I really enjoy watching Scoot navigating screens on defense. He's a lot better at it already than Dame, CJ, Ant and pretty much any guard we've had over the past decade. And when he gets switched onto a bigger guy, it's not a given they're going to get a good shot. He's like trying to displace a fire hydrant. This indicates a couple of things to me, but probably the biggest is that he's listening to the right people and he picks things up quickly.
Should have been more talk about him tonight. He's continuing to improve. He is already showing that he's capable at making winning place and he's tough to stop going to the basket. I feel like the team plays better when he's managing the ball at the point than either of Ant or Brogdon. They should be playing more off him.
Scoot was guarding Wiggins tonight. Nobody else wanted to guard Wiggins, but there's the Blazers rookie PG doing his best to make it tough on a 6'9" Warriors Forward. It's getting more fun to watch Henderson develop, he's getting after it on defense.
Only got to see the first half, but he looked good in the time I saw him. He’s starting to look like he finding ways to get into the paint. 10 straight made fts in three straight games, encouraging sign. He looks physically imposing out there. Even through his struggles, I find myself remembering that things like huge hands are God-given. When he figures it out, he’s going to be a menace driving. With a body like that and hands like that, once he gets use to taking contact in the paint, he’ll be fine. I see a LOT of and-1s in his future.
If that’s true, then Cronin suddenly isn’t the shrewd operator I think he is. If your girl is actively trying to get with someone else and embarrasses you like that, I don’t know why you would ever take them back. I’m choosing to think Cronin had the foresight to know it was time to move on.
Even if he’s a 33-35% 3pt shooter, if he’s elite on defense, he’s going to be able to stay on the floor. It makes you think, can we eventually just switch on everything? Obviously, you don’t want your PG guarding a C for several possessions, but Scoot taking the challenge now makes me think he can guard some small PFs with success down the line. I can’t wait for Schmitz to make this guy’s life easier on draft night.
What was surprising to me in tonight's game how Scoot took a leap in defense compared to how he was at the start of the season. With how aggressive he was on defense, I bet earlier in the season he would have had double or more than the 2 fouls he ended up with tonight. The Blazers have now lost 7 in a row, and are a certified bottom dweller, so there is zero excuse for Scoot to only be playing 22 minutes with the effort he's giving on defense, and the battering ram that he's becoming on offense. 5-5 on his free throws.
THIS is huge. Our starting backcourt combining for 10+ fta really slows down the game for whenever we are behind. Shae is also just in year two, maybe they do this relatively soon.
My big worry for him coming in was that he was a horrible defender, shooter and finisher at the rim in the G league. I hope his work ethic allows him to become adequate at all these things.
We are bad with everyone healthy, no excuse IMO not to do some significant trading by the deadline, of course assuming good value can be had. That means to me Brog/Grant/Ant can go, I really like Matisse and would be reluctant to move him but for the right deal him as well
That's not true. Dame was willing to come back to give Cronin time to figure out an eventual trade to Miami. Not to stay forever.
He's already becoming a good defender, very good finisher, and about as good of a shooter as any of this year's top [drafted] rookies.
Once again, go to the pre-draft thread and see what people were saying - whether they were right or wrong doesn't matter. Jesus Christ, people thought Wemby was so good the Spurs could be battling for the playoffs lol. The pre-draft narrative was that those guys were going to be immediate contributors.
There was one sequence where Scoot kept shoving Wiggins multiple times just outside the paint to keep Wiggins out of any rebounding position. Wiggins complied by not fighting back.
Hope Scoot becomes an elite scorer: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...devin-booker-adding-point-guard-their-resumes
It's time for Scoot to be in the starting lineup again. He's earned it by playing energetic defense, but just as important is getting some good touches for Ayton. At this point, separating Scoot and Ayton is just dumb. They were getting some nice chemistry going in Detroit before Scoot got hurt. That should be a priority now that the team can't win at all. Check out this nice lob from Scoot to Ayton at the 10 second mark. Sharpe is in a funk , and maybe not playing with Simons would help. At the first substitution take Simons out and put Sharpe in.
I suspect that we'd be in a better position to win with more Scoot minutes like we were before Ant came back.
