Boston Celtics new player Anfini Simmons basketball story

The Boston Celtics used Ju Holiday to exchange for Ann Fenni Simmons and two second-round draft picks from Portland Trail Blazers. In recent years, due to Lillard's injury problem, the Trail Blazers passively entered the reconstruction period. Simmons got many opportunities in disguise, but rumors about him have never stopped. People often question the value of his data. Therefore, joining the Celtics this time is an opportunity and a challenge for Simmons. In order to let everyone know better about this player, today's NBA character Zhi will bring you the basketball story of Ann Fenni Simmons.

Orlando, Florida, USA is a very famous tourist city. It is famous all over the world for Disneyland, but for local basketball fans, the NBA team Orlando Magic is their city business card. In the early 1990s, Magic player Anthony Hardaway, nicknamed "Penny", became the pride of the entire city. He teamed up with the Shark O'Neal to lead the team to the NBA Finals in 1995. It happened that the God of Basketball Jordan retired for the first time. Anthony Hardaway's elegant and elegant style made many people believe that he would become Jordan's successor. Although injuries eventually ruined him, in Orlando, a large number of fans regarded him as an idol and influenced a generation.

In Seminole County, not far from Orlando, there is a basketball player named Charles Simmons. He was also a household name in the city in high school. However, he regretted farewell to professional basketball due to injuries. He was a super fan of Anthony Hardaway and empathized with the same injuries. So much so that when Charles and his wife Tameca's first son were born on June 8, 1999, he immediately named the child Anthony Simmons. He hoped that his son would become a basketball star like Anthony Hardaway in the future.

Charles Simmons, who ended his basketball dream due to injury, was very disappointed. He set up his AAU basketball training camp and placed all his basketball dreams on his son Anthony Simmons. Since Simmons was five years old, Charles began to train him in enlightenment. His training was very strict and required Simmons to repeat an action hundreds of times. This was a bit boring for a child who was just five years old. Simmons often cried aggrievedly to complete the training. A sentence his father often said to him was: "Success depends on the details." At this time, his mother Tameka would act as a psychological comforter, and his grandfather Jack Carter also loved this little grandson very much and often brought Simmons to live with him. When he understood the experience of his grandson, he encouraged him: "The secret to the road to success is Diligent, you are the best, you will definitely stick to it."

Anfini and her mother and father

One year, Fort Lauderdale, Florida held a youth basketball training camp. At that time, Anfini Hardaway's wife Nicky Ward and her son Jaden Hardaway also participated in the training camp. During the training match, the announcer kept shouting "Anfini-Simmons" name Nicky Ward was very curious, so she found Tameka, the mother of Simmons on the sidelines. After asking, she learned that someone actually named the child with her husband's name, which increased his favorability for the Simmons family. After the training match, Anthony Simmons and Jaden Hardaway met and became friends. Later, Jaden Hardaway also joined Charles' AUU basketball training camp. The two have been teammates in the training camp from elementary school to junior high school.

Anfini Simmons and Jayden Hardaway

In 2015, Anfini Hardaway was invited to become the basketball coach of Memphis Eastern High School. The whole family moved out of Orlando to Memphis. Now Hardaway is the head coach of the men's basketball team at the NCAA first-class NCAA university. However, his coaching reputation has dropped significantly in recent years. He has trained practical centers like Jaylen Durham. But he also lost his reputation in the clever Wiseman and the genius high school student Bates of the Sorrow. These two brothers are disciples he focused on and have a very low reputation in the NBA. In addition, Jaden Hardaway also played at Memphis University through his father's relationship, but he has never been able to make a name for himself. Last season, he played for the Washington Wizards' Development League team with the son of Rodman Rodman, DJ Rodman, and Anthony Simmons has left him far behind.

However, when he was a child, Simmons could not compete with Jaden. He was short and slow to grow and develop, and was not outstanding on the court. He himself never thought he would become a professional basketball player. He likes many children to like video games and WWE wrestling. In basketball training camp, people gave him a Marvel hero "Ant-Man" nickname based on his figure. He first felt the charm of the NBA when he was 10 years old. The NBA will hold the summer league in Orlando during the offseason, and the uncle of Williams, a close friend in the basketball training camp, is a summer league staff member. He stole two uncle's work permits and replaced the photos of himself and Simmons, and then walked into the game venue to watch the game. During Rudy Gobert's rookie season, the two children walked into the players' rest area and had a buffet with him. After experiencing the charm of the NBA on the spot, Simmons had new expectations for basketball.

Simmons and his best friend Williams

Since junior high school, Simmons began to gradually feel the fun brought by basketball, and at the same time began to understand the significance of his father's strict training for him. Passive acceptance and active progress are completely different effects. The aggressive Simmons has ushered in a leaps and bounds at the technical level of basketball. Because of his short and thin stature, he prefers to score with his shots. Curry had not changed the league trend at that time, so everyone is not optimistic about Simmons' ability..

When he reached high school, Simmons Jr. suddenly grew to 6 feet 1 inch tall, and his bounce ability began to show, and he could easily complete the dunk. In his sophomore season in Edgewater High School, he averaged 17.8 points and 4.6 assists per game. His outstanding performance allowed him to enter the attention of scouts in the United States, and he also received an invitation from Montwater College, the No. 1 high school in the United States. It was also from this time that Simmons and his family began to truly realize that they might be able to join the NBA in the future.

Montward High School is now the number one basketball high school in the United States. Before Simmons, he has trained high-ranking players such as Ben-Simmons, Tangiero Russell, and RJ Barrett. After him, he is more famous for his talented class consisting of Cunningham, Barnes, Moses Moody, and Delon Sharp. Chinese player Wu Yonghao is a classmate of the same class as them.

However, Simmons, who joined Montward Academy halfway through, was not valued. He was just a substitute in his senior year, which had a great impact on players who were determined to join the NBA. So the following year, he returned to Edgewater High School again, and averaged 23.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 4.2 assists in 20 games in his senior year, and his personal reputation was established again.

He was named a five-star high school student by major draft websites, attracting recruitment from many top university teams. After careful consideration, he announced his joining the University of Louisville, Kentucky. However, unexpected events occurred. Not long before the start of school, the University of Louisville was involved in a scandal. The team's head coach Rick Pitino's assistant McGee was investigated for paying for college students in the team to purchase erotic services from 2010 to 2014. It is true that Louisville University was suspended from the NCAA League, and head coach Rick Pitino was also fired by the school in October 2017. This huge change caused a huge blow to Simmons' college career. He faced a situation where he had no ball to play. If he chose to transfer, according to the NCAA rules at the time, the transfer student could only follow the team as the Sequoia Army and could not participate. In desperation, he chose to drop out and go to his hometown of Radenton University Preparatory School to maintain training to prepare for next year's draft.

Simmons, who missed a year of college games, fell sharply. Later, because of his shooting ability, he was finally selected by the Portland Trail Blazers at the 24th pick in the first round. At that time, the team's signature in the NBA league was a double-gun backcourt composed of Lillard and CJ McCollum. In addition, Powell later joined, this allowed Simmons, who was in the same position and the same style, not much chance until the 2021-22 season. Coach Stotts left office, coach Billups took office, and then Lillard suffered an injury that caused the team's record to decline sharply. After careful consideration, the team's management made a major change in the lineup. CJ McCollum, one of the core team's team, was traded. The team gave up strategy in the season and began to train new players. Simmons ushered in a valuable training opportunity. He lived up to expectations and proved his value with his outstanding performance. He also became the first dunk king in the history of the Trail Blazers during the All-Star Weekend. After the rookie contract ended, the team immediately left him with a 4-year $100 million contract. On January 3, 2022, he scored 43 points against the Atlanta Hawks. The day before this game, his grandfather Jack Carter passed away. Simmons turned grief into strength to transform his longing for his grandfather to the court. After the game, he was excited to say that he would dedicate his outstanding performance today to the deceased grandfather. He felt that his grandfather was by his side and brought him magical power.

As Trail Blazers fans who have long been accustomed to Lillard's magical performance, Simmons' strength is still a bit mediocre, and it is also the initial topic. Many people think that Simmons' data was scored under no record pressure. I disagree with this because the team's reconstruction cornerstone players Sharp and Scott Henderson, who were selected with high picks, were completely unfathomable in the team. Many people pointed out that the reason why the Trail Blazers chose Holiday, whose state was seriously declining, was to serve as mentors for two young people.

This year is Anfini Simmons' contract year, and I hope he can achieve higher reputation in the Celtics, which are paying more attention.