New Trail Blazers rookie point guard Scoot Henderson, selected with the third pick out of the G League Ignite on Thursday, raved about his fit in Portland and aspires to play alongside incumbent Blazers point guard Damian Lillard, writes Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.
“I feel like Portland was the best situation for me,” Henderson said. “[Former Ignite teammate] Pooh Jeter is there right now with the G League and stuff like that, and then me texting Dame two years ago. It all came full circle.”
“I think it would be great just to learn from him, just to sit back and really observe a great player,” Henderson said of Lillard. “Especially just being that close to him and going there. Especially just the guard he was coming into the league and how he was fearless. Fearless of anybody. And how he kind of came in and impacted the game at a high level. Yeah, just to learn from that, it would be great.”
There’s more out of Portland:
- Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin defended the club’s decision to draft Henderson in lieu of trading the selection for more experienced help, writes Jason Quick of The Athletic. “I would say we made the biggest move possible by drafting Scoot Henderson,” Cronin said. “He’s going to be better than any player that would maybe be perceived as that big move. And then you start to factor in other things that matter in this league — the salary cap, (Henderson) on a rookie scale — that allows us to build a lot more depth than we would have been able to otherwise.”
- No trade exists to transform Portland into a true title contender this season, Adrian Wojnarowksi of ESPN suggested during a TV appearance (Twitter video link). If he truly wants to win a title with the team that drafted him, Lillard will need to wait a bit longer, in Wojnarowski’s view. “There’s no magic trade out there for them [to carve out a championship path in 2023/24],” Woj said. “I think Portland did what was right by their organization, and their front office trading out of No. 3 for whatever the best available veteran would’ve been [instead of drafting Henderson], it would’ve been malpractice.”
- After Lillard was seen on his Instagram Live blasting Will Smith’s “Miami” on Friday, his agent Aaron Goodwin told Sam Amick of The Athletic that the song was in no way Lillard’s choice, and wasn’t an indication that he wants the Trail Blazers to move him to the Heat this summer. The seven-time All-Star was enjoying his offseason in a Parisian club when a local DJ decided to poke fun at his situation by playing the song, Goodwin explained. “The music was just a coincidence,” Goodwin told Amick. “Damian’s not disrespectful… That’s why he laughed (in the video). It’s a funny coincidence that a DJ would put that on.”
If Lillard buys in this could be a great duo between him and scoot. They’d have to bring more in to give them a chance but I like the pair
Yea just give scoot 2-4 years to develop and you got a 36 /37year old dame and a 22/23 year old scoot. That’s totally a successful pairing
2-4 years? Scoot was the number 2 pick for a reason he’ll be a hell of a player year 1 or 2. Why don’t you look back at how bad the warriors were before they started being a dynasty. Not saying that’s what the blazers will become but it’s possible. 4 years is a long time to assemble a pretty damn good team. Thanks for trying though
Lol. U act like guys taking top 3 all will be good as rookies. Last year 3rd overall pick was brutal for the rockets. Telling someone thanks for trying though just because he didn’t agree with u just shows like 95% of the people in here. U don’t know $ hit about basketball. Henderson has a lot of work to do before he will be good.
LOL!
If Scoot was a guaranteed thing starting from his rookie season, he would not have been the second pick. The only time I can think of when anyone could’ve guaranteed a rookie being a stud on Day 1 was years when the #1 pick was a once in a generation talent like Shaq and LeBron.
And yes, there are always rookies that are good from Day 1, but no one knows which ones they will be because some future stars have a game that transitions well, while others’ games take time through growing pains of learning during a transition. Again, the only guarantees that I think most fans saw were those generational players like Shaq or LeBron. Again, if Scoot was a guarantee, he’d be the #1 pick like the generational types over any other player in the Draft. With Shaq, he was selected over a great player in Alonzo Mourning. LeBron was selected over Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and D-Wade. Scoot was selected #2 for a reason. He was not a generational player like Shaq or LeBron or others of their ilk for the Draft, who went on to the rookie years and careers that they had.
Scoot also looks at least early in his career to be a bad fit with Dame. Dane dominates the ball(Scoot can’t shoot) so playing off the ball isn’t best for him. Also Scoot is listed at 6ft 2in(the same height at Dame). That’s a really small backcourt. I doubt Scoot even starts early in the season.
Pair that with simons and you have three guys that can’t play defense in a backcourt.
He went 3 and he will be great. You need to watch some more basketball. Wemby is better than Lebron as a prospect. Lebron would have gone second in this draft and so would have Shaq.
OK, #3. My mistake. Still the same point, and even more so.
Awesome O looks like a new screen name for somebody we know very well. Same crappy takes, new username, and no one’s surprised. Oh and of course the “I will mute you” threat immediately upon disagreement to a basketball opinion.
HardenWestbrookMVP was the old screen name for those who are new. I look forward to 6 months of strange basketball posts and unnecessary random personal attacks from Awesom O.
Cronin is either disingenuine or clueless, or both. Woj is way off point. Of course, no single trade can transform the POR roster into a contender.
Problem is the last 18 months since this FO took over have been defined by their talk of having a goal of doing just that and being “super” aggressive in pursuing it, and, simultaneously, their taking the roster in the other direction. Maybe if the last 18 months were different, Lillard wouldn’t take issue with draft night. FWIW, I think they used #3 correctly. I also wouldn’t blame Lillard if he feels he was misled.
Not sure how Lillard could be misled? He should know what it takes to win at the NBA level, and has eyes to see the players on his team…
The media tricks people who don’t play in the NBA, and maybe some who do, but Lillard could have asked out 3-5 seasons ago, but he didn’t, and would have no one to blame but himself.
Not the Portland front office making empty promises.
Which they never did
With that response, its clear you didn’t read what I wrote, at least with any degree of comprehension. Nothing could be more irrelevant that what happened 3-5 years ago. If you truly believe the POR FO didn’t mislead anyone with their public statements (their statements, not the media characterization), then you likely didn’t read or comprehend those either.
What promises did Portland make, and break?
Then field the rosters they have the last 3 years?
Yeah, you need to articulate better, or something because your argument is dumb.
Portland made promises, and lied to Lillard.
I don’t think so, he should have left 3 years ago in the least if anything you say is at all relevant.
Well I think Portland did try to improve the roster for Damian Lillard and at his request a few years ago. They re-signed the big Center, gave him good money, they traded away the short backcourt mate to try to improve the situation. They brought in the guard from Toronto for more scoring and brought in Jeremy Grant which was an improvement.
They did what they could do being in Portland and not in Los Angeles or other big market attraction. There’s only so much at their disposal with the salary cap too. They gave it a shot and it wasn’t good enough. This is on Damian Lillard he took the big contract and set himself up. No problem there and no problem with how the Blazers handled things.
But I guess it’s easy to to find issue when the team doesn’t win. Let’s hope things move forward now with a nice young draft pick. We’ll see what happens with Lillard.. stay or go.
I honestly believe this could be another Zion(wemby) , ja Morant(scoot) situation. Scoot will have a vet(dame) to learn and develop from , also less pressure.
There’s no doubt Wemby has more pressure but he’s already been working out with Duncan. There’s no better mentor he could have.
He has zero pressure, he said it himself. Why would he have any pressure? They don’t need to win right away. Patience. No need to rush. They’ll develop this kid properly. Unlike you ESPN buffoons loll
What are they talking about?
An unrealistic trade for #3 would make the Trail Blazers title contenders in 2024?
Blazers and Rockets need to sign free agent stars. They have not enough assets to become title contenders
Why do you seem to mention the rockets in every post? This is a thread about the blazers and the blazers only
Lol, I feel bad for Dame or any player that gets drafted by Portland. The last thing you want as a player is for your team to not pick a lane. Either rebuild or try to contend. They’re “trying” to do both which means they’ll fail at both.
This is an ownership that’s only worried about selling tickets & that’s the only reason they want to keep Dame around. He’s their star that the fans of Portland love because Dame has been loyal like no other star so fans will keep coming to see him but this ownership won’t try to put a contending team around him to award him for his loyalty. All they’re doing is slow playing a rebuild hoping to find their next Dame to repeat the process of doing just enough to sell tickets to their fans. They need to keep Dame around around in the meantime so they sell him on the idea they’re trying to build around him with half measures like trading for overrated players like Grant.
I agree Scoot is best move they could make. Murray was a good addition. Since he’s older and more ready to step in. I can see him as a rotation piece next yr. Grant is the guy they need or sign-n-trade him. I would sign Dillon Brooks too. Big fan of Scoot. He could ROY
Completely agree I think Wemby is better (obviously) but the odds of him seeing double teams is likely. Scoot on the other hand could benefit from the attention being on Lillard so much.
Exactly he’s going to be free to grow and just play. Great pick
The Hornets will be looking at the grass in Portland wondering what could of been in a few years…
Portland absolutely did the right thing here…
So in your opinion do they keep or trade Damian lillard? Use him as a mentor?
Henderson, Simons, Sharpe, little, Nurkic and picks for Ingram, CJ McCollum, Jonas V and Lewis Portland re-signs Grant, Matisse, Mays, Knox, Johnson and Williams . NO has nice rebuild. Motivate Zion
OKC. SGA and Dort for Henderson, Simons and little
Or keep both. On the bench. Henderson, Sharpe, Reddish, Matisse, Knox, Johnson, Watford , Walker, butler, Badji and Mays. Trade Simons, Nurkic and little for a veteran SG, SF, a better center. Resign Grant. Ask Nicholson to play some games for free.
To me the guy they should move is Simons. Moving the 3rd pick always seemed like a bad idea.
100%.
Simons Sucks