Shaedon Sharpe

[Soulyss]

Simons is a Monta Ellis type, who away from Portland, will do fine. If Portland had a SF like Batum or Winslow (when healthy) to help initiate offense, he'd be able to concentrate on scoring, for he's able to score 20+ points in a quarter on a regular basis. Funny thing is Portland had last spring, Hart and Winslow to do this and its no mistake, Portland began to struggle when Winslow went down for the season in late December.

At his age, most teams would be so eager to trade him but its not his fault he's not a fit with Dame, who needs his version of Klay Thompson.

A Sharpe thread that has devolved into a Simons thread...

I think people are underestimating Simons generally. He's still flawed, but he did improve this season and is only 23. His assist to turn-over ratio is decent and he's playing SG primarily, not PG.

He's a valuable asset, but probably not an optimum fit next to Dame. His contract is very reasonable for his production, I do expect him to be traded this off-season, it's the only way Portland provides value and salary to match.

[monopoman]

Simons is a Monta Ellis type, who away from Portland, will do fine. If Portland had a SF like Batum or Winslow (when healthy) to help initiate offense, he'd be able to concentrate on scoring, for he's able to score 20+ points in a quarter on a regular basis. Funny thing is Portland had last spring, Hart and Winslow to do this and its no mistake, Portland began to struggle when Winslow went down for the season in late December.

At his age, most teams would be so eager to trade him but its not his fault he's not a fit with Dame, who needs his version of Klay Thompson.

A Sharpe thread that has devolved into a Simons thread...

I think people are underestimating Simons generally. He's still flawed, but he did improve this season and is only 23. His assist to turn-over ratio is decent and he's playing SG primarily, not PG.

He's a valuable asset, but probably not an optimum fit next to Dame. His contract is very reasonable for his production, I do expect him to be traded this off-season, it's the only way Portland provides value and salary to match.

Classic case of high expectations and he had a decent not great year, I think many were hoping for a big jump from Simons and this of course makes people underrate him more. This was supposed to be his big breakout year, and he never really did a ton to really prove that.

He is still 3 or 4 years before entering his prime though so acting like he is a complete player at this point is odd.

[Shem]

Watch on YouTube

[ArthurVandelay]

I think Sharpe has more potential than a DeRozan, now we have no idea if he will hit that level of potential until he is say 5-6 years in the league at least. For a 19 year old rookie I am blown away at how well he looks out there most of the time. If I watched footage of Sharpe and didn't know who he was or how old he was I would think he was at least a few years in the league based on most of that.

Is he still a work in progress? Of course he is, like almost all 19 year old players, but my point is he has more potential than almost every other under 20 player in the league.

Obviously his prime won't be here for likely 6-7 years at the very least, so he is a bit of a wild card until then but I think he would be far more impressive if given a bigger role on day 1 and more minutes. A way to jump start a players development is throw them into the deep end immediately like Dame. Obviously this team is trying to win games though so giving Sharpe 30+ MPG as a starter is not really viable for now but just saying that typically accelerates the process.

I’ve been a raptors fan since inception in ‘95.

I don’t really see the comparison of DeRozan and Sharpe. Both are athletic but Sharpe is so smooth and fluid. DeRozan was never like that. Also, DeRozan has never had the range Sharpe has and it took years for DeRozan to develop a handle.

The comparison I see is a young Zach laVine. LaVine was a better facilitator/passer but Sharpe was a more efficient scorer as a rookie.

If Sharpe doesn’t pick it up on the defensive side of the ball, LaVine is who I see him becoming. That is an all-star caliber player for sure (Lavine is a 2x AS), but a team isn’t winning without a very strong defensive supporting cast around LaVine. So far in his career that hasn’t happened.

[monopoman]

Most players aren't a complete defensive product at 19, with the ability to move and his ridiculous jumping ability I think he could be a very solid defender if he really focuses on that. From what I hear Chauncey was giving him a bit of a hard time when he would mess up with defensive assignments early in the year.

He has seemed to work on that as the season has gone on and since he played 0 minutes in college he was coming with a disadvantage in some aspects.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Most players aren't a complete defensive product at 19, with the ability to move and his ridiculous jumping ability I think he could be a very solid defender if he really focuses on that. From what I hear Chauncey was giving him a bit of a hard time when he would mess up with defensive assignments early in the year.

He has seemed to work on that as the season has gone on and since he played 0 minutes in college he was coming with a disadvantage in some aspects.

Yeah his defensive effort and awareness made a significant jump from the beginning to the end of the season. He is very strong and quick feet so he can defend with his body and he was making some good plays toward the end of the year.

On of my biggest issues with him early on was his passivity on defense, but in the second half of the season, and especially once we shut down everyone else and let him go after it, he was much more active making defensive plays. Which to me is a great sign, it shows he cares when asked to step up and be a team leader. A lot of young guys in that late season tanking situation could slip on defense and just focus on getting up shots but again he closed the year more active defensively than when he started which is a very encouraging sign for his mentality and approach to the game.

Not saying he is a good defender yet, just watching his effort level and body language on that side and I'm happy it trended the right direction all season.

[zzaj]

I think Sharpe has more potential than a DeRozan, now we have no idea if he will hit that level of potential until he is say 5-6 years in the league at least. For a 19 year old rookie I am blown away at how well he looks out there most of the time. If I watched footage of Sharpe and didn't know who he was or how old he was I would think he was at least a few years in the league based on most of that.

Is he still a work in progress? Of course he is, like almost all 19 year old players, but my point is he has more potential than almost every other under 20 player in the league.

Obviously his prime won't be here for likely 6-7 years at the very least, so he is a bit of a wild card until then but I think he would be far more impressive if given a bigger role on day 1 and more minutes. A way to jump start a players development is throw them into the deep end immediately like Dame. Obviously this team is trying to win games though so giving Sharpe 30+ MPG as a starter is not really viable for now but just saying that typically accelerates the process.

I’ve been a raptors fan since inception in ‘95.

I don’t really see the comparison of DeRozan and Sharpe. Both are athletic but Sharpe is so smooth and fluid. DeRozan was never like that. Also, DeRozan has never had the range Sharpe has and it took years for DeRozan to develop a handle.

The comparison I see is a young Zach laVine. LaVine was a better facilitator/passer but Sharpe was a more efficient scorer as a rookie.

If Sharpe doesn’t pick it up on the defensive side of the ball, LaVine is who I see him becoming. That is an all-star caliber player for sure (Lavine is a 2x AS), but a team isn’t winning without a very strong defensive supporting cast around LaVine. So far in his career that hasn’t happened.

My initial comparison of Sharpe and DeRozan was purely statistical at roughly the same age. Obviously it's a pretty big apples to oranges...especially given the NBA that they both came into in their respective times.

https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1=derozde01&p1yrfrom=2010&player_id2=sharpsh01&p2yrfrom=2023

EDIT: Just took a cursory look and, Lavine also was very close to Sharpe statistically as a 19 yo.

[Blazers77]

I think the most promising thing about this young man is his efficiency alongside that athleticism. 47% overall and 36% from 3 as a 19-year-old rookie is super solid. Good numbers in the 15 games he started too: 18.5 / 4.9 / 3.1 in 32.9 mpg and a .449 / .362 / .771 line. He got to the line just under 5 times a game, which for an unproven rookie is also promising. He'll learn how to get calls. Like it has been mentioned he has really good body control.

I'll stick with the homer comparisons; he reminds me of a better shooting Clyde Drexler, and I totally see the Brandon Roy likeness too, but a healthy and more athletic BRoy.

[Pattycakes]

I just see a lankier Vince carter. Shoot me

[red_power]

But BRoy could make an occasional dunk too

[GEE]

With that smooth, sorta old school game... I'm still feelin' the Julius Erving comparison, or Scottie Pippen. Surely get the local comp too with Drexler.

He's only 19, and IMO way too confident on the court for his age. What if his confidence continues grow? He could become a monster. Surely we'll have a better idea of just how good he'll be after his sophmore season, but he does seem to have a bit of that "MAMBA" mentallity, in that he seems to want to rip the heart out of his opponent by dunking on people.

[Sinobas]

He reminds me a lot of Roy as well...though a bit more athletic.

[JRoy]

I don’t see the Roy comparisons at all.

Roy played at a slower, controlled pace with a deep bag of tricks to get a good shot or find a teammate. Sharpe doesn’t look like that to me.

Sharpe can drive or shoot over the top, doesn’t have the handles, passing or post game of Roy, but he is quite a bit younger.

Did not see Roy at age 19 so can’t speak to that.

[Pattycakes]

With that smooth, sorta old school game... I'm still feelin' the Julius Erving comparison, or Scottie Pippen. Surely get the local comp too with Drexler.

He's only 19, and IMO way too confident on the court for his age. What if his confidence continues grow? He could become a monster. Surely we'll have a better idea of just how good he'll be after his sophmore season, but he does seem to have a bit of that "MAMBA" mentallity, in that he seems to want to rip the heart out of his opponent by dunking on people.

Lol I just listened to shaedons end of season interview, really puts into perspective how hilarious it is that so many of us predicted he would be worthless off his pre draft interviews. Dudes just a kid bestowed with more athleticism and bbiq than 99.9% of humans, it’s kind of awesome actually.

[JKiddy]

If it took Sharpe + 3 + filler to keep Dame would you do that? (just curious)

[JRoy]

If it took Sharpe + 3 + filler to keep Dame would you do that? (just curious)

Better be a superstar coming back. The Siakams and Bridges of the world need not apply.

[DusterBuster]

If it took Sharpe + 3 + filler to keep Dame would you do that? (just curious)

That's a very vague question without a theoretical return. Are we talking Zach LaVine or Giannis?

By in large, I'm fine moving Sharpe in a potential package for a legit star, but it just totally depends on who's coming back.

[soobias]

If it took Sharpe + 3 + filler to keep Dame would you do that? (just curious)

hell no lol
im all in for a rebuild with youngish 2 way players and if cant get that then young players on smaller contracts and shorter.
give me a rotation of 9 players that'll hustle and play hard for full 48 mins and we'll be fine..look at what miami is doing with not a lot of big names(all stars). we can have that again and be in every game like back when the baby blazers were in most every game til the end.i also dont want the ball to stick in anyone's hand for long periods of time (cj, ant at times,grant at times).
add a cpl good teaching vets to show/help out the youngish core and we're back in business imo.
btw am i missing something or is it most good teams in the last 5-6 years are built through drafting with minor tweaks here and there minus lebron's teams and butler going to a non contending team ?

[zzaj]

If it took Sharpe + 3 + filler to keep Dame would you do that? (just curious)

If you are looking for personal opinions based on being the hypothetical GM...mine would be no.

IMO, at this stage of Lillard's career and with that contract, Sharpe and #3 are going to be more important to the franchise from here on out. If it was keep Sharpe and #3 or keep Lillard, I'd wish Lillard all the best...

[DusterBuster]

If it took Sharpe + 3 + filler to keep Dame would you do that? (just curious)

If you are looking for personal opinions based on being the hypothetical GM...mine would be no.

IMO, at this stage of Lillard's career and with that contract, Sharpe and #3 are going to be more important to the franchise from here on out. If it was keep Sharpe and #3 or keep Lillard, I'd wish Lillard all the best...

I get this thought, but I've also seen wayyyyy to many times fans go crazy over a player for showing out over the last few weeks of a bad season, only for that player to not make the leaps people think will happen. Love Sharpe's potential as well, and when looking back on players who did this previously, history would seem to lead that he will not be in the group of players who flopped in year 2... but nothing is for sure. So with that, if there is a game-changing level player like an Embiid or Giannis level that in some world the Blazers have a chance at, if Sharpe needs to be in that deal, so be it.