Anfernee Simons took the unconventional route to the NBA, skipping college to jump straight to the NBA. Now the question is whether his talent can scale up.
Anfernee Simons will force you to watch grainy high school footage again. It has been a while since that was all the video anyone had of a player since the league kept high school students from joining the league without a gap year, presumably to go to college.
Simons will be one of the first players to jump straight from high school, graduating from Orlando’s Edgewater High School and then spending a “gap year” with IMG Academy. That still left him playing against a lot of high school players.
Still, that grainy footage is impressive. Impressive enough for him to get some first-round buzz. Simons is a player with lots of talent just looking for a stage to perform and play.
The Altamonte Springs-born guard originally committed to play for the Louisville Cardinals before the Rick Pitino scandal caused him to reconsider. He then opted to skip the whole college experiment altogether.
Simons has plenty of athleticism to spare. It is probably what he used most to beat opponents in his gap year. But that would be selling him short too. He is skilled on that end, able to attack the basket and pull up for shots quickly. He can also hit 3-pointers as a spot-up shooter. Albeit at the high school level.
If anything, not going to college is the only thing hurting Simons here. Everything else is in place for him to be an intriguing prospect. No one knows if that ability will scale up.
It feels like Simons’ game is a tug of a whole bunch of contradictions. He has the great positional versatility teams love in the modern NBA, but may be short on the point guard skills needed to play his most effective position. Simons has NBA-level athleticism but he may not have developed the other skills necessary to support that athleticism.
It is all a bundle of potential with an unknown ceiling with Simons. Which is probably why his draft range seems to be all over the place.
The Good
Anfernee Simons stands out on the basketball court against the competition he has played against. He clearly knows how to use his athleticism to get tow here he wants on the court and to finish at the basket. Simons simply abused the high school competition he went up against.
This athleticism is the primary reason to draft him. He is good handling the ball and can drive through traffic. So long as he can get all the way to the rim, he is going to finish strong.
Simons is good at reading pick and rolls and weaving his way through defenses, picking out the right shot.
It helps he has a solid jump shot and can hit consistently off the dribble too. Simons could simply dominate his competition and he found a way to do it at every opportunity.
He could change speeds and directions effectively, keeping defenses off balance as he attacks the basket. In transition, he attacks the basket with speed and craft. The package may be fairly raw, but he clearly has the talent to put all those pieces together.
Simons shows solid control and discipline on the ball when attacking too. He has patience as he attacks set defenses and can pick his way to the basket or calmly pull up and shoot.
This is not the typical athlete who gets by entirely on his athleticism and finishes around the basket. Instead, Simons has a solid jumper and 3-point shot that could make him valuable off the ball. He played almost exclusively at point guard with the ball in his hands, so it is hard to say exactly what he can provide on that front. But the potential is obviously there.
And that is the biggest thing about Simons. He is full of potential. It is easy watching his tape and falling in love with all of his skills. His ball handling is fantastic. Simons can weave himself through traffic and finish with explosiveness at the rim. He can pull up and hit jumpers off the dribble and he has a good 3-point shot.
Take shooting and athleticism together, and that is usually a good combination.
The Bad
Of course, all that he does well comes with the huge asterisk of doing it against high school competition. The NCAA and most European leagues would have offered much more competition and a better measure of where Simons is as a player.
A lot of casual fans like to claim European players are shrouded in mystery because they are unfamiliar with the competition. High profile busts have people shying away from a player like Luka Doncic. And European teams tend not to play their young players, even if they are more talented. The mystery then is a lack of playing time typically.
But those players likely have much more reliable tape and analysis for scouts than in Simons’ games. It has been a long time since NBA scouts have had to make these decisions about high school players. It is hard to know what to put your antennae up about.
And this is likely why Simons could fall anywhere in the latter half of the first round to the early part of the second round. It is easy to like a lot of his game, but unclear how to project where it moves forward.
Simons relied heavily on his athleticism to beat defenses last year. That usually is something to alert to. But he showed plenty of other skills to suggest he could figure things out when his competition increases.
The question with Simons will be whether he can truly move off the ball or improve his offensive skills.
Simons was clearly the best player on his IMG Academy team. And he could clearly do whatever he wanted against most defenses at his level. So it is unclear just what kind of passer he is. Will Simons be a guy who drives mostly looking to score himself, or can he drive to create for others?
At 6-foot-4, he does not have bad size to play shooting guard. He will have the defensive and positional versatility at the next level. That part is not so much the concern. It is just whether he can take on all the responsibilities of a point guard at the next level.
Simons also runs into the trap that most athletes do in thinking he can dribble his way out of trouble. He tends to struggle driving through traffic and if his first move is not available to him, he will put himself in worse positions trying to get himself out.
He can accomplish and get away with that at the high school level, but not in the NBA.
Defensively, Simons also could show some improvement. He has the size to play solid defense. But that has not been a priority in his game. And, of course, he will have to put on some strength to make it in the NBA.
Draft Sites Say
Kevin O’Connor, The Ringer
"Bouncy athlete capable of finishing ferocious dunks; possesses the fluidity and agility to change directions on a dime. Advanced handle enables him to create space off the dribble. Good spot-up shooter with a quick release and soft touch. . . . Must raise his shot release to improve shooting off the dribble against NBA-level athletes. Lacks touch on crafty layups, and his skinny frame hurts him when finishing against contact and drawing fouls. Avoids contact on drives by taking off too far or tossing up wild floaters."
Evan Tomes, NBADraft.net
"6’3.5 combo guard with solid length: a 6’7 wingspan and 8’2 standing reach … Good perimeter scorer … Led the Under Armour Association in scoring with 20.4 points per game and averaged 11.6 points per game at the NBPA Top 100. . . . Body is still a long ways from being NBA ready … Labeled as a combo guard but can improve point guard and playmaking skills … Doesn’t have a high assist count yet."
Final Word
There is a lot to be intrigued with Anfernee Simons. His personal story is honestly secondary to what he can do as a player on the court and what he could be.
Of course, Orlando Magic fans should know that his name is not a coincidence. His parents named him after Anfernee Hardaway and Anfernee Simons was born in Longwood and grew up in Altamonte Springs. He grew up watching Tracy McGrady on the occasions he took the short drive to the TD Waterhouse Centre/Amway Arena.
Simons told the media after his workout in Orlando on Saturday that he got wrapped up in the 2009 NBA Finals run. He said working out for the Magic and being in the Amway Center was a dream come true.
The story almost writes itself.
But ultimately, the Magic will make a decision — whether they trade back into the first round or take him with one of their second round picks — based on what he can do on the court. And there is a lot he can do on the court.
His athleticism and driving ability are impressive alone. Simons’ jumper also has a lot to like. It seems that if you can put him on the ball, he will figure out a way to score. Especially as he continues to put on strength and improve.
Simons certainly still carries risk. The competition he played against was not strong. Simons was in a position to dominate them. And, in fact, he did. That is always a good first step.
In the workout circuit, Simons has played against plenty of other guards. These workout sessions will be critical to showing NBA scouts and executives that his game can translate up.
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But in most cases, if you combine ball-handling, athleticism, size, speed and jump shooting together, you get a good player. Simons seems to have all those attributes at his disposal. He may take some time to get up to speed at the NBA level. But the talent is all there.