Is Scoot a bust?

[UcanUwill]

He's at the point where he needs to worry about just staying in the league.

To me, this looks like a guy who might go overseas for a few years, and maybe returns better after that. Anthony Parker situation, I do not see him becoming good otherwise for some reason.
Right now he would probably stuggle to get Euroleague minutes tho, that Mudiay comp is killer, my favorite Euroleague team signed MUdiay straight out of the NBA, and he was terrible, didn't even make full season before being bought out, waved basically.

[doogie_hauser]

Probably needs to play for a different coach and or team (probably both)

[bkkrh]

It's too early to definitely say, but until now he definitely looks like one. Think the most concerning part are the turnovers. Really not a good sign if you are getting on a regular basis the same amount of turnovers or even more turnovers than assists as a Point Guard.

[Roy The Natural]

I agree, Scoot is looking a lot like Mudiay, who also came into the league physically strong but never developed the skills necessary to stick. There is still time for him to make a solid career, he isn't lazy but it remains to be seen how far he can improve because he has a ton of areas that need improvement.

I do disagree with the notion that he is a small guard. He has good size and strength for the PG position. 6'3 and 200+ lbs is not small and he has solid length. Of course that is saying very little considering he cannot figure out how to finish even with his physical gifts. It may even be worse because its not like he is over matched by more older more mature players and needs some time for his body to catch up. So I get that it's kind of a pointless hill to stand on, I just don't think he is particularly small for a PG.

But of course if he isn't able to cut it as a lead guard he has absolutely nothing else to fall back on. I wouldn't consider the Blazers PG position solved at all, if BPA in the draft next year is another pure point guard then I'll take them without much hesitation.

One thing that Scoot at least has over Mudiay is he's a waaaaayyyy better ball handler. He can still generally get around the court and penetrate just fine. Mudiay has no hope. Scoot has a glimmer.

Scoot just has absolutely no way to score effectively right now. He can't finish.. has terrible footwork when trying to finish... and can't really shoot either. He's a good ball-handler though, and is a good passer. If he can ever figure out how to finish or shoot... he's be pretty good... but you can't be a PG guard in the modern NBA and not score and expect to be good.

Mudiay would be a REALLY low end outcome. He could end up more akin to Marcus Smart at some point as well... he's got the tools to be a really good defender.

[Roy The Natural]

He is an average nba athlete and a very poor shooter with a mediocre handle and poor finishing ability. Not a recipe for success. But he still has time. Some guys take several years to develop

The hope for all of these lotto PGs who look like busts early on is always Chauncey, but most of them wind up being more like Antonio Daniels (taken right after Chauncey).

There's a lot more cases than that.

That's a completely extreme one. But a ton of guards struggle early. It used to be the default.

It's not looking great for Scoot. But I don't think he's out of the league levels of bad. He might need to repurpose himself as a defense first guy a la Marcus Smart. He's going to need to take big leaps offensively to do anything on that end. I'm more worried about the fact that he can't stay healthy at this point.

[SweaterBae]

Scoot has shown very moderate improvement, like on the order of sucking 5-10% less this year, but he still seems like whatever the opposite of "a natural" is. Despite his assists, the offense is very dribble heavy when he's in the game, and as we've all said many times, he is a terrible shooter and finisher. If he played defense and didn't foul and turn the ball over at a terrible rate he'd have the makings of a solid backup PG if he continued to develop.

He sucks.

[Lo Wang]

Im not sure what he does well and his athleticism doesnt standout on a basketball court. I know its still early but man he doesnt look good

The athleticism thing is the thing that just leaves me shaking my head, because it seems like something that should be easy to evaluate and yet scouts were forever talking about Scoot as if he were an outlier there when he clearly never was.

Like, with a Ben Simmons, in the end the thing that did him in was the weakness (shooting) that we always knew was the weakness, but the stuff that was supposed to be good was indeed good. With Scoot it just seems like the only thing they got right was the fact he couldn't shoot.

To me Scoot feels like like one of the great scouting failures I've ever heard of. This isn't some exotic "high ceiling prospect" from a far away land like Darko. This was someone that had the NBA's full attention, and it just seems like they completely mistook a run of the mill guy for a generational talent. How does this happen?

Honestly - I think there was an aspect of marketing. The next big thing skips college and goes to this new semi pro league, its a story and its different, that alone starts the hype train humming. Add into that the fact he started on the Ignite at like 17 and was not a full blown train wreck and you get people saying 'look at this kid at 17 playing against former NBA guys and holding his own - he has to only continue to get better and better'. No one stopped to think, maybe he is simply well developed for a 17 year old but who knows what that means long term.

Realistically Henderson has made literally no in game progress skill wise since that first season with the Ignite.

It's concerning because the media played him up as a generational talent. I don't remember them being this wrong. I think the NBA media have been honest for the most part, but I wouldn't be surprise if some writers got paid off by his agents to blow him up as the next big thing. Let's hope the NBA doesn't turn into movie and video game media where every review is bought and paid for.

[Trey24]

I wish the best for Scoot and it has been unfortunate to see what is in my opinion his lack of development to this point. As a previous poster said, he has marginally improved but his shot and finishing really haven't. I do feel like he might be finishing a tiny bit better this year but that is from eye test only.

I just remember how bad the Hornets were absolutely flamed for taking a 6'9" 3 level scorer over him, lol.

[Rendei]

He has to learn to shoot and finish at the rim more efficiently or he won't get a second contract. They'd stop playing him already and make him prove it in practice if not for the fact that they're trying to lose games and they can trot him out there in the name of development. He's young so he still has a chance. I think that guys usually show who they are in their third season.

[SweaterBae]

Probably needs to play for a different coach and or team (probably both)

Such a lazy take.

[stormi]

I wish the best for Scoot and it has been unfortunate to see what is in my opinion his lack of development to this point. As a previous poster said, he has marginally improved but his shot and finishing really haven't. I do feel like he might be finishing a tiny bit better this year but that is from eye test only.

I just remember how bad the Hornets were absolutely flamed for taking a 6'9" 3 level scorer over him, lol.

MJ changed your life.

I'm sure there's a phenomena case with a name for it, but a #2 prospect getting inflated hype due to the need to create controversy with the surefire superstar at the top of the board.

Scoot was the beneficiary and is another in a line of disappointments out of the G League Ignite program.

Jalen Green was the OG, Masai saw through him and took Barnes instead.

[mademan]

I wish the best for Scoot and it has been unfortunate to see what is in my opinion his lack of development to this point. As a previous poster said, he has marginally improved but his shot and finishing really haven't. I do feel like he might be finishing a tiny bit better this year but that is from eye test only.

I just remember how bad the Hornets were absolutely flamed for taking a 6'9" 3 level scorer over him, lol.

MJ changed your life.

I'm sure there's a phenomena case with a name for it, but a #2 prospect getting inflated hype due to the need to create controversy with the surefire superstar at the top of the board.

Scoot was the beneficiary and is another in a line of disappointments out of the G League Ignite program.

Jalen Green was the OG, Masai saw through him and took Barnes instead.

Barnes was higher on the Raps board than Green, but Raps had the 4th pick. They weren't in position to make that decision.

But ya, there is something to having a surefire number 1 generational prospect and needing to drum up some kind of controversy. It's very difficult to explain nobody in the draft process saying "hey, this 6'3 point guard isnt actually very athletic and he doesnt have a Kyrie like skill base to justify all this hype"

[kenwood3333]

He needs a lot of external help to turn things around (similar to what Dick got)

[SweaterBae]

He needs a lot of external help to turn things around (similar to what Dick got)

What?

[Capn'O]

I don't think he has time regarding becoming a star. For a player like him, you either have elite NBA athleticism or you don't. So, Jaden Ivey has/had time to get the mental part down in a way that Scoot doesn't. He's starting to put a skills package around his speed. Conversely, I have very little hope for Scoot developing an elite skills game like a Brunson or Paul or become an elite shooter like Dame. Defensive specialist? I haven't seen it. The pathway is pretty limited. He'd have to develop something we haven't seen at all yet.

[Magic_Johnny12]

I’m pretty sure there was a rumor that Orlando was trying to move in the top-3 for one of the Thompson twins.

Portland could have had Anthony Black AND Dereck Lively

I know hindsight is 20/20 but damn they screwed that up. The signs were there about Scoot pre draft.

[JRoy]

Not all of us wanted Scoot.

[doogie_hauser]

Probably needs to play for a different coach and or team (probably both)

Such a lazy take.

Fair enough, I can accept that critique.

You obviously have watched him a lot more than I have.

I do have a soft spot for Portland, and really hope the kid does work it all out/get it together for the Blazers.

[OfficialRef]

Yes.

Exact guy that came to mind

Sucks because both haven't shown promise at all

[Myth]

Im not sure what he does well

There’s not much, but here are my 3 positives I’ve observed:
- He is pretty good at drawing fouls on drives. He is shifty and this is a rare place he uses his athleticism to his advantage. I’d argue that for his age, he may be near elite at this.
- He has a decent right hand scoop layup going from the right side of the rim to the left using the rim to protect this from being blocked. He does 2 versions of this, one from the right elbow going on diagonally in a Wade-esque style, and one more baseline going fully under the rim. I don’t have his stats on his success rate of this, but it certainly seems better than his other layup attempts.
- He has some scrappy defense on players bringing the ball up in the backcourt. He tries hard at this and gets a decent amount of steals whether he is the one poking the ball away or rushing for loose balls that teammates poke away.

The problem is, he sucks at everything else and this 3 strengths above don’t make up for them weaknesses, which unfortunately are the more important things in basketball and for point guards (shooting, finishing overall, keeping turnovers down, perimeter defense). As a Blazers fan and knowing he is still young, I’m not ready to give up on him, but I’m not optimistic. I think the idea of him being a star is probably gone, but if he can simply be a backup point guard that I don’t cringe when he comes in, I’m ready to embrace that.