While I don't know if they necessarily qualify as "rough" first seasons (they were definitely not on par with the rest of their careers) and I'm not saying that Scoot doesn't have massive holes in his game, but Steve Nash (who was 22), John Stockton (who was 22) and Terry Porter (who was 22) are just 3 off the top of my head. You could also include Tony Parker in that list, same with Lonzo Ball and Ricky Rubio. Each one averaged fewer ppg than Scoot, and outside of Parker, all were older and had far more college experience coming the league (and Tony had been playing pro ball in France, iirc, for years). Scoot needs to spend this off season working on his shot (both inside the paint and 18 feet and out) and his footwork though.
Careful. I pointed this stuff out the previous game and was told my concerns weren't valid by multiple posters.
I could live with the jumper being a problem if he was sharper in his passing and court-sense. For every great pass he throws, two or three seem to get deflected or don't arrive in a good spot for the recipient. We knew the shot was going to be a work in progress. I expected a guy who'd played this much basketball, even at a young age, to be better with the basketball and to have a better game IQ than he's shown so far.
I think PPG is a misleading gauge to use because of the wide variance in playing time and usage Scoot is averaging 12.6 points on 11.6 shots. With the same shot attempts as Scoot, Nash would have averaged 14.2; Stockton 15.8; Porter 14.5 those are better marks but they aren't dramatically better. I don't think Scoot will be a bust; that seems way too pessimistic at this point. Yeah, it's been a fairly dismal season for the rookie that kind of pushed Dame out of the door and was supposedly a #1 pick in any normal draft. And I'm not sure there are a lot of all-star games in Scoot's future. But he's just getting started. Now, a year from now if he hasn't improved much, it might be time to worry one issue that may be really hard to solve though is Ant and Scoot on the floor together. It's pretty ugly....like putting a rat and a snake in a shoe box
I honestly think missing a few weeks two different times this season and another month in the off season after a few minutes in a SL game have stunted his progress. I'm not saying he'd be worlds better than what we're seeing and that is what we were sold early on when Joe was saying that he'd help Dame contend. I just think if he had been healthy the whole season maybe missing just a game or two here or there, then he'd be further along or if he wasn't I'd be even more concerned.
Better question is whether anyone can think of any other PGs that have ever turned it around (relatively quickly) after as rough a first season as Scoot has had. I haven't looked, so I can't really say.
That's fair, but every time he misses a little time he regresses completely back to where he started. It's like he's been skill-wiped. Being able to stay on the court and being resistant to injury is a quality, too.
Lock him in a gym and have him practice finishing at the rim. Start with Mikan drills off both feet against coverage. Just absolutely terrible touch right now. Very frustrating.
Some will point to Steve Nash but he didn't have near as big a role as a rookie and the team was .500 I guess Billups might be the best case but he had a lot of unusual dynamics his first two years, rape incident, traded his rookie year, traded again before his second year, as well as a lengthy lockout and frantic 50 game season. Can't think of any other all-star level comps that struggled as much as Scoot has this rookie season. He isn't close to the level of rookie seasons that future all-stars like Westbrook, Wall, Irving, Morant, Fox, Holiday, Trae, Rose, Conley, etc all had. Many of them were just as young, had far less pro experience. But every one performed much better. Dozens of similar comparisons to Scoot rookie season are role players or busts. When this thread was created it was way too early and laughable. But we're probably past that point now. It's certainly not definitive Scoot is a bust but its a very worthy subject to discuss. I'm not convinced Scoot will be a bust - but I'd certainly bet its much more likely he is than he becomes an All-star.
I look at that as a fit issue when the team is trying to make a run for the playoffs. Were so far from that its just not even a consideration at all next season, likely not the season after either. Might be 13 new guys on the roster by the time it is, possibly with neither Scoot nor Ant. Blazers biggest problem is they don't have one player that is an above average starter in this league. Ayton and Grant are probably the closest, but unclear they are even part of anything long term. Blazers desperately need starting level talent - at any position.
Chauncey? Took three years to get efficient. His rookie stats are shockingly similar to Scoot's. 11/4/2 on 37/33/85 shooting with 2 turns in 28 mpg for CB. 13/5/3 on 37/30/82 shooting with 3 turns in 27 mpg for SH.
Posted this in the Chicago game thread, but it probably goes here - Looking at the 2023 draft class advanced stats, Scoot is ranked 52nd in WS, 44th in WS/48, 39th in BPM, 52nd in VORP, and 30th in PER. That's an average ranking of 43.4. Yea, his shooting needs a lot of work. I’m more worried about his massive right-hand dominant play. The more he gets scouted, the more opponents will expose this weakness.
...& of course Chauncey came into the league 2 years older then Scoot. Gary Payton didn't exactly blow the doors off when he entered the league either and he was 3 years older... there are others I said this earlier in the thread and was blasted for it, but I'd really like to see Scoot rework mechanics of his jumper instead of trying to work with it. STOMP
Lol this reminds me of my apparently “controversial” take that Scoot is going to have to make an unprecedented jump from a 7 PER if he were to become an all-star or all-nba level player.
When you come out of HS and go to G league it's like up and down rat ball and probably dont get a lot of coaching as compared to a D1 school? I wonder if it would have been better for Scoot to play a year at the D1 level and if it would have been an advantage?
