Notice Blazers Pick Shaedon Sharpe With #7 Pick

Here you go man.... some of the only proof that I ever was allowed behind the scenes. A glimpse back into the time machine.

 

Ill never forget stepping out of an elevator downtown to Darius with some boujee gal carrying two giant shopping bags.

 

@Travis Demers , @Natebishop3 ..... Your conversation has been entertaining to listen to. Man, SO much knowledge there. Pretty cool....

 

I found your checkmark..... " "

 

No Doug. It's Twitter. Twitter. Not Shitter.

 

you’re new here, eh?

 

Touché

 

LOL! Who are we talking about here??? (Just kidding). How have you been doing? Still in Florida? (I have a lot of catching up to do....)

 

I definitely remember your face. I wouldn’t have put a name to it. Come swing by sometime

 

bruce ely sent me this last week. I must have been really focused on what LA had to say. Or social anxiety kicked in.

 

It’s so weird to look at old pictures because in some ways it doesn’t feel that long ago, but it also feels like a lifetime ago.

 

Interesting. You see the Ivan Rabb situation purely from his side of things. I see it from the perspective of the fans of the team that would have wasted a top 5 pick on him. You see a bad outcome; I see the correct outcome.

 

Of course I’m looking at it from his side of things, it’s the USA baybay.

You see the Sharpe situation from a fan of a losing franchise’s side of things. I see it purely from Sharpe’s perspective—having all the talent in the world to show I’m a top lottery pick, but being enough of an unknown to pick and choose where to do my best interviews/workouts at, while at the same time working with my agent to find the best possible situation for me. We heard reports Shaedon got a promise from us, and before that heard he was just bombing interviews and/or workouts. I’m not saying he did that, I’m saying that’s what a smart agent would tell him to do.

If Shaedon shows he’s the same kind of prospect as the #1 pick from two years ago and #2 prospect from last year, we essentially got a top 3 draft talent despite buming it up in the tanking department. When Sharpe puts it all together, I’ll see a good outcome, you’ll see the “incorrect outcome”, whatever that means. Sharpe with Dame and Billups, I’ll play the odds. You can be all upset about him not playing college basketball for half a season in 8 years and hopefully I’ll be laughing in championships.

 

The only thing I hate about Sharpe not playing any college ball is I don't have any highlights to watch while waiting for summer league/the regular season. It's annoying as fuck as a fan but can't blame Sharpe for going that route.

 

I’m willing to bet we see Sharpe pop in a timeframe similar to Trent’s than Ant’s. Ant just had no way of ever being a starting SG/SF so he also had the burden of having to learn to play PG—it wasn’t until year four that people now believe he can be a CJ level kind of playmaker. Trent had the size and already had the shooting ability to be a starting SG and is an undersized SG/SF, but his toughness made up for his lack of size, so it really took him about two seasons to put it all together. Sharpe is much more talented than Trent and is the perfect size for a starting SG/SF. Sharpe could well be the worst shooter of the three, but he won’t be a liability shooting the ball. He is also a lottery pick, so Chauncey is going to have to give Sharpe more opportunities than a second rounder ever could get in a regular season.

He’s already a good slasher and makes good cuts off ball. Even if Nurk isn’t the long term answer at C, he’ll help Sharpe the same way he was able to help Harkless. Offensively, I think he has everything here to be a 20ppg scorer within three years.

 

You’re feeling my pain from the summer of Simons. But you well could be seeing the next great backcourt, where both guys can hit 40% from 3 but also have 40” verticals. So it could all be worth it. Nice thing about drafting a 19yo Sharpe the same year we give 23yo Simons an extension is we’ll be able to decide if they can be a championship backcourt heading into their next contracts together. It’s going to be weird that we could be extending them in 2026-2028 and they’ll both be younger than 28 instead of pushing 30.

Seeing Sharpe and Nas attack the rim during practice should motivate Ant to do it more often as well. It’s been so fun seeing him progress at finishing around the basket from year 2 to now. That’s the one thing that’s holding him back from being a premiere scorer. But he’s gotten so much stronger and craftier around the basket that I wish he did it more often.

With Sharpe, I’ll have to wait till SL to make any real assessments so my views on what he can be remain optimistic.

If this organization blueballs me and trades Sharpe for OG or something, I might have to take a season off from the team.

All in on a Simons/Sharpe future backcourt.

 

The direction of the Trail Blazers in the past year or so seem to have created an environment where Sharpe can become a good or great defensive player if he wants to be. He's got a coach who was a finals MVP, twice on the All Defensive second team, and who values players who give 100% on defense. CJ / Powell/ Roco were replaced by Hart and Winslow, a couple of guys that provide great models of what good defense looks like.
Habits are hard to break, including good habits. I think now is a very good time for a new Trail Blazer to develop good habits on defense. He probably won't be the workaholic that Kobe was, but I believe he'll work hard on being a good defender, and if he strays in any way, Billups will be in his ear to let him know.