BOSTON — The Anfernee Simons experience could’ve always looked like this. Simons sat at the podium empowered and improved, flashing the scoring prowess that vaulted him atop the Trail Blazers offense for the previous two years. His season-high eight threes on Monday marked only the fourth time he hit more than four threes in a game, after doing so 13 times one year ago, and only the 10th time in 35 appearances he hit 4+.
Joe Mazzulla saw Simons’ flaws correcting to the point that he became a 20+ minute contributor in nine of the team’s last 12 games, finishing fourth in December +/- (+128) and a positive in nine of those games. He’s now averaging 13.5 points per game on 43.3% shooting and 39.6% from three less than one month from the NBA Trade Deadline, when the Celtics will make a decision on whether to retain him through at least the end of the season. Boston’s coaching staff sounded satisfied with his progress in recent weeks to the point where they began utilizing three guard lineups again to increase his playing time.
“What you see from him is what you get,” Mazzulla said. “Just a guy that has come in with a great attitude, he’s happy to be here, wants to do whatever it takes to win and has an understanding in that, but also super confident. There are some games where that run that’s he been on in his stint has separated the game for us, but where he’s really been the most consistent is the defensive end, the physicality on the defensive end, executing our schemes, executing our schemes … playing with a level of physicality. That’s where he’s been at his best, so he just comes up every day, wants to work, wants to play hard, wants to win, so he’ll do what it takes.”
Simons arrived early to Boston over the offseason to begin acclimating to the Celtics’ system and improving his defense with assistant coach Ross McMains and received an early challenge from Mazzulla, who told Simons that the experience might not go how he wants without Simons impacting the defensive end. Since, he’s ranked in the 47th percentile among NBA defenders, according to Synergy, and rated good against spot up shooters (55th), pick-and-roll ball handlers (75th) and in isolation (49th). Opponents have shot 92-for 210 (43.8%) with Simons as the primary defender, compared to 47.1% last season. He finished in the 20th percentile defensively with Portland last year.
But it’s the offensive impact that’s perhaps more impressive given the change in Simons’ role from primary option, starter and leading scorer on the Blazers to a fourth option in the Boston ball-handling hierarchy. He’s finding pockets to play, shoot and make quick decisions in the flow of the offense, and currently sits in the 73rd percentile of spot up shooters and 80th percentile of pick-and-roll ball handlers. That’s while shooting relatively inefficiently himself. He has a 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, and scores 20.5 points per 36 minutes, which only slightly trails his Portland productivity.
“I’m just trying to find the ways I can impact the game. Obviously, I know I can come in and be aggressive and try to score the ball,” Simons said. “Just the little things, whether it’s crashing the glass or guarding my man, it’s been fun implementing myself into this culture that’s been and the expectations that have been set already as well too. Like I said, it’s been fun. We’re almost halfway through the season and I feel like I’ve grown so much in a lot of areas, mentally, how to approach each and every game, the attention to detail and the intensity that we play each and every night. That’s the standard that’s been set and I’ve been pretty pleased with myself and the team, how much we’ve been taking on that challenge. It’s been showing.”
Mazzulla called Simons’ transition to Boston seamless on Monday. He shot 40% from three through the end of November. His involvement varied though, playing only eight minutes in the second half of a win over the Magic after scoring 25 points in the first half. He has six games where he reached 20 points in a contract season, something he impressively put aside while not trying to step on Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and Payton Pritchard’s toes. When he played a limited role in Orlando, he called it an opportunity to look in the mirror. Mazzulla and the coaching staff called for more aggressiveness from him, and searched for comfortable sets for him to score from.
Yet despite how smoothly Simons fit into a new role in the first half, the challenges still exist in retaining him long-term. Without moving Sam Hauser or shaving down other contracts on the roster, Boston will need to embrace a $40 million tax bill alongside a $200 million payroll to keep Simons on the roster through the end of the season. They have some flexibility to re-sign him with 11 players signed at roughly $30 million below the first apron. They could make Simons a competitive offer below that figure annually, though it would leave them with limited flexibility to sign another center to agree to long-term contracts with Jordan Walsh and Neemias Queta, among others.
Michael Scotto on Tuesday reported that the Celtics don’t have a mandate to duck the tax and don’t want to part with a first-round pick to move off Simons’ contract. The Nets can absorb the greatest percentage of his expiring salary, Boston only needing to shed $13 million to avoid the tax entirely and reset their repeater clock. They could also take back multiple Brooklyn players in the deal, including Day’Ron Sharpe, who they’ve had past interest in. The move, however, would mostly amount to a salary dump and take away a critical player from the team’s core this season. There’s no straightforward path to acquiring anyone nearly as talented as him with the mid-level.
There is a way to utilize his salary, and an additional one, to make an aggressive addition and one that could help long-term. The Celtics don’t have significant assets, and they’re only able to trade their 2026, 2027 and 2031 first-rounders unprotected in the near term. Scotto reported their interest in Ivica Zubac, a potential long-term answer at starting center who would inevitably cost multiple first-rounders if LA even considered moving on.
It’d be an exciting addition now and for when Jayson Tatum returns. It’d also leave a hole in the guard depth and only leave his fit next to both Tatum and Brown to the imagination. If Simons wants to win, sees Boston as a home and would potentially return on a lower average annual deal, the Celtics should consider keeping him. Though going to free agency, as summers as recent as last year’s have shown, never comes with any certainty.
““He came in with just an open mind of what do I have to do to get on the floor?” Mazzulla said. “What do I need to do to play? What do you need from me? How can I help?”
