After listening to the Highkin interview and reading the article, I don't think Scoot will mind backing up Dame. Apparently he's a student of the game who has an insatiable hunger to learn and absorb. He really looks up to Dame. I think that Scoot would obviously want to get a lot of minutes and start, but I think he would relish the opportunity to learn under Dame. I think we somehow managed to get a 19 year old Dame and he has the chance to learn from the 33 year old version. I really hope we can give them at least a year together. I think Shaedon learned a lot from Dame. I know Ant has learned a lot from Dame. I really hope that Scoot can get some time under him.
Not to just be a contrarian, but definitely see things differently. Scoot...I could see him wanting to spend preseason and maybe a month at the most playing behind Dame, but if he's the guy that we hope he is, that's it. The dude is brimming with confidence, and let's be honest, what will Dame teach him after that? Yes, there are always teachable moments, even for Dame. Other than a jump shot, I see Scoot surpassing Dame in all other areas of the game. As for Sharpe...What I saw last year, was the greatest growth at the end of the season, when he was able to play with the ball in his hands and have Chauncey get on him. With Dame, and more so Ant, he was more in a role of deferring and wishing one of them would pass him the ball. He seemed reserved until he was the guy, and then started to gain a little swagger. We'll see. I hope he's around for years to come.
I think Scoot will be fine playing behind Dame. He probably has the confidence to see himself develop to one of the best players and eventually either start alongside Dame or be the NBA 6th man of the year as when Harden got OKC to the finals. We don't need to search for a solution to a non existent problem.
There are very few NBA players who could legitimately say they deserve to start at PG if Dame is on the team. None of them are rookies.
There are/were people saying that Sharpe needs to "earn" his minutes. That's bullshit. Sharpe isn't going to improve sitting on the bench.
If (and I say IF) at some point Scoot becomes the best guard overall on the roster, he should not be coming off the bench, even if that point is reached 2 months into the season. It would be more bullshit.
I think you'd keep him coming off the bench until you trade Dame (assuming he wants traded). No reason to tank Dame's value. And if he's that good then you probably start Scoot over Sharpe. And if Sharpe's too good for that then you probably start all 3 and blow teams out because you have 3 superstar guards playing with Grant and Nurk. We'll be contenders at that point.
One year behind Dame is ok, but year two he needs to start. At least if he shows flashes of what we hope he can be. I do think spending a year under Dame's learning tree is great but any more than that could stunt his growth. And it's not really fair to him as the number three pick. I don't want him in a situation where he bolts after his rookie contract because the organization is holding him back, or whatever bitterness may arise. Unless of course he's a bust.
This video does a good job of addressing the situation. The key word for Scoot is his flexibility. He coins the term "Triple S." Scoot, Sharpe and Simons.
