Portland Trail Blazers Midseason Check In: Revisiting Preseason Predictions

Portland Trail Blazers Midseason Check In: Revisiting Preseason Predictions

In today’s show the Blazers lose to the Lakers and we check in at the Midway point of the Season what we get right and what we get wrong from the preseason welcome to locked on Blazers let’s get into it you are locked on Trailblazers your daily Portland Trailblazers podcast part

Of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what up world it’s your pass first point guard and Trailblazers reporter Mike man you’ll listen to another episode locked on Blazers part of the locked on podcast network available wherever you get Podcast and also on YouTube thanks for making this show your

First listen coming at you each and every week day Monday through Friday so make it your first listen tell your friends to do the same it’s lockdown Blazers your team every day in today’s show talk about the Blazers game against the Lakers uh they kick off a road trip

With a bad just a tough loss a loss where they got handled by the Lakers we’ll talk about that one uh Blazers signed to Mo to a 10-day contract the legally had to add a player on Saturday and they finally did we’ll talk about what that means in the short and medium

Term for this team and then what I want to do is I want to look back to look forward kind of a mid-season check-in uh by revisiting some bold quote quote unquote bold predictions I made back in the preseason and kind of how they stack up now that the Blazers have now played

42 games officially in the second half of the Season 41 was Friday night against the Pacers this 40 game 42 against the Lakers on Sunday so uh we will check in in the second and third segments with those bold predictions and kind of where they’re at in mid-season

And what it says about where the team is where they’re going um and what we thought way back when on October 24th 2023 but first let’s do what we do fastest recap in the west Blazers lose 134 110 in La they Trail 3136 after one

But you know the sort of the theme of all of these the first three quarters was that they closed the quarter strong enough to make you feel like well it’s not that bad the trail by as many as 12 in the first quarter cut it to five

After one Trail by as many as 17 in the second quarter and they cut it to 13 at at halftime 5467 and it was like yeah they’re getting they’re getting housed like they’re getting this they’re kind of getting dominated in this game but they’re only down 13 you know like it’s

Not that I’ve watched enough of these games to not be like they’re going to win but I thought like hey they’ve they’ve actually like kept themselves kind of in in in that shouting distance that classic range that they’ve been in for a lot of the season when they’ve

Been a competitive team unlike recently um you know the last since the calendar flip of 2024 when they’ve had some Beatdown games down 17 cut it to 13 cut it 13 at the break could be worse but then third quarter rolls around Lakers start to build a little bit of momentum

Lead by as many as 22 but the Blazers do what they do chip away go into the fourth quarter only down 16 87 103 but here’s the problem still down double digits and they didn’t make a dent so open the third open the fourth quarter excuse me

And with uh with 6 minutes left down 21 and LeBron at the free throw line ready to take two more free throws chony BS pulled the plug and put in a his all of his rookies including Taz Moore who signed a 10-day contract making his NBA

Debut and he scored he had had a bucket had a dunk got a fast break but we got six minutes of deep bench garbage time with all garbage is little disrespectful deep bench deep bench participation time cuz the game was over like the blaz just didn’t they

They didn’t get a dent in it and that’s how they lose 134 110 that’s your fastest recap in the west to the box score Malcolm brogen led the way he had 23 on eight of 17 shooting to go with seven boards and nine assists he was

Good he was the only Blazer who I think when I watched them play tonight was like Malcolm was good I don’t think anyone else deserves the good title Jeremy Grant 17 on six of 15 shooting didn’t make a three uh three boards three assists 12 for Jabari walker and a

Start with along with seven boards Jabari wasn’t bad he just wasn’t good he was asked to guard LeBron Jam James I don’t think he had a I don’t think he had a um I don’t think he had like a highly negative game just just certainly I wouldn’t put him in the good column

DeAndre I’ll put him in the bad column six points four rebounds in 22 minutes um just just just kind of a real quiet one um other than two buckets early in the third quarter from DeAndre aen athrey Simons 19 points two boards three assists had four turnovers I thought ant

Struggled a lot against the Lakers traps um one thing I came away from this game thinking is that is that the Pacers never double team right they never double team it’s it’s they they stay home on Shooters they just dare you to beat them one-on-one and the Blazers did

With good one-on-one scoring Jeremy Grant’s a great one-on-one score Malcolm brog was really good as a one-on-one score in that game the double teams and the way the Lakers play defense and their size it it it it made things a little tough on on the Blazers I don’t

Think they lost this game on offense like I really don’t they didn’t shoot particularly well 47% from the floor 31% from three N9 of 29 they didn’t shoot well um but I think they lost this game just because they could they they some all of their turnovers seemingly with

Live ball turnovers everything was just a live ball turnover like every every time they coughed up the ball the Lakers were going the other way and they played almost almost like scop level bad transition defense like almost to the point where I was like is this is this

Some sort of elaborate trick to make me a podcaster go insane um Lakers out scored him 358 in Fast Break points is kind of the difference in the game Lakers got out and ran and got easy buckets Blazers either didn’t get back or got back stupid or got back and

Fouled or ran to the paint and not to Shooters just like um bad hustle stupid hustle hustle to the wrong hustle two guys running to the thinking you know not covering for each other um running to the same spot just comical transition defense they’re not a good transition

Defensive team period but this one was like an exceptionally bad game the Lakers are good in transition they’re good on defense and their strengths really crushed the Blazers in this one uh D’Angelo Russell went nuts he had himself a game 34 points in eight dimes um he gave it to whoever wanted

It whatever Blazer they put on him he they got that work tumani kamaro when he came in Off the Bench got that work amrey Simons got that work scoot Anderson got that work um D’Angelo Russell was dancing he was he was clowning he was taking transition threes

That were way too hard made six three-pointers 34 and8 uh he led the way LeBron James ham 285 and five for the 38-year-old Anthony Davis 14 points 14 rebounds 15 for Austin Reeves nine for ruy haimura Off the Bench cam reddish old friend had 10 and then everybody

Else on the Lakers bench had four except for Max Lewis who went scoreless in four minutes um I don’t think we need to talk too much more about this one let’s talk about to like they didn’t they didn’t play particularly well I thought that they lost this game in transition

Defense I don’t think their halfcourt offense I think I think their half court offense was kind of just normal bad against a good defensive team their half court defense was totally fine they lost this game cuz they turn the ball over too much and um you give up 35 fast

Break points is going you’re minus 27 fast break points you might lose it’s tough it’s tough tough to come back from that one you got to make a lot of shots in the half court to come back from 27 to minus 27 easy easy buckets let’s let’s talk about Taz Mo though Blazers

Got a new player um added to a 10-day contract he’s probably not a long timer but he’s someone that you might need to know so let’s talk about him and let’s revisit some preseason predictions I made in the second segment join me there won’t you but before we do that I want

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Bench in the Box Score D had a nice game 16 uh tonar 15 and Ryan Ryan ruper six in garbage time Taz Moore two two on a fast break dunk uh and missed another shot Corner three that he missed pretty badly Taz Moore is a uh 25-year-old who

Played in college at at Cal State Bakersfield and then at Houston his senior season and went undrafted in the 2022 draft and has spent the last couple years in the G League uh this summer you know played for the Texas Legends last year in the summer he was in the summer

League he was in summer league with the Dallas Mavericks and he signed an exhibit 10 deal which is basically like uh hey we want you to be part of our g-league program here’s a little guaranteed money to make sure you’re part of our g-league program type of

Contract plays with plays with the Texas Legends uh in in the g-league and then eventually is uh the acquired by the Rip City remix where he’s just he’s played a handful of games um he’s you know he’s 65 he’s an athletic guard you know they need some help at like just like folks

Who can dribble and he he fits that profile cuz he’s like guard type um I I can’t claim to have watched him at at in Houston or at least remember watching him I think I watched that team play in the NCA tournament I can’t remember him specifically um and certainly haven’t

Tuned into him in the in G league so I’ve watched some YouTube videos today though I watched a little little pre-draft scouting report and I watched his some highlights from him uh in the g- league you know and and read a little bit about him not a great has not shot

Well in in the g- League this year at all for the legend in the in the Showcase or or since the season has started uh post post Showcase in Orlando hasn’t shot well for the Legends hasn’t shot well for the remix well he shot well but he’s playing two

Games um you know but he’s a slasher he’s a really good athlete his highlights are filled with dunks and floaters and hustle plays um you know six5 Wing he’s defin much more of a wing than than a point guardy type from just like watching watching him play a little

Bit but the Blazers needed uh another guard they they were first of all they only had 13 players on the roster they had to get up to 14 but per the league rules they waited until the very last day after waving two guys to get up to

The get up to that number and they signed to a two to a 10-day contracts you might be asking like hey why don’t they just convert D op Rath he’s their natural backup center he’s going to eventually be on the the big the big roster why not convert him I think

They’re just going for flexibility uh there’s no reason to chase converting wreath until after the allar after the uh trade deadline trade deadlines February 8th you can cycle through 10day guys more can sign two consecutive 10day deals and then they’ll have to either sign to a full contract which they won’t

Or they’ll cycle through another 10day guard and that’s what they’re going to do with the injuries they have um you know without and they wave Skyler Maye because he was he was um they can’t trade him so it was like if he’s on the he’s it makes more sense to just go

Ahead and cut him uh for for roster flexibility reasons moving forward if you’re going to cut another guy who is tradable like say uh say Moses Brown um like they need a guard Shaden Sharp’s hurt uh amrey Simons has missed uh missed a game with with illness and when

He missed misses a game they’re really light on just like dudes who can dribble Jeremy Grant played point guard a little bit in the third quarter on um on Friday evening when scoot Henderson went out with with nasal contusion um so they need another guard they got him in Taz

Moore I don’t think he’s going to play if everyone’s healthy but you need insurance and he’ll be around I would assume he signs two 10 days and then they’ll cycle through another 10day and then we’ll hit the trade deadline and they will have made their decisions so

Uh that’s that’s what you need to know 65 Wing out of Houston fun dunks F legitimately fun dunks um like definitely NBA level athlete uh we will see what else he can do I don’t think we’re going to see a lot of them but hopefully um you know getting your first

Bucket a Duncan Staple Center or whatever it’s called now crypto.com orena Duncan La fun fun memory I hope Taz enjoys it Perhaps Perhaps the highlight of of that um of that performance I don’t think I mentioned scoot Henderson in this game or in this box score let me hit this quickly he he

Returned from the nasal contusion played normal minutes off the bench went one of six with four points three turnovers and two assists added a rebound as well okay let’s look back to look forward a little bit Blazers check in at midseason they’re now 12 and3 and I want to revisit some pre some

Preseason predictions back in an episode that I published on this very podcast feed on October 24th 2023 so like just ahead of the the start of the season I made five bold predictions things I thought were they’re not like I tried to you know I tried to push the envelope a

Little bit but I wasn’t crazy like scoot Anderson Wis VP or whatever I I wanted to be like somewhat reasonable as I typically am but like you know I was pushing the envelope a little bit to to to make what I what classifies as a Mike Richmond bold prediction but I think

Revisiting these bold predictions see what I got right see what I got wrong kind of lets us know where we thought the Blazers were going to be and then where they are now so my first one of those was that anreddy Simons Jeremy Grant DeAndre Aiden were all going to

Average career highs in scoring all of them well first one I got wrong every Simons is averaging a career high he is averaging a career high he’s up from 21.1 last year to 22.9 um a career career high scoring average Jeremy Grant not quite his career high 22 uh3 in Detroit

In the 2020 21 year that that year that started in in December uh and then but he’s at 21.8 this season um you know he ant’s been good got the ball in his hands he’s he’s been a good offensive player I think he’s um I think some of

Like he’s diet caffeine free Damen Lillard and sometimes you could wish that there was a little more calories a little more caffeine in there but um it’s he can score in the league and he’s a good offensive player um despite some of his some of his shortcomings as like

Not a superstar level lead guard type he’s just a good he’s just a darn good offensive player is probably what he is averaging 23 a game in the league is is nothing to on on pretty good efficiency it’s just like nothing to turn your nose up at and been good on offense that

Hasn’t been its issue for me uh Jeremy is like he’s not an aesthete I do not care for the Aesthetics of Jeremy Grant’s game it bothers me to watch some of the um just like I’m going to shoot it watch me shoot it possessions that he has but

Duke can score in isolation dude can he can go get his own shot he can he can drive to the rim he’s good at getting to the free throw line like he can score um he’s you know he was at one point averaging he was at one point you know

Pushing like the most efficient season of his career you know shooting shooting wise but he’s he’s cooled down a little bit from that but he’s still solid and he’s he’s in the range although I don’t think he’ll get it of setting a career high in scoring I don’t think he’s going

To get up to 22.4 so I’m comfortable I think an will get it I think Jeremy will stay just below it it’ll be the second highest scoring season of his career and I feel comfortable with being wrong in that way DeAndre and I couldn’t have been more incorrect straight up totally

Wrong uh and I don’t if you’re a long time listen to the program everyday or shout out to my everyday or like being wrong is like part of doing this every day I’m not afraid of being wrong I misspeak I I I I you know I make predictions because they might be wrong

I think revisiting the logic of why you were wrong is actually more valuable than hiding from it and or just hitting people with I told you so I told you so is boring I I didn’t tell you so is is probably more Illuminating DeAndre is averaging a career low 13 points per

Game he’s averaging a career low field goal percentage shooting the worst he ever has from the floor including his rookie season averaging a career low in points and he’s yet to shoot a three-pointer I thought this was the year he was going to spread his wings I thought they were going to let

Him go and he was just going to do weird stuff I know he doesn’t really want to shoot threes more comfortable in the mid-range but um everything about DeAndre Aiden’s game has been just frustrating to me to be totally clear he’s been good on defense I don’t think

He’s been a problem on on defense he’s very obviously their best center like the the the defensive impact alone and the rebounding alone makes him better than than duath but like man there’s some frustrating nights with him I I I um I kind of talk my I

Was not really DeAndre believer and then heading into preseason I kind of talk myself into him you know he’s gonna he’s gon to find his way they’re gonna they’re G like he’s just going to get this opportunity he’s going to be free from the shackles of Phoenix and he’s

Going to be you know he had co-workers he didn’t get along with and a coach he didn’t get along with and he’s he’s going to really find himself and he just hasn’t um some of that is I think the Blazers didn’t have a they don’t have a

Really they have a roster that doesn’t compliment him well like putting him in the game next to scoot and tamani Kamar like they did in the second quarter tonight is like well that’s not enough shooting to get space for a big guy but the knock on on Aiden from his former

Coach Monty Williams was that he didn’t play with enough Force consistently just didn’t play with force and I think that’s that is my frustration with him I feel like he’ll roll to the rim and he will stop at 9 and 1/2 ft because he’s really comfortable taking mid-range

Jumpers and he’s really good at taking mid-range jumpers but if you roll hard and continue your roll you’re going to open things up if you roll with Force they have to guard you if you roll with Force they have to the tagger has to come all the way down to the rim they

Don’t just get to stop in the middle and then and screw up the spacing I feel like there’s Knights on defense when he plays really well and there’s Knights on defense where you don’t feel that Force um takes a lot of fadeaway jumpers he doesn’t love to dunk the ball um I

Thought he was going to be more ambidextrous than he is and he’s he’s pretty right-handed but that like plenty of guys are are Str strong hand dominant and pretty good um to me Aon has been frustrating not bad not like he hasn’t been like a true bad basketball player just been

Frustrating I think he’s been fine on defense and I think the Blazers coaching staff had no idea once it was like Hey he’ll just him and ant will figure it out in pick and rolls and once ant got hurt and missed 18 consecutive games it was like what we’re going to do with

DeAndre Aton is we don’t know that’s what it’s kind of settled into and then he got hurt and he’s missed a bunch of time and that ruins the sort of chemistry stuff so um ant’s injury then his injury it’s like it hasn’t allowed him to settle in but I’ve um like I

Don’t foresee him being a 20 point per game scorer on this basketball team this season I was dead wrong about his impact on offense dead wrong and um I think it’s one of the frustrating points of the season is that this guy was supposed to be well he was just supposed to be

Like what he’s been right he’s like an 18- 10 guy and you don’t get that from da every night you don’t and and it’s not all his fault certainly his co-workers do not compliment him well and the coaching staff hasn’t maximized him particularly well but like there are nights when you don’t

Remember that da is out there and there’s nights when you’re like do op is better than him and if you have Knights when do op when you say do op breath a 27-year-old rookie who’s traveled all around the world to get this opportunity just straight better than da that’s

That’s a problem um some of that is skill set stuff some of that is probably unfixable but um and why I mentioned the three-pointer stuff I thought I thought this was year that da was going to was going to spread his wings right I thought this was the year that he was

Going to like shoot three-pointers and be weird and on a team that’s not good and a team where he probably has some leeway to like try new stuff take have a weird game where you where you take five threes like have a weird game where you

Spray to the corner where you take Trail threes in transition where you like you know where you where you try more stuff where you where you where you exist outside your comfort zone I think my criticism of DeAndre is that he only exists in his comfort zone and doing

Stuff outside of his comfort zone it just doesn’t happen I thought early in the year he played his butt off and I was really complimentary of him on this very podcast then I thought there was a a a section of the Year where his effort really really really waned I’m not sure

We’ve gotten back to the other side of that just yet but he’s been injured and I’ll I’ll effort stuff we’ll talk about later right now it just hasn’t been very effective and um that to me frustrating what are you going to do sometimes you get it wrong okay I got

Four more predictions that I made in preseason I will share them with you to close the show before we do that I want to tell you that today’s episode is brought to you by better help if you’re thinking about therapy why not give better help a try uh it’s entirely

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That’s FanDuel an official partner of the NFL still a pass first point guard I’m still Mike Richmond you are still listening to locked on Blazers let’s talk more bold predictions this one I got right I got some of these right this one I legitimately got right uh I predicted

Blazer would be bottom five in both offense and defense this year uh they’ve been B they’ve the worst offens in the league pretty much all season long that’s a Personnel thing it’s a coaching thing I think it’s I think it’s both I lean more Personnel than coaching but

Certainly it’s part of the part of the equation that I think they’re pretty vanilla on offense um and and lack of skill sets and then and then vanilla offense like lack of creativity um leads to some tough nights or like a million tough nights but they’re they’re like

Johnon BS coaches butt off you’re going to be magically better at shooting but you probably would be better than the worst offense in the league um they’ve been 30th for most of the season the defense has slipped they were playing pretty well at the beginning of the season last two years they’ve started

Hot and kind of faded uh we’re we’re in the fade portion of the program at at some point will be in the lose on purpose makeup injuries portion of the program not looking forward to that I like the fade better than the LIE um they’re 20 according to clean of the

Glass they they’ve slipped now to 25th on defense bottom five in both dang it defense was good at one point they led the league in in um forcing turnovers they they were limited three-point attempts and then most of their magic or a lot of their magic was

That teams really didn’t shoot well at the beginning of the year they shot um they they had the the best opponent three point percentage in the league or the worst the opponent shot worst against from three against them any team in the league it’s like when other teams

Shoot bricks from three that’s that’s like that’s lucky mostly um you know if if they’re like significantly below the league average you know some teams do it every year New Orleans has has been a good three-point defensive team every year at some point it’s like it’s part

Of who you are but the Blazers you know they did it for 25 games not 160 or whatever um and slowly they’re not like it’s not crazy better but they from dead you know dead last in an opponent a three-point percentage to now they’re like they have the fourth worst opponent

Three-o percentage like teams are just shooting a little bit better and the Mojo has died a little bit and they’re giving up um they’re giving up more points they also played a month without deand Ron who’s incredibly important to what they want to do on defense um you know they’re they’re

Just they don’t have the Personnel to be like an awesome defense but I thought that they were showing and particularly with kind of the the the energy that tumani Kamar infused and defense that that matis thel’s capable of playing to be better than what they’ve been um it

Kind of feeds into itself if the offense can’t score and and and you know you’re going to just you’re playing against teams running off rebounds and running off turnovers um and if they’re not taking the ball out of their net It’s just tough it feeds into itself um I’m

Not super surprised they ended up here I kind of thought they would hence the prediction but um it ain’t that fun here here’s what I got wrong or at least I’m wrong so far next bold prediction I made back in October is that the Blazers would have a fiveg game winning streak

This season John bips has has not coached the in his two and a half Seasons this is the middle of the third season has has has never coached a team that has won five straight games a four- game winning streak uh back in back in his first season

But never five so I I foolishly said this would be the year they’re going to win five I don’t know how cuz I thought they were going to be bad but hey they’re going to string together five wins and maybe they will uh their longest winning streak this season

October 30th November 3rd they beat Toronto and Detroit on the road and then Memphis at home in overtime um that Toronto game the the Raptors who aren’t very good shout out to a million bricks get the win keep them moving Detroit they came back from down a bunch

Of points to beat a bad Pistons team but at the time the Pistons were like two and two we didn’t know how bad they were they were like maybe this Pistons team’s a little bit Punchy baby um so it was like not deep deep losing streak Pistons

It was very early in the season pistons and then Memphis you know no no John Morant but they had jiren Jackson and and Desmond Bane and then Blazers end up winning that game in overtime they win three in a row they play Memphis the following the two days later the first

Memphis game was a Friday they played again on on uh on Sunday against the Grizzlies and listener Travis sent me sent me an email after that after that game first game against Memphis and he said Mike do you think this would be the Blazer’s longest winning streak of the

Season and I said maybe uh and Travis you might be right you might be right you might be right um Blazers lose to the to the Lakers with a chance to make it three in a row on Sunday evening have not have yet to get another three-game

Winning streak out of them so maybe that’ll be it um no I still you know they still could win they got they got 40 left they could win they could win five in a row at some point I’m not very confident in this one I’m pretty much

Sure I got it wrong and I think that Travis knew right away that when he emailed me back then uh shout out to you Travis okay the next prediction that I bet I’m going to get right and this kind of speaks to to where we are in the

Season I said I made a prediction bold prediction that no one who started on opening nights would be traded no one who started on opening night would be traded the starting the opening night starting lineup with scoot Henderson that’s a freeb he’s not getting traded Amy Simons matis thel Jeremy Grant and

DeAndre Aon they weren’t going to trade DeAndre Aon after half of a season makes no sense matis thel has a um has essentially no trade clause he could get traded but I like it wouldn’t make sense to me that the Blazers would trade matis

Thel when he has he signed a um a offer sheet with the Mavs and the Blazers matched it when you when you sign an offer sheet as a restricted free agent that and you come back to the incumbent team they match it um you have a year

That you can veto any trade you can you have you know right of first refusal trade veto no trade clause whatever you want to call it um and that means that basically you get to pick where you go and so the other team’s not going to trade much for you because you’re

Choosing your destination so I don’t I can’t imagine that the Blazers trade matis thel um so that one that one’s probably off the board so really you’re talking anrey Simons and Jeremy Grant there’s almost no chance they trade anrey Simons not even almost no chance there’s no chance they trade amre Simons

It doesn’t make sense um at some point they will have to decide what the future of this team is with scoot Henderson and aony Simons and Shaden sharp but right now scoot’s not very good more than that in a moment like you can’t you can’t pick scoot when ant is 2 like super

Young and and like good um it just doesn’t make any sense have a lot of organizational investment in in the number three overall pick scoot Henderson so at some point maybe you do have to go in that direction but you don’t now he’s just not pragmatic to

Make that trade so ant’s not getting traded so really is Jeremy Grant and all the reporting around Jeremy Grant from from from folks locally and nationally is that the Blazers are not interested super interested in trading Jeremy Grant if they were blown away by a trade package I’m I am certain they would

Trade Jeremy Grant certain I think some of this posturing like blow us away we we are totally comfortable not trading Jeremy Grant we like what he does we don’t have P power forward in waiting we don’t have a scoot Anderson that we have all this like organizational investment

In um developmental investment in like waiting behind him we have Jabari Walker and tumani kamaro like we can just we can keep him moving and he can be here and if the trade is underwhelming now we can trade him in the offseason or trade him next season and or into the future

And and it’ll be what it’ll be um but I in October I I I had that same vibe that he wasn’t going to get traded I don’t think he will I think this is one is going to end up being right I think this is that nobody who started on opening

Night’s going to get traded it’ll just be Malcolm Brockton um maybe I should have thrown that in there as a bold prediction um we’ll see who else end up ends up in the Brogden deal if they if whatever it might end up looking like

But I think Brogden is a is a darn near lock to be on a new team and JG is a darn near lock to be on the Blazers come February 9th okay my final bold prediction that I got wrong but I don’t feel that bad about it but it’s not a good

One my prediction was that scoot Henderson would read lead all rookies in scoring no no no sorry Mike nope um but here’s here’s the thing I don’t feel that bad about it because scoot Henderson is fifth among rookies in scoring fifth the volume is there for him the minutes are

There for him the shots are there for him the balls in his hand all of those things like he it’s there is opportunity was there all here’s some here’s some numbers that are not pretty among the top 30 rookies in points per game only Toronto’s Grady dick has lower field

Goal percentage than scoot Henderson and among the top 30 rookies in terms of minutes played no one no one among among the Le leaders in minutes played by rookies has a lower effective field goal percentage or true shooting percentage in scoop he’s just basically in in a

Class of folks that are going to be pretty inefficient young rookie players um he is one of the least efficient among the big volume rookies he is the least efficient among the big volume rookies he’s like dude’s just struggling he he he’s just he just hasn’t been good I I think

He’s I am still of the belief that scoot Henderson’s going to be a good NBA player um I think he’s super young I think there’s just a lot of time I think he has some physical tools that he can get there I think um you know if he can improve his finishing

Even to somewhere around League average he can he can just magically be a much better player um he’s he’s that’s without the shooting concerns that’s without the turnover concerns that’s just like make layups at a League average level for a guard bang bang you’re like you’re just like you’re way

Better you’re averaging 17 a game it’s magic um because he can get himself to his spots for the most part but he has some decision-making issues that I think you can clean up and he doesn’t have the um you know he hasn’t been crazy explosive and crazy highlights like I

Thought he would his first step is there but that explosion jumping off two feet he sometimes looks small when he jumps off one foot he can get up there but you know if you get in front of him then he has to load up off two feet he doesn’t

He feels like a little guard playing in traffic um you can still add craft you can add touch I’m not super worried about him but he’s like he’s he’s one of the reasons the blazes are as bad as they are is because scoot Henderson is

Not a good NBA player at all I’m still very much in favor of him playing a bunch of minutes and figuring out and failing at the job every night like I’m very very much in favor of it but he has struggled and I think the Blazers by

Evidence by they him start night one as point guard in the NBA they had him as as the lead guard next to amre Simons they thought he was going to be better too I think this is surprised to everyone I’m sure it’s surprise scoo I’m sure he’s frustrated by it it’s probably

Pretty disheartening to to have Knights like this um you know you know move him to the bench and magically be better he’s had two you know against Brooklyn now against the Lakers not had good games off the bench um you know he’s not a great pairing

With anrey Simon so moving him away from that is fine but um some of this is isn’t just like you can fix it by tweaking the lineup or tweaking his minutes and who he plays against and all that like he’s just he’s he’s he’s a young player still putting it together

And I thought he was I thought the volume and opportunity was there was he’s going to lead all rookies and scoring um he’s not going to end up doing that but the fact that he’s with all this inefficiency like I just I just detailed and he’s still fifth among

Rookies in scoring you can see I was I had I was on the right path so where are the Blazers of midseason as I wrap up here amrey Simon has been okay offensive good offensive player Jer has been a good offensive player DeAndre Aton has struggled the offensive defense are both bad bottom

Five in the league they don’t string wins together and they’re not going to make a major overhaul and their young rookie their prized their prized number three overall pick just has not played well you put all that together and their prize you know the the the big part of the trade they made

For a for Damen Lord DeAndre struggled worst offensive worst offensive season of his career the point guard in Waiting you drafted to replace Damen Lord not immediately but down the line struggled you add all that together you don’t have a bunch of magical shooting around him and and you don’t have really

A ton of like highlevel other veterans Malcolm BR Jeremy Grant have been solid matis lael’s good on defense um you end up where you are this is kind of what they were going to be this is what you signed up for the Blazers are launching a rebuild they

Were going to be one of the bad teams they were not a team chasing a play in spot they were not in many ways they are right where they should be does it feel good no most Knights it’s frustrating but I think there are little things to point to in in in terms

Of like their you know Jabari Walker I think tan kar’s defense has been has been uh has been a bright spot like there are little things you know you really want Shaden sharp to get healthy and play I think that’s a huge part of the second half of the season is get him

Out on the court and get him playing and feel have stuff to feel good about um you know I don’t think this season is like a failure I think this season was this is this is a feature not a bug like where they are is a feature not a bug

This was in many ways the exact plan they had but I think you know looking at these preseason predictions and ideas I had I thought they were going to be bad bottom five in offense bottom five in defense but with some different type of fireworks than they’ve had some

Different type of potency than they’ve had um you know I thought there was going to be struggles and inefficiency but like I didn’t see them as the worst offense in the league I saw them as like 25th and maybe the worst defense in the league quite frankly but I was I I got

Him flip-flopped so I don’t think this is like the time you bail and say this team sucks and I hate him if you’re still in now when they’re 12 and 30 like there’s there is plenty of growth in the second half of the Season that can come from

Deand Dron that can come from scoot Henderson um that that can that when they make a trade that can come from come from you know figuring out what this team’s going to look like in the future uh there’s plenty of growth to happen I just think the Blazers at Mid

Season are worse in ways that I thought they’d be better and bad in exactly the ways some of the ways that I thought way back in October but I want I want I want to just I want to say this one more time we knew they weren’t going to be good none of

This is a surprise none of this is a surprise this is the roster they have this is this is just this is what this is the C these are the cars they do they dealt themselves right like this was the path they chose they’re walking it 40 games left uh guess what tomorrow

Show how about this we’re talking trades a crossover episode with Philip Rossman re of the host of locked on Magic we’re going to talk about about a couple uh Blazers guards he’s got an eye on and some packages that the Orlando Magic could offer in exchange for him specifically Malcolm Brogden because

They ain’t trading anree Simons come back for tomorrow show then later this week we got five excuse me well after that three more episodes wherever you get Podcast also on YouTube I appreciate you listening I’ll talk to you Soon

Checking in on the team at midseason, plus a recap of the loss to the Lakers and an introduction to 10-day signee Taze Moore

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