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Respectable game by scoot, slightly less worried

Waynearchetype wrote:Respectable game by scoot, slightly less worried

This is literally nba fans lol. One game makes or breaks an entire career these days. I’m tryin to tell y’all to chill a little bit with our teenagers. Shaedon went from being universally despised his first 20-30 games to now being a fan favorite. Scoot will be more than fine. Once he puts it together, it will be too late for the league.

What does it even mean as a fan to say that Scoot is a bust? Are we gonna start protesting outside the Rose Garden that they made a bad pick? Are we gonna start a letter writing campaign to demand they trade Scoot? What is the action item if the entire fan base agrees that Scoot is a bust?

For me, it means I'm ok if the Blazers end up drafting another guard in 2024. If you told me the day we drafted Scoot that we are gonna draft another guard in 2024 I'd have been very angry for a wide variety of reasons. Now, I'm just sort of resigned to repeated failure.

I called it weeks ago. He's mudiay. GARBAGE franchise ran by idiots and greedy, cheap liars. Yeah, he's 19 but I don't see it. we could've gotten something pretty good for that pick but noooo. Sell the team.

For those of ya'll that may read my bs, I was on an island with very few others, entertaining the idea of what else #3 could bring other than Scoot. For instance, had I'd known how good that Lively kid is in the Big D, a trade down like some had suggested at the time would have been pretty smart..... maybe.

And even though I did not buy into all of the hype from the "Experts" on the TV, glossing Scoot pre-draft. Fact is, we drafted him and guess what... I'm actually not worried about Scoot nearly as much as many on here. I see it as both a humbling experience for the kid, and if recognized, the totally fair competetion for the starting PG position between he and Simons that I was advocating for, once we drafted Scoot. Just have him backing up both Simons and Sharpe going forward. No big whoop.

Point is, if handled correctly, Scoot should be just fine as some here have already said. He just needs some time to adjust and starting him just makes no sense IMO when you have a couple much better starting lineup options available to you. Feels like our team is still hedging a bit though on whether or not we should fire up that tank one last time. I'd be ok with that I guess since TimeLord will hopefully get near 100% healthy, and all of the other Blazer Pups will be one year older.

Maybe just let this current batch of ingredients bake for the year. Unless some other team blows us away with some amazing offer for Grant and/or Brogden, I say keep 'em. You need Vets to teach the kids, and they are a couple good ones that can help now, and possibly in the future. Brogden COULD also be great for Scoot, right? And IF, for Gods sake, Chauncey would just play Grant at the SF, with Thybulle backing him up... another problem solved IMO.........................................

Case2012 wrote:I called it weeks ago. He's mudiay. GARBAGE franchise ran by idiots and greedy, cheap liars. Yeah, he's 19 but I don't see it. we could've gotten something pretty good for that pick but noooo. Sell the team.

Jodi needs to sell and get back to the serious business of blowing her brothers fortune somewhere other than Portland.

It's only 10 games, he's started hitting 3's since coming back from injury and he's managing his TO's better. Far from an ideal start but way too early to consider Scoot a bust. Like the Suns and Ayton, whether he was your guy or not in the draft, he deserves the opportunity and the time to work out and show what kind of NBA player they are before getting anywhere near a bust label.

I don't think Scoot will be a 'bust', but I don't think that he'll be the "He'd be the #1 pick in any other draft" player that so many hyped him up to be.

Honestly, I'm more worried about Scoot being injury prone than I am about him being a 'bust'.

I watched what I could pre-draft. I called him out for having zero left hand (both at the rim and passing) and got roasted for it. For me his best asset was his burst and change of pace...which in the big scheme of things isn't that important of a skill. Now, it can be a very good building block to build around for a young player with great coaching and the right system in place--however, I don't believe for a second that that's Chauncey, Scott Brooks and the Blazer coaching staff.

I think it's safe to say everyone Blazer fans--and NBA fans are disappointed in Scoot this year. You can be damn sure it's not going like he envisioned it. I guess we look for positives and growth year after year. I'm actually glad he has some time behind a steady vet like Brogdon. There is a lot he can even learn from Mays.

For every Ja, or rose or doncic… Lillard, there’s a Flynn, mudiay, Dunn etc. It was so stupid trading prime dame when we could have gotten our picks back from Chicago and used sharpe and the 3 to build a real team, but the Vulcans are cheap greedy cowards that dgaf about Portland or the fans, so ill come back when i feel good about being able to support the team. It could be years and years before the team is in a position that we were with Dame again.

Case2012 wrote:For every Ja, or rose or doncic… Lillard, there’s a Flynn, mudiay, Dunn etc. It was so stupid trading prime dame when we could have gotten our picks back from Chicago and used sharpe and the 3 to build a real team, but the Vulcans are cheap greedy cowards that dgaf about Portland or the fans, so ill come back when i feel good about being able to support the team. It could be years and years before the team is in a position that we were with Dame again.

Dame wanted out and who was the mysterious player we could add for Sharpe + 3 that would make us a contender?

TOR wanted #3 and change for either Pascal or OG. We would still be fodder if we made that move. Guys like Joel / Giannis only are being traded if they ask out. Zion is not who we thought he was and wouldnt make us a contender. The move just wasnt there - Dame saw that and asked out.

Case2012 wrote:For every Ja, or rose or doncic… Lillard, there’s a Flynn, mudiay, Dunn etc. It was so stupid trading prime dame when we could have gotten our picks back from Chicago and used sharpe and the 3 to build a real team, but the Vulcans are cheap greedy cowards that dgaf about Portland or the fans, so ill come back when i feel good about being able to support the team. It could be years and years before the team is in a position that we were with Dame again.

All things must pass. I think learning when to let the old fade and welcome in the new is an important skill, especially in a cyclical situation like a sports team. Every 5-10 years the team will completely change over.

The era of Lillard had plenty of time to run its course, at best we might have squeezed a couple last years out of it but they wouldn't have been good and we weren't ever winning big with Dame. Holding him hostage to us, holding ourselves hostage to him, for a outcome that would never happen was increasingly futile and pointless and had reached a point where it would cause more harm than good to stick our heads in the sand about reality.

Dragging things out to the bitter end is rarely the best way to honor and value them. There are many situations in life where we can cause more harm by refusing to let go. It's like refusing to admit a relationship has run its course, both partners increasingly bitter and resentful by the end so that they cannot stomach each other. Isn't it better to learn to move on with grace?

I'm not saying it's easy, but let go of that attachment, let go of those expectations and hopes and dreams from yesteryear. The world rarely conforms to our sense of righteousness, and it will only cause us deeper and deeper personal anguish if we do not learn to go with the flow, if we try to be the rigid oak tree instead of the malleable willow.

Its an exciting new era we get to embark upon, but if you abate that excitement because of resentful feelings about how the previous era ended you are not going to be able to enjoy what is currently happening as much. You will be stuck living in the past and stuck on the failures and the lack of fulfillment. There are lessons here beyond basketball but the point is to be able to enjoy things as much as possible.

That said, regarding your feelings about Vulcan and the team ownership I 100% encourage you to speak with your wallet. I am boycotting spending any money on Blazers stuff myself as well. No jerseys, no merch, no games, not paying for any game streaming. But I can enjoy the team without spending money supporting the current garbage ownership. But then if you are actually not enjoying the little things then step away for sure, the saying absence makes the heart grow fonder is very real, sometimes we need to step away from things to get some perspective and refind the parts that made us fall in love with it in the first place. But man I personally love seeing young players grow and establish themselves so I am having a lot of fun with the lack of expectations around this squad.

To each their own and YMMV but my only advice is don't let yesterdays disappointment spoil todays fun. It will be impossible for me to look back over the Lillard era without acknowledging the teams many failures but a clean break is the best way to start healing those wounds and for no other sake than my own mental sanity the best course forward is to embrace the possibility of something new.

One thing Scoot has done very well that has gone a bit unnoticed is he has the best defensive rating of any new player that has played at least 10 games with similar minutes.

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/advanced?CF=GP*GE*10:MIN*GE*25&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&TeamID=0&dir=A&sort=DEF_RATING

So it looks like if we want a great defensive PG we might have one already, this team has looked vastly better on D this season in general and this with a young team more likely to make mistakes on that end.

How many total mins has Scoot played so far this season? There were many similar posts about Sharp last year.

Let's give Scoot time, and see what happens.

As I've written before, I've seen several of these rebuilds. It sucks but it is what it is for a small market
like Portland can never attract the free agents that Miami or LA can always get to shorten a rebuild.

I would advise not dwelling on the Lillard era. I will hope he goes and wins a ring in Milwaukee, for I
remember the angst Portland fans felt when Clyde was traded to Houston.

Dame would never win a title in Portland unless the Blazers tank attempts got them Victor in the 23
draft. Be thankful he's a member of the Bucks and can compete for that ring.

Meanwhile the latest rebuild is underway. There is talent on the 23/24 roster. If Time lord had not
gotten hurt, Portland has 4 guards who can play and could ease Scoot into the league and a pair
of bigs to compete with the league.

I think if they could add some quality front court depth in the off season, if they kept all 4 guards,
they'd have Ayton, TL and a surprising Duop Reath as their bigs and Jerami Grant as one front court
player who can start. Camara and Walker are developing young players but the team needs that
bookend player to team with Grant in order to compete.

I just hope the team earns a top 3 pick in the 2024 draft and the GSW pick is a solid mid teens pick
at the very worst. Draft one of the young forwards with length and BPA with the GSW pick. Team
could surprise as the other teams in the west that are getting older begin to fade.

Portland is farther along than their earlier rebuilds in 1979, 1994, 2002

Butter wrote:How many total mins has Scoot played so far this season? There were many similar posts about Sharp last year.

Let's give Scoot time, and see what happens.

The minutes may have been similar but Sharpes athleticism was immediately obvious as a great tool.

Scoot hasn’t shown any great tools, and few average ones.

It's not too early to worry, but it is too early to draw any conclusions. This is life of a lottery team, picks don't always work out the way you hope.

It is far FAR too early, making this pretty embarrassing. But also, "just" Fox? If Scoot is averaging 30/6/5 with 1.5 steals, that's an amazing pick. And easily the best PG in this draft.

Just another reminder that CJ and Simons were unplayable in their rookie seasons. Most g-league players don't go from being a g-league all-star to an NBA all-star, especially as a rookie. And most 19 year olds need development.

The Sebastian Express wrote:So you expected the guy who we knew wasn't a shooter but needed to develop one to develop a shot nine games into his rookie season?

What I see is a young kid with great passing ability and change of pace who defers to his older teammates a significant deal. A lot of energy and hard worker on the court who needs to continue to work on his shot and touch around the rim. All which are fixable because his mechanics aren't broken, especially in the catch and shoot.

I could not have said it better.
The only thing I would add is that I'm glad none of these doomsdayers are our GM. GM for GSW, OKC, LAL, LAC? Absolutely! Making personnel decisions for my team? Hell no!