There’s been discussion aplenty about one of the newest Boston Celtics, Anfernee Simons. He’s certainly a cause for confusion; the average NBA fan is unsure if he’s 22 years old or 30. Simons has seemingly been around forever, but is still young. And for a 26-year-old averaging 19.9 points and 4.5 assists per game on 50% from two, 38% from three, and 90% from the line over the past four seasons, he was treated as salary matching instead of a legitimate asset. Many are confused as to why a player like Anfernee was treated as a throw-in.
So, why is the league so down on Simons? Defense, defense, defense.
If there’s one thing people in NBA circles agree on, it’s that he is a rough defender. But one key person isn’t down on Simons’ defense: Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla. Hear from Simons himself about what his new coach is telling him.
According to Simons, he and Mazzulla have been tied at the hip all offseason, and it shows. Only someone spending an excessive amount of time with Boston’s coach-philosopher says that their defense is entirely up to how badly they want it. But Simons is going to have to do a lot more than simply want it. When you break down the defensive film from last year in Portland, things are ugly.
He’s got measurements you’d want from a point-of-attack defender at 6’3” with a +4 wingspan. His athleticism is fine by NBA standards, and you’d think he could make an impact. But it’s the technical aspects that do him in as a point-of-attack defender; taking bad angles on screens, being unable to work over screens, and struggling to contest shots are frequent problems.
Portland had few defensive weak links last year, and could afford to hide Simons off the ball. But things weren’t much better there. A serial ball-watcher, Simons was often late to make his rotations and closeouts. Switches were a significant problem. And he often ran around like a chicken without a head when the rotations got long and complicated.
It was typical to see Simons being hunted, even when off the ball, with pin-down screens, curls, flares, and all sorts of actions to free shooters. Sometimes it was just as simple as a dribble handoff to see if he’d confuse the switch, or a basic backdoor cut. It’s the reason why his defensive numbers look so rough.
Despite having most of his 70 starts this year come alongside Toumani Camara and Deni Avdija, two superb defenders, Portland’s defense was much worse with Simons on the floor than off. According to Cleaning the Glass, the Blazers’ defense was 2.5 points per 100 possessions worse with Anfernee on the court; that’s a 28th percentile mark. It’s actually an improvement from his previous season, where they were 5.3 points per 100 worse.
Individual numbers don’t paint a favorable picture either. Simons’ 0.2% block rate in 2024/25 was the lowest amongst players to play at least 2,000 minutes. For steal rate, only Bub Carrington, Keyonte George, and Devin Booker played 2,000 minutes at the guard spots and had worse marks. His bad on/offs and lack of stat impact culminated in a -1.3 defensive estimated plus-minus, per Dunks and Threes. That was 12th percentile amongst all defenders. Somehow this was an improvement on last season, where Simons’ -2.8 D-EPM was the worst mark in the league.
There are factors to consider here. When Simons was drafted, Neil Olshey was the GM and Terry Stotts was the head coach. Now Chauncey Billups is at the helm, looking to instill a defense-first ethos, and Joe Cronin makes the front office calls. It’s not crazy to assume that Simons may have seen the writing on the wall, and his effort suffered as a result — difficult to perform well in a job when you know you’re going to be fired.
Simons is also heading into a contract year, hoping to hit free agency next year at 27 on the heels of an excellent all-around season. Once again surrounded by good defenders, his assignment difficulty will be low. An uptick in focus and defensive technique could produce passable results that justify his presence on the floor.
Perhaps Joe Mazzulla’s philosophy has rubbed off on Simons this offseason, and he’s ready to compete defensively. But it’s unheard of to see a player jump from a bottom-tier defender to a good one, let alone average. When judging Simons’ defense this season, make sure you go into your judgments with the proper expectations. That way, you’ll never be disappointed.
