I think I’m done with Scoot

[zzaj]

Jakukionis is a really talented and poised combo-guard who looks to have the desired qualities of a PG and SG. Really high BBIQ kid. Hard to see him failing.

Ya he has special BBIQ and enough athleticism.

42% from 3 - 86% from FT (On nearly 6 per game).

On offense he is close to the total package - can score efficiently from all 3 levels, passes when he should pass, shoots when he should shoot, range, gets to the line, etc. Basically only lacking elite athleticism (And if he had this, he would be #1 over Flagg IMO).

He is also SO QUICK to make decisions with the ball. For a guy to put up these stats from scoring to passing while posting a 24 USG - thats a big sign of a quick processor. No dribble-dribble-dribble, just pure processing.

Not sure where he fits defensively on the next level but just from his college metrics he is posting an elite DWS/40 (.111), DRTG (92.0), and DBPM (4.7).

I have him 3 after Flagg and Harper. I think he would be the easy #1 pick in the past draft, and would rate him as a prospect as better than anyone in 2023 outside Wemby. Kid is a stud. IMO this is quickly becoming a 3-player draft re blue chips.

Demin is nice but I am not sold on the shot, nor do I think he is actually 6'9.

Ace is a 'looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane' guy IMO (His advanced metrics are ugly and he passes about as well as Hassan Whiteside).

The biggest current weakness in his game is a rather high turnover rate. His decision making seems to be fine (aside from some risky/careless passes sometimes) - he rather struggles with ball security against guys who can really put pressure on the point of attack. That seems like the main area he should work on right now. He's really crafty though and can drive both right & left and is completely ambidextrous finishing around the rim. Court vision is elite too.

These kinds of passes are exactly why his TO rate is high. Instead of the easy pass, his instinct is to make the more difficult (especially for the receiver) and unprotected pass.

Fun as hell to watch though, a la White Chocolate.

[Tim Lehrbach]

19 minutes, 0 points, 4 turnovers.

[zzaj]

19 minutes, 0 points, 4 turnovers.

I'd trade him for the rights to Jeremiah Fears right now.

[Walton1one]

Not good feedback for Scoot

https://www.theringer.com/2025/01/06/nba/least-improved-players-tyrese-haliburton-jalen-green

It’s hard to be the most disappointing player in your draft class two years in a row. But despite expectations taking a downward turn after his abysmal rookie season, Henderson has somehow done it. He isn’t worse, per se, but it’s hard to go lower when you’re already in the basement. In his rookie season, Scoot committed more turnovers per 100 possessions than anybody else and had the lowest true shooting percentage among all qualified players. His jumper is still so broken that there was one play earlier this season in which he caught a pass with less than two seconds on the shot clock and the nearest defenders still decided to close out on his teammate:

Scoot has been on the court for just eight final buzzers this season. Last Thursday’s loss against the Lakers was the first time he played the entire fourth quarter. He’s still young, and there’s still quite a bit of time before Portland has to make a real financial decision about Henderson’s future. But the Dennis Smith Jr. vibes are starting to swell. Once upon a time, he was a can’t-miss prospect who accelerated Damian Lillard’s exit from Portland. And if he can’t space the floor or be trusted with the ball in his hands, it will be hard for Chauncey Billups to play him with other members of Portland’s core, knowing their development will be affected by the strain Henderson’s flaws put them through.

I agree, he is struggling mightily. Where I disagree is no matter how much he sucks, you get him out there to see if he can figure it out. This is why firing Billups, going the interim coach route sooner rather than later is the way forward. as long as Billups is the coach and Simons is on the team, he will revert to playing Anfernee as many minutes as he can, all to the detriment of Scoot's development and to the team's ability to accurately asses whether or not they need to move on or not.

[DusterBuster]

Not good feedback for Scoot

https://www.theringer.com/2025/01/06/nba/least-improved-players-tyrese-haliburton-jalen-green

It’s hard to be the most disappointing player in your draft class two years in a row. But despite expectations taking a downward turn after his abysmal rookie season, Henderson has somehow done it. He isn’t worse, per se, but it’s hard to go lower when you’re already in the basement. In his rookie season, Scoot committed more turnovers per 100 possessions than anybody else and had the lowest true shooting percentage among all qualified players. His jumper is still so broken that there was one play earlier this season in which he caught a pass with less than two seconds on the shot clock and the nearest defenders still decided to close out on his teammate:

Scoot has been on the court for just eight final buzzers this season. Last Thursday’s loss against the Lakers was the first time he played the entire fourth quarter. He’s still young, and there’s still quite a bit of time before Portland has to make a real financial decision about Henderson’s future. But the Dennis Smith Jr. vibes are starting to swell. Once upon a time, he was a can’t-miss prospect who accelerated Damian Lillard’s exit from Portland. And if he can’t space the floor or be trusted with the ball in his hands, it will be hard for Chauncey Billups to play him with other members of Portland’s core, knowing their development will be affected by the strain Henderson’s flaws put them through.

I agree, he is struggling mightily. Where I disagree is no matter how much he sucks, you get him out there to see if he can figure it out. This is why firing Billups, going the interim coach route sooner rather than later is the way forward. as long as Billups is the coach and Simons is on the team, he will revert to playing Anfernee as many minutes as he can, all to the detriment of Scoot's development and to the team's ability to accurately asses whether or not they need to move on or not.

1000000000%

I don't care if I could have less turnovers than him in a game, play him. Start him, give him 30+ a game, let him have 10+ TOs for multiple games in a row and set some bad NBA records...

I. Don't. Care.

Just give me a definitive, no questions about it, answer on if he can be a player in this league or not. If he can't, I'm fine with that being the answer, but it shouldn't be a lingering question if he was a bust due to a bad situation.

[zzaj]

I still think the jury is out on Scoot...he's still 20 years old and has never really played organized basketball.

That last 6 game stretch he averaged 13.5/3/6 with 2 steals, almost 3:1 ATO, and shooting 40% from 3...in about 27 minutes.

To say that he's not shown more this season than last season is simply ignorant.

Will he ever become more than a starting level PG on a team? Nobody knows. Will he play up to his expectations at that number 3 pick? Probably not. Is the window for him being a franchise-level player widening? Definitely not.

But he's shown enough to warrant more playing time at the very least. He's had enough game reps now that he likely won't be overwhelmed by the experience of more minutes, as he was in his first year.

[BlazersBroncos]

Scoots good 6 game stretch is the best of the season. For the most part he has sucked, and made no consistent improvements over his rookie season.

He needs to start, we need to see 100% who he is. The upcoming draft has some real talent at guard.

[DusterBuster]

Scoots good 6 game stretch is the best of the season. For the most part he has sucked, and made no consistent improvements over his rookie season.

He needs to start, we need to see 100% who he is. The upcoming draft has some real talent at guard.

Listened to 1080 this afternoon because I wanted to here someones perspective who thinks the Blazers and Billups' current stance is actually correct. Marang gave that perspective. He's obviously paid by the team, close with Billups and Simons... so I would expect him to take their side vs the development of Scoot.

The stance he has (which I'm assuming is probably what he's hearing privately from Billups) is that if you play and start Scoot and let him keep making these mistakes, he's going to harm the development of Sharpe, Deni, Camara, Clingan and any other young player who he's playing with. Because he's such a liability on the floor, it's going to trickle down to the other players.

He then mentioned what he and some scouts see as problems for Scoot is his footwork is awful, he has no plan with where he wants to go (which is unquestionably true and accurate) when he starts a drive. His footwork isn't consistent on shots or playmaking when you compare it to the likes of Dame or Ant. Again, fully agree and is a problem. Marang then goes on to say Sharpe had that same issue but you see it starting to get a lot better....

And that's where Marang's take is lost on me.

Why is Sharpe's footwork getting better? Because he's been starting and playing 30 minutes a game for the past few seasons!

It's almost like playing consistent minutes results in player improvement... what a f-ing shocker.

While I can understand the point he was trying to make, it's completely undercut when you consider the fact that he has never been given a chance to play through mistakes and improve. Marang cited that they did start Scoot at the beginning of his career... but again, that was like 4 **** games before he got injured and then they never gave him another real shot outside of post-deadline garbage time.

Given Marang's closeness to the franchise and how he's speaking, I'm pretty pessimistic on the franchise ever giving him a real shot to develop. I wouldn't be surprised if Scoot's reps ask for him to be moved this summer tbh.

[m0ng0]

He's gotta kinda earn it doesn’t he?

[zzaj]

Scoots good 6 game stretch is the best of the season. For the most part he has sucked, and made no consistent improvements over his rookie season.

He needs to start, we need to see 100% who he is. The upcoming draft has some real talent at guard.

Listened to 1080 this afternoon because I wanted to here someones perspective who thinks the Blazers and Billups' current stance is actually correct. Marang gave that perspective. He's obviously paid by the team, close with Billups and Simons... so I would expect him to take their side vs the development of Scoot.

The stance he has (which I'm assuming is probably what he's hearing privately from Billups) is that if you play and start Scoot and let him keep making these mistakes, he's going to harm the development of Sharpe, Deni, Camara, Clingan and any other young player who he's playing with. Because he's such a liability on the floor, it's going to trickle down to the other players.

He then mentioned what he and some scouts see as problems for Scoot is his footwork is awful, he has no plan with where he wants to go (which is unquestionably true and accurate) when he starts a drive. His footwork isn't consistent on shots or playmaking when you compare it to the likes of Dame or Ant. Again, fully agree and is a problem. Marang then goes on to say Sharpe had that same issue but you see it starting to get a lot better....

And that's where Marang's take is lost on me.

Why is Sharpe's footwork getting better? Because he's been starting and playing 30 minutes a game for the past few seasons!

It's almost like playing consistent minutes results in player improvement... what a f-ing shocker.

While I can understand the point he was trying to make, it's completely undercut when you consider the fact that he has never been given a chance to play through mistakes and improve. Marang cited that they did start Scoot at the beginning of his career... but again, that was like 4 **** games before he got injured and then they never gave him another real shot outside of post-deadline garbage time.

Given Marang's closeness to the franchise and how he's speaking, I'm pretty pessimistic on the franchise ever giving him a real shot to develop. I wouldn't be surprised if Scoot's reps ask for him to be moved this summer tbh.

Mike Richmond mentioned that he had a conversation with Scoot, and Scoot told him he's much more comfortable with a less organized offense. (which tracks since he's never really played in a high level one).

Watching the Blazer treatment of Scoot, I get the feeling that they are trying to limit his areas of focus and get him more structured minutes to work on adding all of the "run an offense" to his game. In theory I agree with that idea. Certainly a 1 position player that happens to play PG will need to be able to run a half court set in the NBA, and Scoot has basically EVERYTHING to work on...limiting his focus to only a few areas makes some sense for a 20 year old brain. However, at this stage of Scoot's career/experience level, I don't think that extending Simons' minutes at the cost of Scoot on-court minutes is beneficial for Scoot.

[JasonStern]

19 minutes, 0 points, 4 turnovers.

Wizenheimer constantly points out that an assist to turnover ratio of 4:0 is really good.
(Re-reads)
Well, bodes well for the Rip City Remix.

Edit: Misread that. Merged two games in my head. But the point of needing at least a 2:1 - ideally much higher than that - assist to turnover ratio still remains relevant. And that's concerning, as it means my "Ricky Rubio 2.0" label might not pan out. And that seemed like a reasonable goal for a #3 pick. Confusing things is that he puts up good games. Then, he just... stops. Slow to make decisions. Not sure if he's overthinking things, confidence issues, high, or what. While he has the build to be a Westbrook type PG, he doesn't have or at least exhibit the freak athleticism that would let you get away with some of these issues.

Still rooting for him, but with more cautious optimism and realistic expectations than when he was first drafted.

[zzaj]

Yeah, I'm giving him another year to turn into a starting level PG...but I think there's realistically ZERO chance he is able to go beyond that. I have a very hard time seeing a starting role for him on a good team in an NBA where pass-first PGs are mostly a thing of the past.

Scoot has some passing chops, but even as a 20 yr old he's just soo far away in terms of shooting consistency, touch around the basket, and overall "feel" for the game. The same quick decisions he makes occasionally which lead to good lobs are offset by dribbles into traffic on broken plays. He can't run halfcourt sets, he's got zero intangibles playing a position where intangibles matter, and he looks completely lost without the ball in his hands. He looks exactly like the rec ball guy playing organized basketball.

His favorite players to watch are Donovan Mitchell and Jaylen Brown (besides himself, according to him). Let's hope someday he gains HALF the offensive firepower and game "feel" as either of those players.

[DusterBuster]

I can't stand Danny Marang's personality, but given his proximity to the team and people within the organization, when he makes comments he is usually talking with some sense of knowledge of the teams thinking...

I say that to bring up a small comment he made on his radio show this afternoon when they were recapping the game last night...

Dusty: You got contributions from all the guys that will be here long-term; Scoot, Shae, Deni.
Danny: I don't know if Scoot will be here long-term... Uuummmm... but...

Nothing more was expanded on that comment or circled back to.

[Walton1one]

Scoot is just a different sort of dude, lol

There were positives, chief among them Scoot Henderson’s career night. If you want to know what kind of night he had, the sixth of his made three-pointers to start the game bounced off the front of the rim and then went in, the kind of roll much better shooters than him usually get.

“At that point, I’m just like, ‘Oh, my goodness,’” Henderson said. “I turned around like, ‘OK, that’s what type of time the ball is on.’ You’ve got to talk to her nice, man, so I did.”

[Skybox]

He sucks, get rid of him. Cut your losses

ORL sends: Cole Anthony (one more year at $13.1m, then TO), Moe Wagner (TO for $11m, injured), Jett Howard, lower valued of DEN 25/ORL 25 frp

POR sends: Scoot, Time Lord

Moe is actually interesting as a big who is an excellent offensive player...he could ultimately play next to Clingan, if POR opted to keep him. His knee injury likely keeps him out into next season, so I presume the $$$ savings would be the incentive. Cole is built for the 3rd guard off the bench and is the BEST teammate in the league. ORL would miss him, but business is business. Howard is the prospect that I think gets POR's attention. A late frp helps POR stomach the misstep of Scoot (because he sucks )

For ORL: Scoot slides into a second unit without the pressure of his draft position haunting him. Ironically, he is paired with Anthony Black, who is very good but not much of a PG (yet?). Time Lord fills the gaps in our injury-decimated frontcourt and brings the rim protection Mosley longs for (other than his other minutes-restricted defensive freak, Isaac). Scoot's goal is to run the other team out of the gym after they've been pre-exhausted by KCP & Suggs' nightmarish defense. ORL really needs a shooter, but Scoot's upside is still tantalizing as a playmaker and rim-punisher. The other guys who ARE supposed to be shooters just need to shoot better.

[PDXKnight]

Scoot has been so bipolar this year

[BlazersBroncos]

He sucks, get rid of him. Cut your losses

ORL sends: Cole Anthony (one more year at $13.1m, then TO), Moe Wagner (TO for $11m, injured), Jett Howard, lower valued of DEN 25/ORL 25 frp

POR sends: Scoot, Time Lord

Moe is actually interesting as a big who is an excellent offensive player...he could ultimately play next to Clingan, if POR opted to keep him. His knee injury likely keeps him out into next season, so I presume the $$$ savings would be the incentive. Cole is built for the 3rd guard off the bench and is the BEST teammate in the league. ORL would miss him, but business is business. Howard is the prospect that I think gets POR's attention. A late frp helps POR stomach the misstep of Scoot (because he sucks )

For ORL: Scoot slides into a second unit without the pressure of his draft position haunting him. Ironically, he is paired with Anthony Black, who is very good but not much of a PG (yet?). Time Lord fills the gaps in our injury-decimated frontcourt and brings the rim protection Mosley longs for (other than his other minutes-restricted defensive freak, Isaac). Scoot's goal is to run the other team out of the gym after they've been pre-exhausted by KCP & Suggs' nightmarish defense. ORL really needs a shooter, but Scoot's upside is still tantalizing as a playmaker and rim-punisher. The other guys who ARE supposed to be shooters just need to shoot better.

PDX isnt ready to cut bait with Scoot IMO. I certainly am not high on him, but for the love of god we need to be in a position where we have seen him start for 40+ games before cutting our losses.

[Butter]

He sucks, get rid of him. Cut your losses

ORL sends: Cole Anthony (one more year at $13.1m, then TO), Moe Wagner (TO for $11m, injured), Jett Howard, lower valued of DEN 25/ORL 25 frp

POR sends: Scoot, Time Lord

Moe is actually interesting as a big who is an excellent offensive player...he could ultimately play next to Clingan, if POR opted to keep him. His knee injury likely keeps him out into next season, so I presume the $$$ savings would be the incentive. Cole is built for the 3rd guard off the bench and is the BEST teammate in the league. ORL would miss him, but business is business. Howard is the prospect that I think gets POR's attention. A late frp helps POR stomach the misstep of Scoot (because he sucks )

For ORL: Scoot slides into a second unit without the pressure of his draft position haunting him. Ironically, he is paired with Anthony Black, who is very good but not much of a PG (yet?). Time Lord fills the gaps in our injury-decimated frontcourt and brings the rim protection Mosley longs for (other than his other minutes-restricted defensive freak, Isaac). Scoot's goal is to run the other team out of the gym after they've been pre-exhausted by KCP & Suggs' nightmarish defense. ORL really needs a shooter, but Scoot's upside is still tantalizing as a playmaker and rim-punisher. The other guys who ARE supposed to be shooters just need to shoot better.

The Blazers need to trade Simons and give Scoot the reigns for the rest of the season. If you're willing to throw in Mo Wagner, let's get the Simons deal done.

[Braggins]

In his last 15 games hes averaging 13.9/3.0/5.4/1.4 on 45.0%/41.2%/76.2% shooting in 27.6 mpg.

[Blazinaway]

In his last 15 games hes averaging 13.9/3.0/5.4/1.4 on 45.0%/41.2%/76.2% shooting in 27.6 mpg.

another nice half, I really hope he has turned the corner, please don't disappoint me again