Blazers Prepare For Present And Future By Selecting Simons And Trent Jr.

TUALTIN -- Ever since the Trail Blazers were swept in the first round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs, president of basketball operations Neil Olshey has stated on multiple occasions that, in order for the team to take the next step in their maturation, they’ll need to acquire veterans with postseason experience. So when the 2018 NBA Draft started up Thursday night, many assumed the team would try to use the 24th overall pick and one of their trade exceptions to acquire a veteran player, and according to Olshey they attempted to do just that. “We were trying to look for teams where 24 would get us an impact rotation guy into the trade exception,” said Olshey. “As you saw, I think tonight wasn’t about existing players, tonight was about the draft… We were really aggressive leading up to the draft, but it’s got to be a very specific fit, it’s got to be a very specific guy in terms of skill set. And he’s got to be a guy we think we can make an impact. Tonight wasn’t the night to do that.”Instead the night, at least from Portland’s perspective, was about acquiring young, high-ceiling talent. In order to achieve that, the Trail Blazers used the 24th pick to select 19 year old guard Anfernee Simons, who played last year at IMG Academy after decommitting to Louisville. “At that point in the draft, we’re looking for the guy with the highest ceiling we could possibly find,” said Olshey of selecting Simons, who worked out twice at the Trail Blazers’ practice facility in the run up to the draft. “He’s really gifted. We felt like he was the most talented guy on the board. He’s got a really bright future. He works. He can dribble, he can pass, he can shoot, he’s a high-level athlete. We know he’s going to work. His skill-set translates. When the physical growth catches up to his natural God-given ability, he’ll be a really good player.”That physical growth might take a little more time that for a typical rookie considering he hasn’t played against high-level competition relative to his peers in the 2018 draft class. Then again, the assumption last season was that Zach Collins, who came off the bench during his lone season at Gonzaga, would take at least a year to develop before working his way into the rotation at the end of his rookie season. “We’re not going to hold Anfernee back, not unlike Zach,” said Olshey. “We though Zach was going to be up for a redshirt year last year, he was a futures talent play. He impressed Terry (Stotts) and the coaches enough to where they integrated him sooner than we thought, but from a front office standpoint we’re not compelling anybody to play these guys right away.”