Bleacher Report’s new “99 Best Shooters of All Time” list left plenty of people with complaints, but from a Trail Blazers angle, the omission that jumps off the page is Anfernee Simons.
That’s not a casual gripe. Simons has spent the last few seasons building a real case as one of the best shooters in the league, and the numbers back it up.
His rise really took off in Portland during the 2021-22 season, and he hasn’t backed off since. In a league packed with guards who can really let it fly, Simons still stands near the top of the class.
Leaving him off the list is a bizarre miss.
The strongest argument for Simons starts with volume. He doesn’t just hit threes at a good clip; he hits a ton of them.
He ranks 17th all-time in three-pointers made per game at 2.5 and eighth all-time in three-pointers made per 100 possessions at 4.6. That kind of production matters because it shows he’s not just surviving as a shooter - he’s piling up makes at a level most players never touch.
And this isn’t empty volume, either. Simons has paired heavy shot-making with real efficiency year after year.
In 2021-22, his breakout season, he shot 40.5% from three on 7.8 attempts per game. He followed that with 37.7% on 9.1 attempts in 2022-23, 38.5% on 8.8 attempts in 2023-24, 36.3% on 8.5 attempts in 2024-25, and 38.5% on 6.9 attempts in 2025-26.
That last number jumps to 39.5% if you leave out his six games with the disorganized Bulls.
Those are outrageous marks when you stack them against the kind of workload he carries. Simons isn’t just cashing in on easy corner looks. He’s doing damage on the kinds of shots that separate good shooters from great ones.
His game makes that pretty obvious. Simons is a Damian Lillard disciple, and it shows in the way he hunts shots.
He’s deadly off the dribble, dangerous coming off screens, and comfortable in isolation. He scores like a perimeter star, not like a specialist who only thrives when someone else creates the opening.
That’s why the usual “he’s not just a spot-up guy” point matters here. Plenty of players can knock down open threes.
Simons can do that, too, but he can also make the tougher stuff - the pull-ups, the movement shots, the self-created looks. That broader shot-making package is what makes him more valuable than a lot of the names BR put ahead of him.
There are too many questionable choices on the list to go through one by one, but several of the players ranked above Simons deserve a hard look. Terry Porter, Dana Barros, Ricky Pierce, Bill Sharman, Dan Majerle, Word B. Free and Chuck Person are among the older names that were honored for helping shape the modern shooter’s path, but their placement over Simons doesn’t hold up against what he’s doing now.
And this isn’t only about the older generation. Joe Ingles and Bojan Bogdanovic would struggle if they were asked to handle the same on-ball burden Simons carries.
He’s earned the kind of nickname that only sticks for a reason. Anfernee Simons is “Anferno” for a reason, and maybe it sounds bold, but the truth is hard to ignore: he belongs in the conversation with the greatest shooters ever.
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