Watching him get better has been the highlight of the season for me so far. I've been classifying it as 2 steps forward, 1 step back, but ultimately, that's still improvement. He's slowing down and reading defenses finally, and his shot is dropping these days. He's gonna be scary good. He impacts the game so much even without scoring; it's rare for a PG to do that these days.
https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/st...ing-superstardom-where-warriors-miss-draymond 3. Scoot Henderson, showing some of the right signs Henderson's (very bad) shooting numbers from 2-point range haven't budged since his return from an ankle injury, but he's making an acceptable number of 3s and looks like a different player with the ball. He's more under control -- pinning defenders on his hip, changing pace, slowing down and waiting for the defense to expose something. Portland Trail Blazers have scored 1.22 points per possession on trips featuring a Henderson pick-and-roll -- 26th among 157 players who have run at least 50 such plays in that stretch, per Second Spectrum. The Spurs did Henderson a favor in that game by chasing him over screens. Most opponents duck screens for Henderson, and he'll see that treatment until he beats it consistently. His pull-up jumper doesn't look broken, but he has hit only 34% on midrangers. Henderson can sometimes outrace defenders to the area under the screen -- and break down the defense from there. The Blazers jump-start him by setting screens lower on the floor. But that's tough sledding. The Blazers face an interesting puzzle splitting minutes and touches among Henderson, Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe. The trio has logged just 41 minutes; Portland is a disastrous minus-27 over those minutes. They might not be able to tread water on defense. Sharpe has blossomed hopping between on-ball and off-ball roles; he is ready for more. Simons is a great shooter who draws a ton of attention on the pick-and-roll. Henderson is (by far) the worst shooter among them, but he's the future.
Scoot is now a legitimate 3-point shooter. Not a great one, but a decent one. 35 % in the last two months (Dec and Jan.)
December 1st through yesterday (January 7th) , Scoot now fits in with the group of players who should be taking 3-point shots. 36.8% during that period. The small sample of just January:
Great to see he's improving as the sample size continues to grow. About all we could reasonably hope for knowing shooting was a concern coming into the league.
And according the @KingSpeed , he is only the second 19-year-old to post at least 33 points/7 rebounds/ 9 assists/3 steals. The other is Kevin Durant.
Every shot with his right hand also. If this kid gets in the gym this summer and works on finishing left he is going to be incredible. Give him some time Blazer fans.
That trade would be like reversing the Damian Lillard trade, trading picks for an all-star vet that will probably help us stay somewhere in mediocrity land. I'd certainly not trade unprotected picks. If he were on a long term deal that paid him 35 rather than going up to 65 million it would be more enticing.
But then we wouldn’t get any 1sts back with him. Celtics wouldn’t think about giving up anything of value like 1st round picks if he was only making $35m, THEY’D be the one demanding picks from us. The idea I suggested getting 1sts for us to take on Brown’s contract and give them Ant and Grant was already kind of far fetched. Your caveat of “maybe if Brown was making $35m instead of $65m” makes the whole hypothetical impossible unless you thought Brad Stevens was brain dead.
Scoot was 5 of 14 at the rim last night. It's good that he got to the rim so much, but there are times when he attempted awkward shots. I hope he can learn to pass out of some of those.
If Brown made ~10 mil more per season than Grant, the Celtics might want to downgrade, to Grant to save on the luxury tax. I don't think they would either, but I'm really talking about the interests of the Blazers. Trading unprotected firsts to take on Brown's contract, that'll pay him 65 mil when he's 33 is not it.
Why do you keep saying us trading unprotected 1sts to take on Brown’s contract? My scenario was us GETTING 1sts back for taking on Brown’s contract.
The fact that he knocked down his 3s and 7-9 of his FTs last night means something. Finishing, especially for an athlete like scoot, can be fixed with lots of repetition.
I'm certain the coaches see this and they will be working on it. He's showing me he will be very good. Just needs to keep working and improving.
We also know, we just don't like admitting it. Both players give up as much as they score at times. They are both very poor defenders that are buckets, but for as much as they score, not alphas. So they are expensive, point getters that don't contribute a lot of other things.
