I really don't want to beat this to dead but I've seen two posters refer to Scoot's flashes of brilliance or greatness and I'm left wondering what constitutes that. A play here or there? It must be because I'm not sure he's had more than two games that stand out as really something exceptional. And, if we're talking about just scattered plays -- a great pass, a great move -- basically any player in the NBA has those. I want Scoot to thrive. I also think the stuff about Cronin saying he was ready as a criticism of Scoot isn't fair: It's team-speak and you get that from 92% of the coaches and GMs and a lot of players. Most people know better. All that said, he has looked a lot more consistently like someone you hope develops into an average player than someone you can say without reservation unequivocally looks like he's going to be special. He has a great look, but I've said this before -- he plays like someone took an NFL running back or linebacker and put them in a pick-up game; they do some eye-catching things, but you can tell they don't really get the game. Scoot plays like he doesn't really have a great feel for the game.
Before the injury he was playing with a sharpness and confidence. This version looks like the one we saw at the beginning of the season. Maybe a tad better. It's been really rough, but folks should feel better knowing Kuminga and Green are finally coming around. It's likely going to take longer than anticipated.
the 4 games in February before his injury he did well. But he was wildly inconsistent in January. He shot 37.7% on FG's for the month. He had games where he scored 13 points on 21 shots; 8 points on 8 shots; 19 points on 18 shots; 33 points on 31 shots; 11 points on 12 shots. He really hasn't got in any kind of a sustained groove on shooting all season, except for FTs the only area he's been consistent is in posting his disappointing assist/turnover ratio. He's been around 1.60 all season
Game Score was created by John Hollinger to give a rough measure of a player's productivity for a single game. (40 is an outstanding performance, 10 is an average performance.). (The formula is PTS + 0.4 * FG - 0.7 * FGA - 0.4*(FTA - FT) + 0.7 * ORB + 0.3 * DRB + STL + 0.7 * AST + 0.7 * BLK - 0.4 * PF - TOV.) 7 good games 19 ugly games 24 middle-of-the-road games If you squint really hard you can see the trend line slowly going up. (?)
There are raw young players that pass the eye test, and there are those that don't. Telfair didn't - he was super quick but he had no change of speed and was exposed quickly. Jerryd Bayless was supposed to be The Shit in summer league, but if you watched his games all he did was bull to the hoop and shoot FTs. Even ROYs like Tyreke Evans and Michael Carter-Williams were obviously not destined for greatness. Does Scoot pass the eye test? Because I ain't seeing it. And I didn't see it BEFORE he was drafted, either, before the "hindsight 20/20 comments." I mean, I will be very happy to be proved wrong, because he does seem to be a great kid (kind of the mirror image of Ben Simmons, whose game as a rookie I really liked but who always sucked personality-wise), so fingers crossed. But, again, if we pass on an actual star PG because we have Scoot it will be the Telfair/Chris Paul fuckup all over.
The majority of people you refer to would have also picked Scoot over Amen Thompson. I wouldn't trust their opinion for shit.
This is why so many discounted the Thompson twins in Elite Overtime. They didn't trust the competition and the twins were a little older. It's good to see Kuminga and Green elevate their games as of late.
Still rooting for Scoot's success but I was one of the highly adamant "Amen over Scoot" guys and Amen is going along, just as I predicted. Though, I was hoping he would have more playing time to actually average out his Per 36. The sad thing for Portland is that Amen addresses EVERY major weakness the Blazers have suffered for the past few years - rebounding, POA defense, secondary ballhandler that can make plays. And for a rookie, he's quite elite at these traits. Amen has traits reminiscent of Ben Simmons, Luka Doncic, and Brandon Roy. Not saying he'll be a superstar but some players, when healthy, are able to impact the game with well rounded skills and intangibles. His advanced stats suggest as such and he's already a great defender and rebounder as a rookie with good IQ that I really thought he could've been Scottie Pippen to Sharpe's "MJ". Like a Pippen, I can see Amen improving upon himself and becoming an 18-23ppg/7/7 guy with DPOY impact. By that, I don't think people understand that you don't really win championships with short PGs. Steph was the only one in modern history. But dynamic SG+all around two way SF combos? MJ-Pippen, Kobe-Odom, Wade-Lebron, and probably Brown-Tatum. Heck, we may even include Middleton-Giannis, perhaps. That's 10 championships right there. The smart thing to do is go after Cody Williams now. He's probably not as talented as Amen but if the Blazers want to replicate success, it's going to come from that SG-SF combo rather than emphasizing the PG-SG combo that did not win anything in the 90s or 2010s. Then, hope the Blazers can get Ace Bailey, Cooper Flagg, Cam Boozer, or maybe AJ Dybantsa in the following drafts to address the rebounding weakness.
None of the wings you just listed had a shot as fugly as Amen. He’s a truly god awful shooter, and in a league that prizes three point shooters, he is a very bad one.
