but the rumors about his injuries are out there. At least one trade died because of questions about his health. Most teams interested in him will know he's not in Portland's plans, but they won't really know how he reacts to consistent minutes until they see him play consistent minutes
I think Cronin answering that players will earn their spots, makes me think the most veteran will likely start the season.
I don't disagree with this desire. Given the choice I'd want to start Scoot/Sharpe for that very reason. But we are not Coach Billups. He may have a different view than we do.
There is a bit less clarity with Sharpe replacing Ant because of a few reasons: - Ant is not yet a finished product and has shown he has a different gear when featured in a primary role. We need to see if this can be sustainable for longer than a quarter of a season. - Shaedon can play the 3 and did for most of last year. - Shaedon might be further behind in his development (and ability to contribute) than Scoot at this point, so having him get his 25-30 mpg off the bench is not a ridiculous notion.
I agree. So many theories about who will/should start and most of them are pointless. Joe is not going to tell Chauncey who to start based on when they were drafted. Chauncey is going to start whatever combination plays best in preseason. And that combo will change as players develop. (and as players get injured) It is no big deal who starts on day one, they will all get their chance at some point in the season.
I'm picking Scoot/Ant regardless. I think they'll want to limit Brogdon's minutes and bringing him off the bench is the best way to do that.
I don't know if that's the case. Why couldn't he start but still get the Vonleh-esque 4-5 minutes at the beginning and end of each half, keeping his minutes in the 16-20 mpg range?
What's the advantage to that strategy in this case? Why not play him the last 4 of the first and first 4 of the second, giving Scoot a balance rest in the middle?
I don't think Brogdon's minutes will be a problem for anyone if he plays fully healthy when he plays. The fact that he's a passing and shooting/scoring point guard mean he would fit fine in the 2nd unit. Scoot needs the best scorers around him to be his most effective. So I would actually start Brogdon instead of Simons but I don't think that would happen.
That would be really stupid seeing that the Blazers basically traded Damian Lillard to keep Scoot Henderson, and the fact that Scoot has played professional ball for 2 seasons.
The Blazers need to get Ayton going from Day 1. He's the one main scorer that can't dribble the ball the length of the court and score by himself. He'll probably be the highest-percentage scoring option and worth getting the ball to. Starting Brodgon and Scoot together allows for the best chance to get the ball to Ayton in good position to score as much as possible. That pair brings the 3-point shooting of Brogdon and full-court speed of Scoot.
guard pairing? More like guard trifecta. We can't have a true Blazer team unless 3 guards are always on the court watching the other team get rebounds and dunks.
I chose brogdon and Ant but brogdon might be gone. If so, scoot. We have alot of youth. That experience to start the games will help i think.
From yesterday’s interviews, it sure sounded like the plan is to start Brogdan and Ant, with Sharpe and Scoot coming off the bench. I suppose having a bigger, experienced PG next to Ant makes sense, at least to start the season. It’s going to be interesting seeing how long they can keep the young guys on the second string though.
I'm with the majority here in that there isn't a world where Scoot should be doing anything but playing in the starting lineup from the jump. I didn't listen to much of Dame's interview yesterday but one thing he talked about was 'announcing his presence' at every step of his journey, including coming into a team that already had LMA, Wes and Batum on it. He didn't feel the need to take over, but to let people know he was here and the rest of it took care of itself. I envision that with Scoot, you can say Ant is the 'leader' but I have a real feeling the locker room is going to naturally revolve around Scoot and his magnetism.
