Can New Celtics Star Make Defensive Transformation After Encouraging Offseason?
Anfernee Simons has been working hard on his defense
The Boston Celtics kick off their 2025 preseason schedule tonight on the road against the Memphis Grizzlies, giving fans their first look at several new Celtics stars after a whirlwind offseason, including Anfernee Simons.
Simons, who was acquired from the Portland Trail Blazers in the Jrue Holiday trade three months ago, is still with Boston after rumors swirled all summer that he might be traded. The Celtics are counting on the 26-year-old guard, who’s averaged 20.7 points per game over the last three seasons, to help Jaylen Brown shoulder some of the scoring load with Jayson Tatum sidelined by an Achilles injury to start the season.
While Simons is a proven scorer on offense, Boston is also hoping to see him take a step forward defensively this season.
Simons worked hard on strengthening his defense this summer with assistant coach Ross McMains, who worked out with him in 2020. McMains, who was Tatum’s primary assistant coach last year, has taken Simons under his wing and pushed him to improve defensively while teaching him the Celtics’ core defensive principles.
“Every team has a different defensive system and so he’s learning our language, he’s learning our coverages,” McMains told Bobby Manning of CLNS Media. “He’s just learning how we do different things here. So that’s first is just learn the system and then number two is now actually develop your ability to do those things at a high level. So it’s learning the system and then it’s also, can he improve his ability to guard on the ball with different different techniques? Can he improve his ability navigating screens with different techniques?”
According to Manning’s article, Simons has worked on swiping at the ball, clogging passing lanes and making plays on defense. He’s done defensive drills that he’s never done before and has noticed improvement in his defensive awareness.
Playing in Joe Mazzulla’s defensive system isn’t easy, so Simons will have to prove he can handle it if he wants to stay on the floor this year.
“Joe always talks about like playing fast, thinking fast and we require that at a really high level,” McMains told Manning. “Being able to move from one coverage to the next, it’s a very high standard.”
Time will tell if Simons is up to the challenge, but he’ll get his first chance to prove himself in live game action tonight.
