POLL: Starting Back Court (during Shaedons injury)

[Butter]

Who are the Blazers starting guards while Shaedon is out?

The front office has created a lose / lose situation. Capture the Flagg, but also improve the trade value of veterans for potential trades. Complicating everything, Chauncey is coaching for his next job and has ZERO motivation to lose.

Ant is the Blazers longest tenured player, team leader, AND they need to increase his trade value. Can he stay healthy?

Scoot, #3 pick, shown signs of life in the last two preseason games, needs PT. Is he ready for NBA PGs?

Camara, just has the glue guy "IT" factor, perimeter shot (improving?), defense and rebounding a plus.

Tice, helps balance out Ant as a plus help defender, veteran presence, is he healthy?

[tester551]

I like Camara and think he ought to be starting...

But in this type of lineup with Camara, Deni, Grant, and Ayton -> One can argue that GRANT is the SG, at least offensively.

[Wizenheimer]

it's a season for experiments.

The Blazers have experimented with Simons, Grant & Ayton starting together and it's predictable offense and crappy defense. Last season, by far the worst 2-man combo Portland trotted out was Scoot+Ant

I'd like to see the experiment of a starting lineup of

Scoot
Deni
Grant
Camara
Clingan

but I know Chauncey doesn't have the cajones to do that.

[Dame Lizard]

it's a season for experiments.

The Blazers have experimented with Simons, Grant & Ayton starting together and it's predictable offense and crappy defense. Last season, by far the worst 2-man combo Portland trotted out was Scoot+Ant

I'd like to see the experiment of a starting lineup of

Scoot
Deni
Grant
Camara
Clingan

but I know Chauncey doesn't have the cajones to do that.

Agree.

While Scoot might look bad today, I'm all for giving him the chance to prove something. Worst case is that he's just simply a poor offensive player and we can consider drafting a PG in the 2025 draft if they are BPA.

[Butter]

I REALLY want to see Scoot take the big leap, but it's just not there yet. Hopefully he grows into his pre draft hype sooner than later. In the meantime, I think the Blazers short term and long terms goals benefit most from Ant / Camara starting back court.

Ant 18 / Scoot 30 / Banton 0
Camara 30 / Ant 18 / Rupert 0
Avdija 38 / Murray 10
Grant 35 / Reap 8 / Walker 5
Ayton 32 / Clingan 16

[Wizenheimer]

I REALLY want to see Scoot take the big leap, but it's just not there yet. Hopefully he grows into his pre draft hype sooner than later. In the meantime, I think the Blazers short term and long terms goals benefit most from Ant / Camara starting back court.

Ant 18 / Scoot 30 / Banton 0
Camara 30 / Ant 18 / Rupert 0
Avdija 38 / Murray 10
Grant 35 / Reap 8 / Walker 5
Ayton 32 / Clingan 16

any rotation that gives Simons 36 minutes is a game I'll not watch

[m0ng0]

I REALLY want to see Scoot take the big leap, but it's just not there yet. Hopefully he grows into his pre draft hype sooner than later. In the meantime, I think the Blazers short term and long terms goals benefit most from Ant / Camara starting back court.

Ant 18 / Scoot 30 / Banton 0
Camara 30 / Ant 18 / Rupert 0
Avdija 38 / Murray 10
Grant 35 / Reap 8 / Walker 5
Ayton 32 / Clingan 16

any rotation that gives Simons 36 minutes is a game I'll not watch

***BREAKING NEWS***

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Scoot still is not ready to start. Let him prove he can keep the offense running smoothly from the bench. I just don't see any way I want to play Ant and Scoot big minutes together, their rotations can overlap a bit sure but I would stay away from it too much.

Ant is still probably the point guard but Deni is a point forward, so I'm fine seeing if those two can make it work. We have been wanting a guy like that next to Ant for a while so want to see if they can fit well enough. If they can that allows us to have a ton of size in the lineup, as long as there is enough shooting to space the floor.

I also don't think of Thybulle (wing) or Camara (forward) as guards at all. They don't really do much ball handing or creation, Deni is way more like a guard from a skill point of view. But maybe that is splitting hairs, positions are kind of meaningless these days.

Once Sharpe is back then he is the most natural off guard obviously but man I really like having Camaras defense in the starting unit and don't want to take Deni out either so we might have some tough decisions to make. Sharpe is gonna have to come back looking good if he wants a starting spot back, lots of hungry young players on this roster.

Ayton better be watching his back too. Clingan looks hungry and ready, hard to keep a guy that rebounds, defends, block shots, passes and even gets a couple 3's up off the court and Clingan is already doing those things at a similar level (if not better in some cases) to his more experienced teammate. Hopefully the competition makes Ayton step up but hard to tell with his personality.

[BlazersBroncos]

I REALLY want to see Scoot take the big leap, but it's just not there yet. Hopefully he grows into his pre draft hype sooner than later. In the meantime, I think the Blazers short term and long terms goals benefit most from Ant / Camara starting back court.

Ant 18 / Scoot 30 / Banton 0
Camara 30 / Ant 18 / Rupert 0
Avdija 38 / Murray 10
Grant 35 / Reap 8 / Walker 5
Ayton 32 / Clingan 16

I really hope we do a minute split with Ayton / Clingan. Donovan needs to play. He elevates the defense and has made a few passes just in preseason that were better than anything I have ever seen Ayton make in years.


The nice preseason play of guys like Clingan, Camara and to a lesser extent Rayan, Kris and Walker is frustrating on a level because we have a whole roster basically of well paid vets ahead of them.

[BlazersBroncos]

Re Demi vs Canada at SG. I personally think guys should be listed by the position the guard. In that case I see Camara as a SG.

I wish I could snap my fingers and the vets could just turn into picks and we could roll with this -

G - Scoot Henderson / Dalano Banton
G - Shadeon Sharpe / Rayan Rupert
F - Toumari Camara / Rayan Rupert
F - Demi Avdija / Kris Murray
C - Donovan Clingan / Duop Reath

[mighty_duck]

I loved the starting lineup in the last preseason game vs the Jazz. Ant/Camara/Deni/Grant/Klingon
Great balance of offense and defense, youth and vets. Secondary playmaking make up for Ant's deficiencies there, while Ant's abilities to make plays for himself makes up for the groups lack of punch

[Tim Lehrbach]

Re Demi vs Canada at SG. I personally think guys should be listed by the position the guard. In that case I see Camara as a SG.

I wish I could snap my fingers and the vets could just turn into picks and we could roll with this -

G - Scoot Henderson / Dalano Banton
G - Shadeon Sharpe / Rayan Rupert
F - Toumari Camara / Rayan Rupert
F - Demi Avdija / Kris Murray
C - Donovan Clingan / Duop Reath

That team wins 10 games, but I suppose that's a feature and not a bug.

[Walton1one]

It should be Camara, that should be a no-brainer.

Scoot SHOULD be starting, however, he and Simons don't fit well together AT ALL. So Simons will start, Scoot will come off the bench, play with our bench scrubs, likely struggle & look pedestrian for stretches of the year and the "Bust a Scoot" crowd will be out in full force, bashing a 20yr old kid, while singing the praises of "Deep Discount Dame", ala Simons, who provides NOTHING to a non playoff team like POR

All the while, media & fans conveniently forgetting\ignoring? that in recent memory there has only been (2) PG who have excelled at 19/20yr old in the NBA out the gate (Trae Young (19) & Ja Morant(20)), but since Scoot didn't perform like they did, he must be a bust, right? and of course, let's ignore that Scoot's 1yr stats are not that off from DeAaron Fox\Darius Garland, who both turned out all right, but of course, their teams didn't saddle them playing next to other players who could not shoot from 3pt range to save their lives, leaving Scoot with nothing when he kicked the ball out to them on the perimeter after a drive.

Lastly, nevermind that POR mgmt has done NOTHING to help him succeed. Placing him next to a high usage. undersized SG, moonlighting as a PG, who needs the ball in his hands ALL THE TIME and has a 29% usage rate, add that to Grant (26%) & Ayton (21%), doesn't leave much left for anyone else. Combine that with the WORST shooting team in the entire NBA, a team that had ZERO spacing and HORRIBLE screen setting and it is just a wonder how Scoot struggled.

So yay, another year of watching Simons score a crapload one night (and lose), play like crap the next (and lose) while Scoot continues to struggle and is still coming off the bench, because that is what good teams do with #3 picks, right? Make them earn it? lol, why even DRAFT him at #3 then? They should have traded the pick for the next Larry Nance Jr\Jerami Grant\middling vet and kept the Dame\POR, "Can they make the play-in? ", hamster wheel going. But this is what bad organizations do.

[Pattycakes]

It needs to be

Scoot
Ant
Tou
Deni
DA

In today’s nba.

Benching scoot is a god awful decision to face.

[m0ng0]

What happens if Camara plays really well? What do we do with Sharpe? Is Sharpe a lock to start when he returns?

[Norm2953]

It does look like Scoot is one of those guys who needs to start

Camara could start opposite of Scoot but a line up of Scoot, Camara, Deni, Grant and Ayton
only leads to a lot of shots for Ayton/Grant

The best line up would be Scoot, Camara, Deni, Grant and Clingan, especially defensively with
a lot of length but spacing on offense would be difficult.

[Butter]

What happens if Camara plays really well? What do we do with Sharpe? Is Sharpe a lock to start when he returns?

Trade Grant, slide Deni to the 4, and Camara to the 3

[JRoy]

Scoot and Simons at the same time = must miss tv.

[GEE]

I voted Ant & Thybulle.

Ant is a no brainer to me until Scoot earns that role, if he ever does. Thybulle is like Bruce Bowen to me. He didn't score alot, but he was a lock down defender and a key piece to the Spurs championship runs. But I'm speaking to those who think of Dame as the greatest Blazer ever and a top 75 players of all time, which is absolutely laughable to me.

Backups in Scoot, Sharpe, Camara(or Thybulle), TL and ClingOn is a scary good 6-10 IMO, and if we play 100 miles an hour like we are seeing them do, other teams will not be looking forward to playing us.

Lastly.... Has everyone here forgotten that we were TANKING the last two seasons. Why are stats during that period important?

[JRoy]

It should be Camara, that should be a no-brainer.

Scoot SHOULD be starting, however, he and Simons don't fit well together AT ALL. So Simons will start, Scoot will come off the bench, play with our bench scrubs, likely struggle & look pedestrian for stretches of the year and the "Bust a Scoot" crowd will be out in full force, bashing a 20yr old kid, while singing the praises of "Deep Discount Dame", ala Simons, who provides NOTHING to a non playoff team like POR

All the while, media & fans conveniently forgetting\ignoring? that in recent memory there has only been (2) PG who have excelled at 19/20yr old in the NBA out the gate (Trae Young (19) & Ja Morant(20)), but since Scoot didn't perform like they did, he must be a bust, right? and of course, let's ignore that Scoot's 1yr stats are not that off from DeAaron Fox\Darius Garland, who both turned out all right, but of course, their teams didn't saddle them playing next to other players who could not shoot from 3pt range to save their lives, leaving Scoot with nothing when he kicked the ball out to them on the perimeter after a drive.

Lastly, nevermind that POR mgmt has done NOTHING to help him succeed. Placing him next to a high usage. undersized SG, moonlighting as a PG, who needs the ball in his hands ALL THE TIME and has a 29% usage rate, add that to Grant (26%) & Ayton (21%), doesn't leave much left for anyone else. Combine that with the WORST shooting team in the entire NBA, a team that had ZERO spacing and HORRIBLE screen setting and it is just a wonder how Scoot struggled.

So yay, another year of watching Simons score a crapload one night (and lose), play like crap the next (and lose) while Scoot continues to struggle and is still coming off the bench, because that is what good teams do with #3 picks, right? Make them earn it? lol, why even DRAFT him at #3 then? They should have traded the pick for the next Larry Nance Jr\Jerami Grant\middling vet and kept the Dame\POR, "Can they make the play-in? ", hamster wheel going. But this is what bad organizations do.

What guard does fit well with Simons?

He needs someone to play defense for him, be a knock down shooter himself and spoon feed him open shots.

Simons is the problem.