus like that’s playoff depth. That’s winning depth. That’s a that’s a team that has enough dudes that could help you win a championship. Join me uh in the third segment. and we’ll talk depth and whether the Blazers are building towards that. Uh, join me there, won’t you? Before we get there though, let’s talk Monarch Money. It’s the app that helps you manage your cash and then manage your savings. So, the cash you have now grows into some cash and even more cash that you have in the future. It’s your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Not just a budgeting app, although it is a very useful budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center. You can track all your accounts, your investments, and spending in one place. So, you stop just managing your money and start building your wealth. Um, so it’s all allin-one is is a really really valuable part about Monarch Money. So, instead of having to check your, you know, maybe your mortgage payments in one place and your investment payments and your your investments and your 401k and stock markets and stock investments, excuse me. Um, and uh and your savings account and your and your and your uh regular regular checking account. Like that’s all just right there all right there sitting for you waiting for you in the app. Plus, you can budget for short-term goals and long-term goals. So, you can really have full control over everything you want to do with your finances. So, take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use locked onmbba at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Again, the code is is locked on NBA. And that’s monarchmoney.com for half off your first [Music] year. Still a pass first point guard. I’m still Mike Richmond. Still listen to Locked on Blazers. One thing that has struck me watching these playoffs, and I mentioned this in a in a mailbag episode last week when a listener asked about this, I was like, you know, I think there’s an idea that it’s like depth wins in the playoffs more than it has in the past to the top heavy teams can no longer do. Yeah, I I do think you need you need some depth, right? Preferably, you would have seven dudes who can hang and you can use, you know, uh, the two bench guys interchangeably as needed to switch up your looks and play a couple different ways. But having depth, like I think that really helps the Minnesota Timberwolves, right? They don’t beat the Lakers because they beat the Lakers because they just had more and better players. And the Lakers, their weakest link was like like they didn’t have an NBA center. And then it was very clear by the end of the playoffs if they did have an NBA center on the bench, the coach wasn’t comfortable playing him. That’s a that’s a problem. But like the the Wolves could like survive Rudy Gobear struggling early in the season and just like go with Nas Reed and go with Julius Randall and then when they f like Rudy kind of found his form, they closed out the series. He dominated. They win. You win with depth, right? That that’s that that’s key. But I also think you look at a series like Denver and they were like we have six dudes who can play and those six guys are going to play. Like we we don’t have depth and and they beat a team uh that in like theoretically in in the Clippers has more and better parts, right? The Clippers have more and better players. They don’t have the best player, but they have more good ones on the team. And that is like, okay, well it might just wear you down because they have more ways to go. By the end of the series, the the the way the Nuggets were guarding them, they were going to make Chris Dunn shoot shots, and Chris Dunn couldn’t make enough of those shots he was taking to burn them. So then he was kind of unplayable. So then they started searching for it. And Ty Louu at the end of that series is like trying to figure out, you know, if it could be Derrick Jones Jr. sure if it could be Nick Batum and if it is Nick Batum, how much can you play Nick Batum at his you know at his age and mileage and what he’s going to be asked to do which is guard Jamal Murray and like and and and Nicolic like what is what is like a reasonable workload ask for Nico and so like they’re juggling the fifth starter they’re juggling how to how to make it work. They’ve got a guy that was really helpful at one point in this series but like eventually by the as it wore on couldn’t you know couldn’t hang and then you know and was awesome for them during the regular season and then all of a sudden the the Clippers are down to like six dudes they can play depth verse depth. It wasn’t what a the strength of a deep team that the Clippers had which got them to 50 wins and was able to push forward without Kawhi during the regular season when they showed up and played a darn good team in Denver and one and the best player in the world and in Nicolic like yeah they didn’t have the depth to play like their depth couldn’t play. This is the difference in in in being deep and having depth. They’re probably just deep. They’ve got a lot of players but it’s like yeah bogey never you know Bdonovich never was was quite good enough right? I think if you look over at Rockets uh Rockets Warriors that closed out the weekend, it’s like the Rockets have a much deeper team. I I think that’s I don’t think that’s debatable really. Um but when it came down to it, they couldn’t get enough out of their dudes. Jaylen Green wasn’t good enough. They don’t have that other type of guy on on the court. Like, you know, I thought Tar Een came and gave him good minutes, but like how much can you scale up Tar Een to really help you win like a game seven type of game. You really useful, really fun, good role player about a player I really enjoy watching. Um, but like not the type of depth that can swing a playoff series without high level shooting. Um, I I think that was that that’s like if you’re if you can’t defend and you or you can’t knock down threes, they’re going to find you because the the this league is becoming increasingly a weakest league, a weakest link type of league. Like when you get to the playoffs, who’s the worst dude on the court on either end because we’re going to make that dude shoot and we’re going to make that dude guard. And shoot, if you’re both of those players, sometimes you can’t play. But if you’re one on either end, you better be money on the other end. you better be really good because like when you get down to it like you’re going to want your stars to play somewhere between 40 and 42 minutes in the playoffs. They’re going to play a ton, right? Your best players going to be on the court. That’s why you win with you win with stars, right? Because they’re going to play. But you need that’s why I say I think seven is the sweet spot. Eight would be ideal, but like you can get away with if you have seven guys who can play, you could probably win a championship. Um it’s just they’re not always going to be perfect in in whatever matchup you have, etc., etc. So, it helps to have a little bit more, but like the way you can overwhelm teams in the regular season with depth, you can’t do that in the NBA playoffs because their good players are going to be on the floor more and they’re going to be really really matchup specific and target what you can’t do and make you guard and all of those things. And and the Rockets were so damn close to winning this series quite frankly. And I don’t think that necessarily would have changed my take. What? My take would have been was like, “Boy, Fred Van Vleet was hooping and he was really good in fi in games five and six and he wasn’t as good in seven and Jaylen Green just never made shots after game two and and that’s kind of it. You just The Rockets are a really deep team. They got a bunch of players that can help. Um, you win games. I wouldn’t be surprised if if they do nothing. They’re probably going to do something, right? They’re the team that everyone thinks is going to make the big splash, but if they do nothing, like they won 52 games this year. They’re good enough to do that almost exactly again next season, assuming that Steady Freddy is back in the building. Um, so how does this pertain to the Blazers? I don’t think the Blazers can worry about depth too much um until you’re in the mix. Like if the if the concern is like like the best problem you can have when you’re a team like the Blazers is to get to the level of uh you know of those Clippers and of those of those Rockets teams that are like yeah we got 12 dudes who can play every night in an NBA game and we might be able to rip off somewhere between 48 and 52 wins but if we get to the playoffs we might not have the risers to get us you know to get us further. I think for Portland it’s checking the regular season depth box. The Blazers don’t have a lot of depth right now. They have some, you know, they have eightish like players that would that would play for everybody. Um, but they don’t have like high-end talent. They don’t it’s like I don’t I don’t like the ranking stuff. But it’s like I don’t know. Like where do you think Denny ranks? Whatever Denny ranks, they don’t have another like they don’t have enough dudes in that rank. Like I think the Ringer has Denny at like in the in the 40s. So like let’s say Denny is a top 50 player. Do the Blazers have like do they have two more top 100 players? I don’t think so. And it’s like so they don’t have the they don’t have that depth to get to the regular season level. The first box and that’s what they’ll do this summer is try to retool and and either either sort of have forward- facing forward-looking things where it’s like we’re going to have this depth in 2026 2027 or it’s like we’re they’re going to try to build to that level of like okay we got 10 dudes who can play. We feel like we can we can with you know withstand some injuries. We feel like, you know, it’s like to to make the playoffs in the Western Conference, you probably got to win 46 games at a minimum and maybe more. The Warriors were in the playin tournament with 48 wins. Like, you got you got to be you got to be a good basketball team. So, if you do if you’re not able to acquire top end talent, which I don’t think the Blazers will be able to do this summer, acquiring acquiring enough, you know, 10 10 good NBA rotation players to kind of cook you through the regular season with various ingredients. Um, that’s step one. And then you get to the playoffs and you get the realization, what’s depth and what’s a deep team. That’s going to do it for today’s program. I have really fun shows lined up the next the rest of the week. Um, Rafael Barlo is going to be back on the program. Let’s go. Unless it falls through, but now I’ve already teased it. So, Raph’s going to make it happen. I’ve been trying. Me and him have just uh we’ve our lives are busy. We not been able to coordinate, but Raph’s gonna be back. We’re gonna talk draft stuff. And then I think I have and um I think I’m going to have the the most prestigious interview in the history of Locked on Blazers later this week. I’m That’s all I’m going to say. Come back come come back for that one. Um you will you will you will not see it coming. Uh but you’ll you heard about it. Uh so tell your friends about the program 5 days a week podcast also on YouTube. Uh last week before the the draft lottery is is finalized. going to be good stuff. Come hang. Tell your friends you’re listening to a Blazers podcast in May. Tell your Blazers people that there’s a Blazers podcast that goes on in May and they do five days a week wherever you get podcast and also on YouTube. I appreciate you listening. I’ll talk to you soon.

The long speculated Anfernee Simons to Orlando trade is getting some real reporting behind it. Plus, lessons about physicality and depth in the NBA playoffs and where the Blazers stand with both.

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