Game 81: Portland vs Houston 7:00pm Root, Root+

[PDXKnight]

Feels like ant and scoot aren't gonna pair well together and between the two Scoot looks more promising

[Blazinaway]

Feels like ant and scoot aren't gonna pair well together and between the two Scoot looks more promising

agree, if we get a solid offer for Ant IMO we should move him, Grant and Thybulle as well, if Brog want to stick around as a mentoring vet (which he apparently has been good at) then maybe we keep him. I'd keep Ayton as well.

[HoopsFanAZ]

Scoot showed flashes all season of why he was the 3rd pick. Early on — pretty not good to bad, overall. He needs to work on everything — especially his shot from 3, midrange and finishing in traffic and through contact.

Is he the PGOTF?
Yes. He has the “it” factor to lead the team and the physicality, too.
Steve Nash, Jason Kidd — not ball dominant, not lead scorers, but made their teammates better running things — and seriously different games. I’d like to see some version of this from Scoot as he makes the leap in years 2 and 3.

With how badly Scoot played — being a rookie PG out of the GLeague Ignite — I have no issues with how Billups/Cronin had him developed this year. He looks significantly better, now.

[Pattycakes]

Scoot is special. That’s all I know.

[PDXKnight]

Scoot showed flashes all season of why he was the 3rd pick. Early on — pretty not good to bad, overall. He needs to work on everything — especially his shot from 3, midrange and finishing in traffic and through contact.

Is he the PGOTF?
Yes. He has the “it” factor to lead the team and the physicality, too.
Steve Nash, Jason Kidd — not ball dominant, not lead scorers, but made their teammates better running things — and seriously different games. I’d like to see some version of this from Scoot as he makes the leap in years 2 and 3.

With how badly Scoot played — being a rookie PG out of the GLeague Ignite — I have no issues with how Billups/Cronin had him developed this year. He looks significantly better, now.

I think part of why scoot played poorly is due to personnel. Ant is a very bad fit with scoot, perhaps jerami as well. It's no coincidence he's done better with the ball in his hands and being able to run the offense more himself. Obviously his ball handling needs to improve but the flashes are there enough that I think you start to consider who works well next to him and maybe who to move on from

[PDXKnight]

Feels like ant and scoot aren't gonna pair well together and between the two Scoot looks more promising

agree, if we get a solid offer for Ant IMO we should move him, Grant and Thybulle as well, if Brog want to stick around as a mentoring vet (which he apparently has been good at) then maybe we keep him. I'd keep Ayton as well.

Ayton has been good enough to take a flyer on. I'm still unsure if he's much of an "impact" big but I think indeed he's worth bringing back next year.

Grant was better at the 3 than the 4 and was obviously less of a rebounding liability there. He does seem redundant but at least seems to be less of an obstacle than ant. I think if we could get a first and get out from the contract it'd be tempting but I wouldn't pay a premium to dump him either

[Norm2953]

Feels like ant and scoot aren't gonna pair well together and between the two Scoot looks more promising

agree, if we get a solid offer for Ant IMO we should move him, Grant and Thybulle as well, if Brog want to stick around as a mentoring vet (which he apparently has been good at) then maybe we keep him. I'd keep Ayton as well.

Ayton has been good enough to take a flyer on. I'm still unsure if he's much of an "impact" big but I think indeed he's worth bringing back next year.

Grant was better at the 3 than the 4 and was obviously less of a rebounding liability there. He does seem redundant but at least seems to be less of an obstacle than ant. I think if we could get a first and get out from the contract it'd be tempting but I wouldn't pay a premium to dump him either

I think with Ayton, it depends on who they pick at 4 in the 2024 draft.

If that's Clingan and he develops into Gobert 2.0, you move Ayton and try to build a defensive minded team ala the
Magic, for have some pieces in place with Scoot developing into a good defender, Camara, Thybulle and even Grant
being solid defenders.

[BlazersBroncos]

I don’t really like Ayton but I am much more interested in moving Grant and Simons. Also think they pull a better return than Ayton, don’t see a big market for him.

Thought maybe Dallas but Gafford has been killing it and Lively has flashed a ton.

Any Ayton deal would be a salary dump and IMO it’s a better move to just keep him. I see him as slightly positive value and don’t want to dump him just to open another roster hole.

Grant should be cashed in when teams swing and miss on PG13, I think desperate teams could overpay despite his contract as he can masquerade as a 3rd star (He isn’t).

And Simon’s just isn’t a fit with Scoot who we need to keep handing the keys to. I love him as a 6th man but he is paid too much and were not good enough to hold on to a quality 6th man.

I like Grant to SAC and Simons to SAS or ORL.

Think we should keep Malcolm and Ayton, would keep RWIII since his value is so low w/ injury and probably would keep Thybulle since I don’t see a FRP return and he is a hell of a good dude for the locker room.

Grant for Barnes and a pick
Simons for filler and 2 picks

Draft Matas + Keyonte Georg + Carlton Carrington + some random euro to stash w/ ATL SRP

G - Scoot Henderson / Malcolm Brogdan / Carlton Carrington
G - Shadeon Sharpe / Danalo Banton / Malcolm Brogdan
F - Harrison Barnes / Matisse Thybulle / Keyonte George
F - Toumani Camara / Matas Buzelis / Rayan Rupert
C - DeAndre Ayton / Robert Williams III / Jabari Walker JR

Don’t care about Kris, think he is basically a scrub.

[red_power]

If Kris improves his shot to become an average shooter he'll be a decent starter for many years to come. I'd value him much higher than Rupert who is a classic example of "two-years-away-from-being-two-years" at this point.

[The Sebastian Express]

I don’t really like Ayton but I am much more interested in moving Grant and Simons. Also think they pull a better return than Ayton, don’t see a big market for him.

Thought maybe Dallas but Gafford has been killing it and Lively has flashed a ton.

Any Ayton deal would be a salary dump and IMO it’s a better move to just keep him. I see him as slightly positive value and don’t want to dump him just to open another roster hole.

Grant should be cashed in when teams swing and miss on PG13, I think desperate teams could overpay despite his contract as he can masquerade as a 3rd star (He isn’t).

And Simon’s just isn’t a fit with Scoot who we need to keep handing the keys to. I love him as a 6th man but he is paid too much and were not good enough to hold on to a quality 6th man.

I like Grant to SAC and Simons to SAS or ORL.

Think we should keep Malcolm and Ayton, would keep RWIII since his value is so low w/ injury and probably would keep Thybulle since I don’t see a FRP return and he is a hell of a good dude for the locker room.

Grant for Barnes and a pick
Simons for filler and 2 picks

Draft Matas + Keyonte Georg + Carlton Carrington + some random euro to stash w/ ATL SRP

G - Scoot Henderson / Malcolm Brogdan / Carlton Carrington
G - Shadeon Sharpe / Danalo Banton / Malcolm Brogdan
F - Harrison Barnes / Matisse Thybulle / Keyonte George
F - Toumani Camara / Matas Buzelis / Rayan Rupert
C - DeAndre Ayton / Robert Williams III / Jabari Walker JR

Don’t care about Kris, think he is basically a scrub.

I think you mean Kyshawn George based on previous conversations, because I'm pretty sure if Utah fans come in here and see Keyonte has randomly appeared on the Blazers they're going to have panic attacks.

[Shem]

Sure would have been cool to see Scoot playing this free and with confidence back in January if Billups and Cronin would have made the path for that…

What are you talking about? Chauncey is his biggest supporter. Always talking about how great he's going to be. Chauncey has more confidence in Scoot than I do.

Scoot is his biggest critic and it's Chauncey who's in his ear giving him confidence. And I know this because both people have said such things in interviews. Maybe watch a few before or after the game sometime to get an idea what is really going on.

My biggest issue right now with Scoot is that he seems to be a Westbrook 2.0. I'm just not a big fan of that type of player. It's like how a undersized shooting guard gets under Wiz's skin. Same thing here.

One thing Westbrook had going for him that Scoot doesn't is his durability. Westbrook didn't miss his first game until his 6th season. Scoot's already missed 19 games. Let's not forget that Scoot had to leave the game yesterday because his tendinitis was flaring up and his back got too stiff. So we may end up with a poor man's Westbrook who's a bit injury prone.

[Moonbeam]

I've had a lot of fun watching the last bit of the seaosn. I wish Shaedon could've been healthy. But I'm loving the progress we're seeing from Scoot when he's put in position to be -the- point guard. He's still got lots of work, stuff he acknowledged tonight.

We need him to work on his handle, his base on his shot, touch around the rim. Turnovers I don't worry about because he's a rookie point guard. Those were always going to happen.

But he's got a natural leadership and energy for his teammates, he's a great passer who's getting the ball to his guys where they need (albeit sometimes with a little too much zip it surprises them) and he doesn't seem to make excuses.

I'm also excited by the progress of Rayan. He's improved his shot, he hustles, he's got defensive instincts and ability. And he's got great size.

Even Kris has been fun to watch. His shot has been a disappointment but he's made some nice defensive plays and shows smarts.

It has been good to see big minutes for the young guns and the improvements. All of the three you mentioned have a lot to work on, but hopefully these reps will expedite their improvement.