Sorry, if I was unclear. I was speaking of him as an on-ball defender against penetrators. It wasn't meant to be all-inclusive or to imply he was a finished product the moment he enters the Blazers' facility. I'm sure there are still things on which he needs to work. I'm sure you'd agree, though, that his strength when combined with his agility gives him a leg up on being a very good defender providing he gets good coaching and works at it -- he has better raw tools than Ant by far.
Sooo many people trippin… question. Ever dug a three foot hole? yeah? How many shovel scoops did it take? Alot? Now fill the hole back in. Did it take more than one shovel full? Or were you able to fill the hole back up in just a couple shovel fulls? No? It took alot? Nuff said…carry on with the cray cray…
I watched a couple, plus other film. Saw it happen. But why does cross-matching happen? Multiple ways. Sometimes it's forced in defensive transition. Sometimes there's switching of perimeter handoffs and pick n rolls. Sometimes it'a transition offense forcing defenders to pick up who's in their area instead of their normal assignment. X-ing out on the weakside or other basic rotations lead to cross-matching. And this isn't talking about the times when Scoot wouldn't be the smallest guy on the court and was sharing the court with a smaller guard.
No, literally every player on the roster has signed to a contract or has been traded for or drafted by Joe Cronin. Joe Cronin is solely responsible for making the best use out of the assets that he has, what narratives he pushes about wanting to be aggressive, the deals he negotiates, the contradicting statements he makes about size and youth, the contracts he signs, the meshing of skillsets he brings in to the roster, etc. The narrative was "he needs to clean up Olsheys mess to gather the assets he needs to make a splash". Well he finally did so and followed it up inactivity, a press conference that contradicted his exit interview, and a seemingly pissed off Dame.
He was 18. Defense was not a factor for his team because they didn't really care about much past showcasing offense. Not really that indicative of his future ability on that end. What matters more to me are his physical tools and inclination to improve, both of which are there.
Scoot could end up being one of the best guards ever to play the game and I do hope he develops, but along with Dame. At least for a 2-3 year period. Yeah, if Dame wants out then let's move him but if he wants to stay let's see how it goes. And if someone knocks our socks off with a trade proposal for Scoot, and we change course with trade that improves the team and can help us take the next step, well, let it play out. If the franchise goal is to contend and make money alone the way, let's see if they can perform against objective measurable criteria. If not big change will happen.
Joe said he had planted seeds for free agency and the trade market....he didn't piss off Dame Torey...he pissed off you...I watched it live on your draft show. You were also grumpy about Kris Murray .....Joe talked to Dame Tuesday and is partying in France now....he's hardly pissed off. The media is doing everything it can to force Dame out of Portland, I'd hope that the Blazers woud have more support building this new version of the team but what I found a joyful night, you seem to have not enjoyed much. Choices. Joe's not the enemy. Preseason we'll see what we have around Dame.
I once dug one hole with one shovel with one shovel load and filled it back in with 2/3 of a shovel load.
