I coached college basketball for 3 years and was a HS coach for 7 years. You? I am saying the benefit to being drafted to a terrible team is that you get to PLAY. Unless you think every Rookie of the Year in NBA history was mismanaged by their coaches.
Have you noticed Clingans stamina improvement? Playing in the NBA is a world apart from college. You gotta bring players along at the pace in which they respond.
Do you really think throwing them into the fire for 30+ minutes is the best way to learn? I want coaches to hold out those starter minutes as a carrot/reward for improving skills in drills/workouts, showing in practice and keeping them motivated to deserve them. While fans only get to judge improvement in games, most player improvement is done away from the cameras. Among a myriad of things, Sharpe really needs to improve his handle, Scoot his shooting & Donovan his conditioning and shot. Those fascets are all best improved away from the games. Give them a ton of run today and are they as motivated to work? I also want the high priced vets who play in front of them to be focused and engaged. They have many lessons to teach the young guys both on & off the court & having them despondent about being benched could lead to really bad team chemistry which wont help the cause. It also would sink any possibility of them being traded. The Blazers aren't winning a championship this year. This season is about development. Other non starters besides the 3 lotto picks need minutes to fuel the fire of their development as well. I want Murray, Banton, Rupert & Avdija engaged and motivated too. There will be plenty of seasons ahead where Scoot, Shaedon and Clingan will be getting all the PT they can handle. To my eyes, Sharpe is the only one really pressing for a bigger role STOMP
Chet, Paulo, Wemby, Brandon Miller, Jalen Green, Scottie Barnes, Franz Wagner, Mobley, all full time starters as rookies. I’m not sure why this is breaking news. They’ll get in shape? Shit teams should be playing rookies and starting them unless there is some reason not to. But the reason isn’t “they are rookies”.
good grief dude, you asked siting total befuddlement & I answered. You're free to hold your own opinion which seems to be the team has no idea what they're doing. Fwiw (nothing) most of those guys you listed were both older and/or better then the Blazer youngins... all rookies are not created equal. Fwiw2, the guy I think was the greatest Blazer ever was Clyde Drexler. He averaged 17 MPG a game as a 21 year old rookie. I could go on and on listing other HOF players who were treated similarly when they entered the league. Other HOF players came into the league and were given big roles right off. Perhaps the players and the situations they came into were different? STOMP
In recent history, high picks on bad teams learn on the job. Not watching Jerami Grant and Anfernee Simons chucking shots and not rebounding. We’re talking 3, 7, 7th picks. Everyone is young. All of the guys I listed were young. 1 year out of HS. Of course if a guy is a shit head and doesn’t work hard he sits. Obviously. If I’m a HS coach and my varsity team isn’t good - at all - I’m not playing seniors. I’m getting the young guys as much time as possible so they are better, sooner. Same with college guys. And that’s what they’re doing in the NBA.
Are the Rockets a good team? Amen Thompson, who was picked right after Scoot and is a year older, played 22 minutes a game last year which is 6 less per game then Scoot averaged. His twin brother Ausar was the next pick for the terrible Pistons also averaged less minutes then Scoot. I could literally poke a thousand holes in your claims of whats the norm today, whats with the cherry picking of examples to back your rant as if no one would notice? We disagree on how young players develop. I'm not into repeating myself so you just have an awesome day! STOMP
also. This is my opinion. I would play them a ton and learn as they go. It works for a lot of players. If you wouldn’t, that’s fine. If it’s working for Amen and Ausar Thompson, great.
Just finished watching the Duke vs Kentucky game. Flagg put up amazing numbers and dominated…..BUT…… he blew it and turned the ball over the last two Duke possessions. Looked like a 17 year old out there down the stretch. It’s expected. Thats why I’m not hard on Scoot yet. They gotta fail and make mistakes and learn from ‘em.
Everyone’s excited about this young team, but let’s remember the ultimate payout is next summer. None of the trying to make the playoffs BS, develop this team and secure top 6-7 lotto odds. This is a PG, but look how he plays. “Is he a forward?” That’s the kind of commentary I like to hear. His play-style would absolutely be perfect for this team. Another guy who has star quality passing potential like Scoot, but is willing and able to play off the ball like Shae. He has a really strong frame for his age and great size for a PG. He really would be our sixth man right away and be the main distributor off the bench. No sure thing he is the #3 overall pick either. There may be higher teams that value other players. Just another reminder that we don’t need a top 3 pick or maybe even top 5 pick to add a major building block, but we DO need a decent pick to secure one of these blue chip prospects.
Shaedon and Clingan outperforming their draft position eases the burden on Scoot to be a star. I still think he hits eventually but he's too inconsistent right now, and the improvement from year 1 seems marginal. But that's OK. Some picks whiff. Keep in mind for example, GS drafted guys like Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli ahead of Draymond. The idea is to take as many swings on stars as possible. We really shouldn't hesitate about drafting guards next draft because we have Scoot. Team is still not good enough to deviate from BPA strategy. Edgecombe and Harper look nasty.
Portland really needs to have 3 picks this draft. There are some great prospects available.... even into the late 1st/early 2nd range. Guys like Johni Broome, JT Toppin, Mgbako, Ivisic, Nique Clifford, and Grant-Foster provide a lot of intriguing talent.
Scoot is 5 years younger than Ant and Banton and 4 years younger than Camara….. I think I’ll give him a few more YEARS before I can truly see what type of player he is regardless of where he was picked.
Last night, ran into two Lead NBA scouts that are good friends of mine. Two separate conversations, I was asking them about this years draft. Both said the 4 names we all know who will be at the top….. but both without me bringing him up mentioned how impressed they are with this dude! Both said he is going to be DAMN good! So I had to go look him up!
