I'm skeptical his 42% 3ptFG% in January is sustainable; I don't see opposing teams reacting to his new shooting prowess with hard closeouts yet, but I'm sure that's coming (didn't watch last night's game). But watching his form lately I think 36% is sustainable. He's practicing better shot selection and getting better at shooting with rhythm & timing it's all a learning curve for Scoot right now and he's studying hard. I think that's really evident in his FG% at the rim. Last season, he shot 50.3% at the rim; this season he's up to 56.4%. That's a significant improvement. Opponents haven't gotten smaller and aren't contesting the paint less. Scoot's just getting better at recognizing what works and what doesn't and yes, his improvement in assist/turnover ratio is encouraging. Last season it was an abysmal 1.58. This season 1.9. Now, 1.9 is not good for a pure PG. Dame wasn't great at assist/turnover in his early seasons, but he was at 2.37 his 2nd season. It's been mentioned over and over but Scoot's PG production would take a big leap if he had a solid left hand. Hopefully, that's what he works on most this summer
In baseball, you can pay part of a player's salary when you trade him. Wish Portland could do that because it's a really bad situation if Grant stays.
That's how Portland has put together enough talent for all of the great teams we've had. Except when we picked up Mo Lucas from the ABA draft. NBA draft and then made lopsided financial trades to fill out the roster. I agree with you. It sucks that that's no longer allowed.
Scoot finishes the month of January shooting 43.8% on 3-pointers (#2 after Simons) and #1 in True Shooting % at 63.6%. Unfortunately, I can't sort out Bryce McGowens because Scoot is not a starter. Which is now an absolute joke seeing how well Scoot is playing.
I realize that someone else might have posted this, and I'm also not incorporating "usage" (I'm both too lazy to look it up and don't care enough to look it up) BUT if you compare Scoots 2nd year to Damians rookie year, the #'s are favorable for Scoot. (Per 36's I mean): Scoot averages more rebounds, assists and steals, and shoots better overall and from 3. Damian averaged more points, better FT shooter, and fewer turnovers. Point being, he (Scoot) won't be the same age Damian was as a rookie till the end of next season. That should be a year and a half of improvement, and growth. If he can keep it up, he should be in for a consistent year next year. *spoiler* I am not saying he'll be as good as Damian was, just that he's putting up comparable #'s to Damians rookie year, at an age younger than Damian was at the start of his senior year.
Not that I feel like Jerami and Ant are necessarily holding him back in this department, but I do feel like he also has true leadership qualities that would shine once they were gone, and he didn't feel like he was intruding on something. Now, maybe some will say that's not a true "Alpha" that comes in and demands the respect, but just thinking how we all can see Dame was a leader, but he still felt like he had to defer that role somewhat to LA on seniority. That once they're gone, I feel lke Scoot can be that emotional leader for our team, potentially.
I think I have said this before, but I think Scoot could be the engine of this team. He’s not the talent that Magic Johnson was, but their personality is very similar. An infectious joy and energy. He’s the kind of guy who can lift up a locker room. We don’t need him to be our best player. We need him to be our heart and soul.
That's what I was thinking above. He's not gonna be a 30 PPG MVP guy, but can see his energy growing in to leadership with the rest of the guys.
Scoot was talking about Shae after the game and it was so cool. He was mentioning how Shae plays better when he’s mad. He said Shae is his dog. I really think he’s the guy that can pull the team together and hopefully help push Shae to be a better player.
Today would be the perfect opportunity for Billups to start Scoot, Sharpe, Avdija and Camara together. Last game, Grant didn't play at all, and Simons played 21 minutes, shooting 3-9 for 8 points. Result: The Blazers crushed the Magic. Chauncey preventing this starting lineup from happening is frustrating to say the least.
I think Joe is a lot more responsible for that than Chauncey. Chauncey isn't going to bench Simons-Ayton-Grant (and their 90M/year salaries) if they are available. I doubt any coach would even though all three individually, for various reasons, could be justifiably benched. Joe needed to do the job of removing temptation from the equation without accounting for 'other things', I'd say that if Simons-Ayton-Grant had been removed from the equation last summer, the Blazers would have around 7-8 fewer wins and be right in the thick of it for a top-3 seed in the lottery. The Blazers are offensively challenged, and without those 3 players Portland would have likely struggled a lot at converting shots. BBREF's Pythagorean projection of wins based upon net rating and MOV says the Blazers should have 15 wins instead of 19 Now, those 'other things' would have probably altered that top-3-seed-in-lottery projection. I'd say if the runway had been cleared for a Scoot-Sharpe-Camara-Deni-Clingan starting lineup, all those guys would shined a little more brightly earlier in the season. And they would have offset those 7-8 more losses by picking up 2-3 more wins. The Blazers might still have been in 7th-8th seed territory, but possibly higher. But at least then, there would be no consternation about collecting pointless wins on the backs of the veterans. And of course, we could have had a full season of testing the young guys as primary players instead of supporting players
Scoot again tonight looking like he could be really, really good. 13 points on 12 shots, 9 assists a couple of steals and a great plus-minus. Biggest thing for me, though, was in the first half, Booker was getting going and being very physical on his drives. He'd just knocked Grant (I think, it might have been Camara, but I think it was Grant) out of the way for a bucket. A few minutes later, he tried to do the same to Scoot and Scoot didn't budge. Similar to what Scoot did to SGA a couple of games ago. Scoot's got the tools to be an all-around PG. He's super-comfortable running the show now. Never would have thought it possible a couple of months ago with what I was seeing.
Scoot and Simons combined for 16 assists with only 1 turnover (by Simons). 9 assists 0 turnovers for Scoot.
Scoot was a +31 last night in 24 minutes off the bench. I like the Magic Johnson comparison (obviously you can't teach height), though Isaiah Thomas might be a better comparison when Scoot is on. Shae might be more of a James Worthy than a Julius Erving. If Scoot knows how to motivate him, it's all good in my book.
