same. And by saying "growth" every week, that's not to say he's playing great. he's just getting better and better. Still will have bumps along the way, but he's showing signs.
he's finally slowing down. that swagger he has when he makes 3 positive plays in a row is infectious. it's what i saw from his ignite games. his impact far exceeds what we capture in box scores. need more of these instances of positivity to help him get reinforcement of his work ethic.
I’ll be the first to admit, I’ve been really enjoying Scoot coming off the bench. Guys like Walker and Thybulle bring a lot of energy to the game when they enter, I think having Scoot as well often can overwhelm an opposing bench with the the amount of guys flying around and chasing boards. Next year, our bench is going to be even better. I get that we drafted him to be the franchise player. But I kind of see all of this as a blessing in disguise. With Scoot not being who we thought he’d be right away, we provide him with some adversity to overcome early in his career by getting to a point where he’d be good enough for us to even think about trading Ant. Even if I drafted someone to be my franchise player, if he pouted about having to re-earn his spot over a guy who’s better than him currently, I’d be rethinking my decision on drafting him.
Yeah I've greatly enjoyed Scoot off the bench. Many fans before the season thought it would be best with Ant ultimately as a 6th man and Scoot/Shae starting. Perhaps it's better with Scoot off the bench.
Okay so hear me out here. -Disclaimer---- I don't hate Scoot at all. Second Disclaimer- I want Scoot to become as good as I think he can become and that is very very good to say the least. What I am watching in games is teams are not respecting Scoot shooting the ball. I am not sure that will be a big deal this year because the Blazers probably won't be making the playoffs anyway. My hope is that they get him all the help he can handle this season and this next summer to improve that shot. What I am also seeing is because they sag off him it's making it tougher on him to use his other skills passing and obvious speed advantage over other players to get to the hoop. IMO ( and yes It's just my opinion) If Scoot can continue to maintain the shooting numbers he has provided since dawning the goggles this team could get good very very quickly.
The goggles! At least that’s what I think? I would love to hear what he feels it is. That is also why I say “if he can maintain” the shooting numbers.
7-20 = 35% which is quite a departure from the 9.5% he was shooting before the injury I expect him to settle in a lot closer to the 35% than the 10%. I expect the 27% rate he shot in G-League is probably predictive. Meaning, he should shoot less three's and work on other aspects of his game...and not settle for three's just because that's what opponents are baiting him to shoot
Oh yeah, I saw that stat before the Jazz game. My brain didn’t internalize. But last I checked he is shooting better from three than he is from the floor lol.
They are definitely baiting him to shoot the three. No question there. This is where the paradox comes in though. By baiting him they are taking away other things. Clogging lanes for cutters and stopping the driving opportunities. They are watching for the drive and dish. My point above was that keeping that 3 at a respectable rate helps the other parts of his game.
yeah, I don't believe he'll ever be a great shooter from three. That would take a few off-seasons and several thousand shots. He needs to focus on other things right now, including ball-handling with his left hand with his mass and strength and speed, I'm a little more concerned about him being 12-24 at the rim. I would have expected better, but that's probably just something else he need to adjust to
Yeah, he's much more likely to commit fouls than draw them. He's had at least 5 fouls in over half his games so far.
Like you said, the shooting doesn’t really matter this year because the playoffs are a longshot, and should be our lowest priority in the last decade. Let him feel out the game. I’m not sure how to help his shot, outside of someone changing the mechanics of his shot. His shot doesn’t look broken. He’s just going to have to keep shooting them until he gets to be as confident as Thybulle shooting it. What would help a ton is to now draft guys who can actually shoot to surround around Scoot. Outside of his shooting concerns, spacing is still an issue on this squad, so it isn’t just Scoot. Drafting guys who can defend and shoot, taking back a bad contract of a guy who’s a shooter for draft compensation, maybe a FA that can shoot, all of that is going to help. Scoot has yet to figure out the stuff he was suppose to be good at. He’s going to become more confident in expanding his skillset when he gets in the groove of finishing at the rim more and being able to find open guys when teams respect his driving ability in the NBA.
Should we bump this thread everytime he has a bad game and bump the other thread everytime he has a good game?
Scoot leads all rookies in personal fouls. That's some good ol' fashioned basketball. Get anywhere near Henderson and he'll smack the crap outta you.
