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AaronB wrote:It's interesting that Blazer fans are so down on Scoot.

Whenever I saw Scoot play this year (not as often as I like), I liked what he was doing.

He played pretty well against the Magic this last week.

More importantly, it did not look like he was scared of the moment.

I would be bullish on Scoot long-term. I think he will be OK.

Tim Lehrbach wrote:

AaronB wrote:It's interesting that Blazer fans are so down on Scoot.

Whenever I saw Scoot play this year (not as often as I like), I liked what he was doing.

He played pretty well against the Magic this last week.

More importantly, it did not look like he was scared of the moment.

I would be bullish on Scoot long-term. I think he will be OK.

I think Scoot will be OK, too. As in, an OK player. Not an above-average one, let alone a star.

I agree with you about his attitude: he plays with confidence and tenacity, and the only reports we've gotten of his demeanor make him out to be a good teammate and a humble, hard worker. I like the guy a lot.

But the results so far have been atrocious. He can't shoot or finish inside, he has to monopolize the ball to initiate offense, and he's a turnover machine. The Blazers are dead-last in shooting, 28th in turnovers, and 29th in ORTG. His individual stats suck. His defense exhibits effort but little impact.

He's not good. He can work on the turnover economy and defense to become a respectable two-way game manager type point guard, but his scoring and playmaking show no signs of him developing into an elite point. He projects as a bench player or low-impact starter until he demonstrates otherwise.

Neither is Sharpe good. But at least you can squint and see the tools for a big jump in his game, if he works at it and gets some disciplined coaching.

AaronB wrote:

Tim Lehrbach wrote:

AaronB wrote:It's interesting that Blazer fans are so down on Scoot.

Whenever I saw Scoot play this year (not as often as I like), I liked what he was doing.

He played pretty well against the Magic this last week.

More importantly, it did not look like he was scared of the moment.

I would be bullish on Scoot long-term. I think he will be OK.

I think Scoot will be OK, too. As in, an OK player. Not an above-average one, let alone a star.

I agree with you about his attitude: he plays with confidence and tenacity, and the only reports we've gotten of his demeanor make him out to be a good teammate and a humble, hard worker. I like the guy a lot.

But the results so far have been atrocious. He can't shoot or finish inside, he has to monopolize the ball to initiate offense, and he's a turnover machine. The Blazers are dead-last in shooting, 28th in turnovers, and 29th in ORTG. His individual stats suck. His defense exhibits effort but little impact.

He's not good. He can work on the turnover economy and defense to become a respectable two-way game manager type point guard, but his scoring and playmaking show no signs of him developing into an elite point. He projects as a bench player or low-impact starter until he demonstrates otherwise.

Neither is Sharpe good. But at least you can squint and see the tools for a big jump in his game, if he works at it and gets some disciplined coaching.

I was accused of not being very sympathetic (probably true) earlier in this thread, but I would submit an example of a player that had the right attitude, but not the skills and that is Suggs. Suggs has become an outstanding player. Well above average and I don't care what people say about the stats. That guy can play.

If the attitude and the the make-up and the athletic ability are there, I think that Scoot has the opportunity to improve the way Suggs has improved. I liked what I saw attitude-wise when they played the Magic.

Waynearchetype wrote:De'aaron Fox had an equally tragic rookie campaign. Billed similarly to Scoot as quick, couldn't convert that, became a shooter. Turns out once that falls the rest opens up. Scoots FT% is 10% over Foxs rookie number.

You don't want to be in that position, but a ton of great players have had lackluster rookie campaigns and turned out alright. I think a lot of the pessimism is coming from +/- numbers which mean f all in the context of a bad team and a single season.

Rookies improve fouling, turnovers, shooting. The rest is there and I still feel like he can be a top guard one day.

Waynearchetype wrote:De'aaron Fox had an equally tragic rookie campaign. Billed similarly to Scoot as quick, couldn't convert that, became a shooter. Turns out once that falls the rest opens up. Scoots FT% is 10% over Foxs rookie number.

You don't want to be in that position, but a ton of great players have had lackluster rookie campaigns and turned out alright. I think a lot of the pessimism is coming from +/- numbers which mean f all in the context of a bad team and a single season.

Rookies improve fouling, turnovers, shooting. The rest is there and I still feel like he can be a top guard one day.

JRoy wrote:

Waynearchetype wrote:De'aaron Fox had an equally tragic rookie campaign. Billed similarly to Scoot as quick, couldn't convert that, became a shooter. Turns out once that falls the rest opens up. Scoots FT% is 10% over Foxs rookie number.

You don't want to be in that position, but a ton of great players have had lackluster rookie campaigns and turned out alright. I think a lot of the pessimism is coming from +/- numbers which mean f all in the context of a bad team and a single season.

Rookies improve fouling, turnovers, shooting. The rest is there and I still feel like he can be a top guard one day.

Fox could dribble without carrying and had real quickness.

Waynearchetype wrote:

JRoy wrote:

Waynearchetype wrote:De'aaron Fox had an equally tragic rookie campaign. Billed similarly to Scoot as quick, couldn't convert that, became a shooter. Turns out once that falls the rest opens up. Scoots FT% is 10% over Foxs rookie number.

You don't want to be in that position, but a ton of great players have had lackluster rookie campaigns and turned out alright. I think a lot of the pessimism is coming from +/- numbers which mean f all in the context of a bad team and a single season.

Rookies improve fouling, turnovers, shooting. The rest is there and I still feel like he can be a top guard one day.

Fox could dribble without carrying and had real quickness.

Fox 0-3 ft shooting was worse than Scoots. What are you on about? Dude struggled just as hard as Scoot with doing anything with his speed his rookie season (and was a year older).