Yes. Even the past. If the team (Cronin) hadn't been tanking, the backcourt of Dame and Sharpe would have been fun to watch. It was evident Dame and Shaedon (and Nurk and others) enjoyed playing together. Dame: 30 points, 12 assists, 7 rebounds Sharpe: 24 points, 3 assists, 9 rebounds and 4 steals This was in March, 2023. 1 year and 8 months ago. Right after this game, Cronin pulled the plug and Dame and Sharpe never played together again.
I’m Sharpe’s biggest fan. He’s still so young and has worked a ton on his handle. His turnovers are more along the lines of driving too deep and not sure where to go than losing his dribble or having it stripped. He’s just so smooth and you can tell the game comes so easy for him. Worst case scenario is a couple All Star games. Best case scenario a top 10 player.
I don't think he can be defended by one player. It's even hard to slow him down with 2 players if it's not a double team. That's what a star is on offense, burning single-team coverage consistently and causing problems for the defense. Then you surround him with 3-point shooting and defense, like they have done in OKC and Boston. Then Sharpe will need to learn how to pass out to the right guy like the Warriors do that Dame and CJ and Stotts never mastered. It's not rocket science. If a 3-point shooter isn't open, you have the uncovered player flash to the middle and he either goes straight to the hoop, or the defense commits to him and he throws it to the next open player.
The other night brought me around more. I’ve been explaining to casual fans he’s the best dunker in the league since the jump, but what the other night showed me was that he is willing to take over and will the team to victory. His passive nature had me worried on that specific front. The fact Chauncey has already addressed his willingness to push shae in this area and the evidence of a career night serve well. I’ll admit I didn’t watch a lot of games last year, just tracked stats, so if Shae had already shown more of that before his injuries, that was missed with all the losing we were doing.
Shae show me something last game when he took over the game at the end for the team to win. Now I what see how consistent he going to be by doing those things before I print star on him. Dame was our star I think Shae as the mentally to be that type of player.
If Shae is the future, he needs to be a bit more consistent with his aggressiveness. Currently I am giving him the benefit of the doubt being so young and not having any college coaching. But in year three now, with a clean slate of health, he should be playing most games like he did against Minnesota. Aggressive. Look for his shot. Driving to the hoop. Not camping in the corner waiting for a kick out three. I would love to see him be our secondary prime ball handler even over Banton. Much like what Jordan did with BJ Armstrong and Kerr. I don't know the stat for sure, but I think he handled the ball almost as much as they did. I know this may take away from Scoot's game, but the team needs to see what we have in Sharpe NOW. We have more time to figure Scoot out, but with the contract extension looming, we need to dial in our knowledge of Shae's game and expected growth potential ASAP.
More likely he “goes down” eventually with a month or whatever left in the season where he and the team have already come to an agreed extension number in mind. Giving Scoot the rest of the season to play as the main guy with all these forwards and we will be how he looks ending year 2 and heading into year 3.
If Shae could get his FT% up to 90% that would be huge because he’s gonna get fouled a lot. He needs to hit them.
Camara was amazing running around setting picks for Sharpe to get free at the end of the game. And, hey, that's some great defense by Trey Young. "Sorry, Krejci, you're on your own."
He can work on his ball handling He can work on his defense He can work on understanding of the game What I'm not sure he can work with is his personality He's not an ALPHA He's very passive given his talents He always defers to other first, he takes responsibility only if forced or at the end of shot clock I'm not asking Kobe-like personality and willingness/obsession/killer instinct But at least Anthony Edwards-ish Last year he deferred even to 10 day contracts You could see tonight Chauncey was angry at him when he had to call timeout because he didn't free himself for a play designed for him
