Scoot Henderson’s Best Game Yet Leads the Portland Trail Blazers past the San Antonio Spurs

Scoot Henderson’s Best Game Yet Leads the Portland Trail Blazers past the San Antonio Spurs

In today’s show the Trailblazers beat the Spurs and Scoot Henderson has the best game of his young career scoot can hoop welcome lockon 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’s up world it’s your past first point guard and Trailblazers reporter Mike grman you to another episode of Locked on Blazers part of locked on podcast network available wherever you get Podcast and also on YouTube thanks for making this show your first listen coming at you every single weekday

Monday through Friday so make it a part of your daily routine make it your first list and tell your friends to do the same it’s locked on Blazers your team every day in today’s show Blazers beat the Spurs on Friday night get a little Revenge they lose to the Spurs Thursday

With Victor wanyama with the dominant nights but Vic gets Friday night off um you dealing with an ankle injury and the Spurs I guess are just being generally conservative so the short-handed Spurs come back for the second night of the back toback and the Blazers handle them

Blazers short-handed in and of their own rights we’ll talk about that game talk about scoot Henderson who had the best game of his career on Friday evening against the Spurs he is starting to look like the thing that was promised let’s talk about the promise he’s showing and

The promises that were made to you the Blazers fewing public we’ll do that in the second seg then we’ll close the show talking about a long and daunting road trip for the Blazers uh January you’re listening to January 1 show welcome to 2024 I appreciate you happy new year but

January is a tough month lot lot of games on the road 11 Road games and uh just a bunch of teams with winning records the Blazers um if they have a good January it’s because they’re playing really good basketball because the the the difficult section of the

Schedule is upon them we’ll talk about what it’s January starts with which is two weeks on the road 7game road trip uh matching their longest road trip of the Season we will we will we will look ahead a little bit in the third segment but first let’s do what we do fastest

Recap in the west Blazers win 1341 128 against the Spurs Spurs playing without Victor wanyama so Zack Collins old friend Zack Collins got the start uh but the Blazers shorthanded of their own right Anthony Simon still sick missed this game scoot Henderson has now missed four games with an abductor strain uh

Right knee tendonitis for DeAndre Aton held him out and du Brie who tweaked his back warming up uh prior to Thursday night’s game also didn’t play in this one so you just you got scoot Henderson and Malcolm Brogden Moses Brown Jeremy grants This was um this was a game where

The Blazers were yet again short-handed and the Spurs were yet again short-handed and uh unlike Thursday night where the the Spurs are not yet again the Spurs were short-handed unlike Thursday night when the Spurs had you know generational defensive player in the middle of the paint they didn’t have

It in this one and the Blazers took advantage of it uh 2929 after one but the Blazers broke out in those middle two quarters they LED 7156 at the break and 10 494 at the end of three but the bles actually L by 26 in the third

Quarter and it looked like they were going to just run off on this one but the Spurs made a late charge to make it close and Portland was never really threatened but they are up 13 with like a minute left and the Spurs made it close because the Blazers got sloppy

Devon vasel hit a three Jeremy Gran immediately turns the ball over and gives up a fast break layup then they come out of the the timeout with a minute left you know cut up all of a sudden you know all of a sudden you’ve you’ve you’ve cut down this 13-point

Lead they blers take a time out uh Jabar Walker splits a pair of free throws uh Blazers quickly give up a layup on the other end it’s all of a sudden you’re it’s 25 seconds left and it’s and it’s a seven-point game and the Blazers turn

The ball over again and then uh the uh the Spurs get another bucket a put back and all of a sudden you’re looking at a five-point game but there’s only 7 seconds left Spurs have to Spurs have to foul scoot Henderson splits the free throws and the Blazers hold on to win

134 128 um I I think the final minute was kind of kind of um obnoxious maybe but I don’t think it was a particularly big deal like I it’s like it’s like the Blazers gave up eight points that they didn’t need to give up and they kind of gave them back but I

Don’t think this was like a oh no this team’s actually bad and they’re going to lose it and there was never a moment where they were going to where it felt like the game was going to slip away but there was plenty of moments where I was like

This is not this is not like the sign of a team that’s like really putting their stamp on an impressive Victory uh to the box score we go Jeremy Grant 27 points hit four of five threes to go along with six boards and four assists Jeremy

Grant’s passing the ball a bunch um at least getting assists more often I should say uh I I’ve I’ve kind of complained in the space that I don’t think he moves the ball very often but his assist numbers as of late have been a lot better than they were for most of

The season so um brief moratory on bullying Jeremy Grant for not passing the ball Malcolm brog 27 points s assists uh he hit 53s if the Blazers are going to make 16 of 27 threes and shoot 67% from three they’re going to win most of those games

Um it is what it is like I think that’s pretty simple 27 is not many threes to take but 16 is a bunch to make if you’re only going to take 27 of them they they poured them in uh 22 points seven boards 11 assists for scoot we’ll talk about

Him a bunch in the second segment he once he got rolling and got comfortable he looked really good jaari Walker 25 Off the Bench Jabari Walker hit 10 free throws uh what has become what is becoming a like a minor trend for for Jabar is when when he has good games he

Gets to the free throw line and to Me Maybe This is where he figures out how he can be impactful offensively he’s not afraid to get in the mix he plays often plays up a position at Center the Blazers played most of their minutes in this game or majority of their minutes

Of this game without uh a big man they played Moses Brown played four minutes to begin the game and IU baji Off the Bench played 10 so they played a lot of minutes with Jabari Walker at Center a lot of minutes with Tani Kamar at center it’s because the Spurs are also not

Playing super big Zack Collins and Dom Barlo your two centers for the Spurs abilities are able to go small they’re able to stick to their full fiveman switching units uh just put their better offensive players and better defensive players on the court baji is a better rim protector but maybe like overall

Defense certainly I think you could you can offer going small can give you a little bit of a different look but when Walker has been good recently he’s gotten free throw attempts um he can’t shoot he’s he can’t shoot my be too mean he has not

Shot well in his NBA career he’s not he’s not developed a consistent three-point shot uh and he isn’t this like crazy athlete but what he is is he’s physical and he plays hard and he has that little like barely gets off the ground side shuffle Euro and if he gets

To the free throw line by getting in the mix and driving into the paint and being confident maybe that can make up for his lack of shooting right like as a slasher and a and a foul draw maybe that’s that’s the trick for Jabari also a funny

Side note is that Jabari Walker and Zack Collins are kind of getting into it um and just two hard-nosed former Blazers um there’s there’s I’m trying not to swear on this podcast but uh two dudes really get after it two dudes who really mix it up and aren’t afraid to stick

Their nose in there and be physical and all of those things and to see Jabari Walker and Zack Collins kind of get in the mix a little bit was fun Jabari finished with 25 points and nine boards he was he was really good Skyler May 11 Off the Bench including an almost poster

Dunk but he kind of he kind of lost on the way up and threw it in but at in the in the closing uh minutes of the fourth quarter um he had a nice game after I thought he did not play very well on Thursday against the Spurs nice little

Bounce back uh seven for mati thy uh two for IU baji in his 10 minutes to go with uh two boards uh Moses Brown scoreless in his 10 minutes and I don’t think I got you Tani Kamar he had 13 Points 11 boards uh tumani really benefited from

Playing small ball five and next to scoot talk about that a little in the second segment um he’s he’s an he’s a curious player uh to Moni Kamara he is but but I think playing this was his best offensive game he’s had in a while

And some of that was because he was a roller in pick and rolls so that that’s an interesting thing to monitor on the Spurs side 22 for Deon Vell 29 297 and seven from Kellin bigbody Johnson Off the Bench douge mcbuckets Doug mcder had 18 uh 17 for Zack Collins before he left

With an ankle sprain hope Zack gets well soon he’s dealt with so many foot and ankle injuries just hate to see it for for Zack seven for Julian champeny two for Jeremy soan and Malachi Brennan’s 116 and three I thought Trey Jones was really good in this game 14 points eight

Boards five assists Off the Bench for who is clearly the Spurs best point guard but for um losing reasons I guess they got to play him off the bench uh it’s fine those Spurs can do whatever they want but Trey Jones is their best point guard by about a million per the

Blazers uh you know he scored 42 in that second quarter I thought they really got rolling and part of part of the offense really getting rolling with sco Henderson kind of finding his Groove I thought in the middle two quarters the Blazers played really good basketball really good basketball let’s talk about

Scoot who played the best game of his of his young NBA career scoot Henderson played the best game of his career I mean I think a lot of times we try to couch it and say one of his best games or or this is his best game this was his

Worst game and all these things I think this was just like the best game scoots played let’s talk about what it looked like and all of those things in the second segment but first let’s talk about FanDuel America’s number one sports book the NFL regular season is

Wrapping up but there is still time to get on the action with FanDuel it’s America’s number one sports book right now new customers get 150 bucks in bonus bets guaranteed when you place a $5 bet that’s 150 bucks in bonus bets win or lose Place one $5 bet at FanDuel you’ll

Get 150 bucks to play with in bonus bets and the app is easy to use and after you place that moneyline bet there’s so many different ways to wager on the sports you love like live save G same game parlays um new bets that they’ll have in

Their explore tab or just if you want to go nuts they’ve got a parlay Hub which is to find popular parlays that other people are are uh are making bets on or you can craft your own plus over unders and Futures bets uh whatever you’re looking for you’re going to find it on

Fanduel.com lockon so go to fanduel.com lockon make your first bet a layup that’s right a layup in the NFL ad read once you make that that bet get50 bus to play with go have some fun that’s fanduel.com lockon FanDuel an official partner of the NFL all right scoot Anderson played the best

Game of his career best game of his career this was this was the scoot that we’ve been promised the efficiency is just not going to be there for him this year like he’s just um he’s shooting well from three like I mentioned in the previous episode that he was shooting U

North of 40% over his last eight games well the two games since that he shot well from three shooting he’s shooting almost 44% from three over his last 10 like he’s he’s fine he’s fine he’s shooting well um it’s the pull-up twos U from the mid-range and it’s the

Finishing that’s a problem you know he he finishes with 22 points on 21 shots but the efficiency just might not be there for him young players are typically inefficient um the three-pointers going in is a huge thing for scoop because it changes how he gets guarded but what’s really changed is

Just his comfort and you can see the Comfort changing in his playmaking and I think in this game he made the best passes we’ve seen him make you know this is this is the scool we were promised right um maybe some of you devoured g-league ignite tape leading up to the

Draft maybe some of you just straight up watched g-league ignite games and were like deeply familiar with scoot Henderson what I knew was I knew his name because it’s a fun name I he was on my radar and I watched you know some some breakdowns on on from you know like

Thinking basketball on YouTube and stuff like that and read and read a whole bunch of scouting reports and I’m not a big big dra guy but what I knew coming in was like he’s supposed to have this excellent Court Vision like that’s what he is he’s going to be this modern point

Guard that really loves to pass and looks to pass and then at the beginning of the year either he was either forcing passes or he just couldn’t see him because the game he was moving only at 100 miles an hour and he was turning the

Ball over a whole bunch and all of these things and the last 10 days of scoot you can see him you can see him learning how to manipulate defenses you can see him playing with better change of pace in the half court and you can see him diming up his

Teammates he’s been really really solid he had a pass in the first half two of them actually in the first half in the second quarter kind of when he got rolling um you know he’s he checks he’s starting this game and he’s he’s they’re they’re clearly letting him play on the

Ball a lot and letting Malcolm brog play off the ball it’s I think it’s I think it’s a good a good way to to work it but he gets rolling in the second quarter he has one where he pushes the pace in transition uh push you know hard down

The hard right- hand drive Defenders cut him off so he can’t can’t get into the paint keeps a live dribble alive and Fades to the to the Baseline in the right corner Jabari wer cuts to the middle of the Court scoot threads a bounce pass in between two Defenders

Easy bucket off the dribble in Rhythm great pass great timing great weight on the pass just a great just just a really solid solid pass and it’s like nice that’s a dime nice nice feed then he has another one off a little uh sort of ghost screen and trans and

Like early offense to matis thel where he drives draws a Defender and he throws a wraparound pass into space where nobody is it’s behind the defender’s back as he throws it it’s behind a second Defender who’s guarding matis th’s back and matis isn’t even there yet

And the ball kind of just from his right from the right hand uh just outside the lane from the right hand side he throws a pass that Loops back and curves has that Back Spin curve towards the middle of the paint just into space matis thel

Comes you know finds the ball that kind of anticipates his cut it’s just it is just a svant level pass like it is it is a really high level pass from scoot great dime inside to matis thel bucket and then the best one you know he he finished with 11 assists in this

Game the best one though comes in the third quarter and he gets a screen from uh from Jabari Walker he’s on the right hand the right wing and he above the three-point line gets a screen uh comes off the screen gets middle gets the uh foul line but

They’re cutting him off right because they’re going to go under on screens they’re going to fight to make him take jumpers particularly take pullup jump shots he says all right that’s not there dribble dribble dribble pull back out but as he’s pulling like dribbling back out from the foul line but now beyond

The three-point line in Reverse tan Kumar cuts into space that has been now vacated because nobody got into the paint and tan Kumar’s a good cutter and Scoot Henderson whips a pass off the dribble with his right hand right over the top of Maliki brand in in stride the

Clean off the dribble a live ball okay go just kind of um barely any wasted movement from normal dribble to whipping a one-handed right-handed pass into the paint Kamar catches it scores easily at The Rim it is just the the sort of the vision the ability to dribble off the

Bounce excuse me pass off the bounce and the ability to scan the floor while you’re while you’re uh you know while you’re moving and while you’re um you know okay First Option wasn’t there okay wow he’s wide open bang like it’s just the anticipation the speed the accuracy

Of the pass like I said the weight on the pass the the ability to get it right over your defender’s head and right in the right spot just the highlevel passing we were promised he was so good and I think some of it is just Comfort playing against NBA level defenses right

It’s like um I think the the athleticism and the speed and the general size of guys was something he had to adjust to and Scoot was just trying to play too too fast he’s trying to out aete everyone um now he’s kind of figuring out that pace but he’s also just had a

Lot more reps and Reps matter it’s like okay this is like rookies take a little while to get there particularly uh point guard is the hardest position to learn in the league and he’s he’s taking a while to get there and he he just looks so much more

Comfortable but I think one of the big things about the the last couple games um is that he’s had more time on the ball without Shaden sharpen there there’s just like less mouse to feat it’s worse like you want sharp to play but there’s more time for with a three

Guard rotation for scoot to to be on the ball in the last two games they’ve clearly put an emphasis of him being on the ball like let him let him dribble and I think in this game when we saw the best version of scoot it’s when he got

To screen scan look push and transition know that he could keep that dribble alive know that he was going to get to be on like on the ball dribbling making decisions a whole bunch and that’s the that like that’s going to be the best version of him in the future you know we

Talk about like oh there’s you know he needs the ball in his hands scoot you know with a bunch of players oh it’s hard he needs the ball in his hands like everyone does that’s how you score like because you have the ball in your hands you shoot it but like scoot particularly

Because he’s not going to be um you know he’s he’s he’s probably you have to score to play in in the NBA as a point guard you cannot be you cannot be you cannot only pass you know what they call players that can’t score in the point

Guards who can’t score in the NBA they call them backups it’s just like if you’re going to be a high level starting pork gu in the league you have to score and Scoot scored 22 points hit three threes like um you know he didn’t get to the foul line till intentional foul late

Um but he’s been typically has been decent at getting to the foul line he drives you know he’s got strong right-and Drive he’s extremely right-handed um he’s he’s going to he’s going to be able to score because of if his pull-up shooting continues to improve and he’s he’s got the burst to

The rim and he’s shot really well from three but the thing that’s going to make him special is the playmaking and and much like kind of Dame before him Dame was a little different cuz he was more deliberate he’s looking to shoot more jumpers and all those things um I and he

Didn’t have that sort of um he he wasn’t he was looking to score he’s an offensive point guard like he’s one of the best offensive point guards in the history of the league uh like he’s just a different type of player um scoot is much more John Wall-E and that it’s like

Oh yeah I score because I need to but the thing I’m here to do is pass um like but Dame would need a screen rescreen survey okay ISO because I got the which I wanted to now attack like I think scoot’s best version of scoot is going

To be like that it’s going to be more time on the ball more time of possession maybe not higher usage right a usage rate only only measures the possessions you finish so shoot or get fouled or turn the ball over his usage might stay the same but his time of possession like

The actual stuff you can see on film that’s going to be the thing that I think gets adjusted because the best version of scoot needs time to to probe the defense pull back out get a second screens see the ball see all these things push in transition okay didn’t

Work pull back out run run some offense ball in his hand so he can make decisions survey and play that’s the best version of scoot and we saw it against the Spurs and full like let’s let’s like let’s let’s just like get ahead of the haters I think this was

Maybe the least talented team the Blazers will play all year long the this version of the Spurs without vikor wany this is a very very low on Talent type of team but who cares because you know good players do they also have good games against Bad teams they also have good

Games against Bad teams that’s what that’s how it works good players play well and they also play well against Bad teams scoop played well against a bad team great that’s what you want to see you want to see him continue to develop that confidence continue to develop that

Feel because then his gifts come out then his gifts start to start to show right he can really pass and the way you can really pass is by playing and really passing and getting developing that comfort and I think you saw scoot now getting more comfortable then you get to

See the creativity the you know some of his assists are just like natural one pass away and Malcolm brogon and Jeremy Grant shot really well from three so I think like the number of assists is maybe a little bit misleading but the the highlights not only did he have

Those three passes I talked about he had another one in which Taman Kar went and set a screen and then slipped the screen and Scoot through a little lob and toan Kamar finished the lob and Scoot loved that pass that put the Blazers up 26 in

The third quarter Spurs took a time out scoot was jumping up and down he was so excited to make that pass he loves to find guys and I think that might be the way that they end up having to use tan Kamara is as a screener and a cutter um

His play his you know his decisions off the dribble aren’t great and his shooting hasn’t been great but he’s a great cutter that’s his best skill on offense right now and as a screener or a person who slips the screen particularly because the Blazers are totally comfortable running small small screens

Not that Kamar Kamar small he like a power forward but like he won’t be the center it won’t be a one five pick and roll um I think that can help him get loose I think playing with the smaller lineups with more space is going to help

Scoot get loose I think I think what you’re starting to see is what scoot can be and then this just puts more onus on the Blazers to kind of iron out the roster so when everybody’s healthy scoot can continue to be this because you saw

The flashes of it the next test is to do it against really good teams because scoot has been he’s since he’s come back from injury and he’s come off the bat and he’s starting wearing the goggles and all these things like he looks skook

And hoop like he looks like a a a a rookie who is figuring it out which is if you listen to the podcast always what I thought he would be um a rookie who was figuring out that’s what the season was going to be the the folks calling

Him a bust are just people who love attention congratulations to you you got the attention you wanted you can still call him a bust you’ll can still continue to get more attention I I wish you the best of luck but like the real truth of scoo is that he was a young

Player figuring it out he seen him figuring out the last 10 days next can you do it against good basketball teams guess what the Blazers basically for the end of the month or the rest of the month rather it’s the first for the rest of the month they play basically only good

Teams only of their next 12 games only two teams currently as I’m recording this have losing records they’re going to play a bunch of good teams a bunch of them starting with a road trip in Phoenix on January 1st uh today today later this evening as you’re listening

To this you actually might be listening to it on the 31st cuz I’m going to publish it early but let’s talk about the road trip look ahead and talk about what’s up next for the Blazers and for scoot Henderson before we do that though I want to tell you about prize picks

It’s daily Fantasy Made Easy I play prize pick on the app uh but you can play it on prize.com loock innba and when you’re there use the promo code locked on NBA you got a first deposit match up to $100 and when they match your deposit dollar for dollar here’s

What you get to do with it you pick a ballot between two and six players you can pick a ballot super quickly or make an entry super quickly uh you can play whatever sport you want the NBA the NFL the NHL you can even play combos of

Those Sports uh right now on the app with these with with various combo leagues they’ve got but what what I do is I play the NBA because I’m one of most what I’m most comfortable with and it’s just me versus the stat projections set by prize picks and I go more or less

Than the the projections they set so things like points rebounds assists steals you look on the app you say Okay scoot Henderson over 6 and a half more than six and a half assists bang let’s go uh Malcolm Brogden more than 18 and a half points bang let’s go make your

Entry quickly get paid quickly once you do it but uh have why don’t I go have some fun with it prix.com loock on NBA and see what you’re into that’s prix.com lockon MBA use that promo code locked on NBA while you’re there it’s prize picks daily Fantasy Made

Easy still a pass first his point guard I’m still Mike Richmond you are still listening to locks on Blazers scoot Henderson’s hooping he can play he can play um a teenager figuring it out in the league and guess what his next test is a long road trip uh this is kind of

Like when you have a relatively home heavy heavy December you’re going to have a Rel the next month is likely to be relatively Road heavy and the Blazers start a seven game 15-day trip because as I’m recording this probably about to take off to fly to Phoenix they they

Play the Phoenix Suns then two games against the Mavericks then then they spend some time in New York and play the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks they come home back toback to close of the trip games six and seven against the Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves

Yeesh seven games six teams with winning records the only team with the losing record on that trip Brooklyn they play um Sunday January 7th in in Brooklyn uh the Nets are 15 and 17 um they cheated the game and they got cheated back and you love to see when the basketball Gods

Uh shine down upon us uh they rested a bunch of players against the bucks so then they come back and be healthy against the Wizards and they lost to the Wizards take that take that load management but Phoenix um you know Brad Beal’s back who knows like with their

Health and stuff and all their stars but Brad Bradley Beal’s back they’re talented enough to beat any team in the league uh even if they’ve been scuffling a little bit and the Blazers beat them recently two against Dallas um a team that can’t really guard but can score

Score score score score score score and as um kind of finding their bench depth with Kyrie Irving out but that’s a little time in Dallas you know they’ll be there on the second they play on the third they’ll stay overnight on the fourth they play on the fifth they’ll

Stay overnight on the sixth four four full days in Dallas so for a long road trip it’s like an extended an Extended Stay in the Metroplex to play to play the Mavs then from Dallas they go on to New York uh you know they’ll get to New

York on the sixth they play the Nets on the seventh they have a day off on the eth they play the Nicks Knicks on the ninth and then they’ll travel the next day so four days in New York in terms of um in terms of a really long trip you

Get two Extended Stays right in the right at the beginning of it a long stretch in Dallas and a long stretch in New York and then it gets really brutal they leave New York they’ll leave New York on the 10th because they’re a team that stays over and flies the next day

Chancey BS believes in rest and then and then not traveling early in the morning um Thursday January 11th uh you know 10 days from now 12 days from now they play uh Oklahoma City number two team in the west the next night the number one team in the West in Minnesota Timberwolves

They close a seven game trip with the two best teams in the Western Conference at OKC and at Minnesota those are schedule losses to me like I think that that Minnesota game is about as obvious a scheduled loss as there could possibly be it’s game seven of a seven game Road

Trip after two weeks on the road Road second night of a back toback flying from Oklahoma City North to Minneapolis to play that game that is a brutal one of course the Blazer probably win that’s kind of how they’ve been it’s like obvious second night of back-to-backs

And stuff like that they’ve kind of won in the games that they should win uh favored they’ve been favored in four games now they’re one and three in games that they’ve been picked to win like it’s just kind of who they are they win the tough ones they don’t always win the

Easy ones or the quote unquote easy ones easier ones but you know even after that back against Phoenix Brooklyn again Indiana the Lakers the Thunder the Rockets uh the Spurs basically this is the stretch where we’ll we kind of know who they are they’re just they’re not a

Very good team but I think the number one thing you want the Blazers to do during this stretch is get healthy um you want Diandre to play you want Shaden sharp to play you want D to get back in the in into the mix like you want them

To be healthy because once they’re healthy they can figure out what they are and what they want to be and what the rotation looks like and and you kind of get the maximum version of them and not just just like the okay we’re going to figure it out and and like we’re

Going to have to play baji and Moses Brown some minutes and kind of see if we can survive those times or we’re going to have to go super small and hopefully another team doesn’t beat us up because we’re super small you want them to go big and have all their options and be

Able to mix and match and see what it looks like with you know with all four guards playing and things like that like the number one thing you want them to see is get is is healthy uh you know I used to when in the past Seasons when

We’ look ahead to these road trips and say okay let’s see if they can go three and four and four and three and would be a su a successful seven game trip I don’t think this team is there to the point where we should talk about wins um

They’re just not that good and that’s fine they’re a team what you want them to see is continue to improve right scoot Henderson to not have big dips he’s going to have some dips up and down the variance of the sort of nature of life is you’re going to have good days

And bad days but like not those like six turnover five foul stinkers just like you know normal bad shooting night bounce back have a really good game you want to have you want to see Shaden sharp get healthy and figure out how he can be a contributor when he is not the

Feature part of the offense how can Shad sharp fit in as just as a complimentary part or if he can’t how can they just say okay we got to get sharp the ball get Anthony Simons back and have him continue to roll he’s averaging 27 on 60% shooting what does the offense look

Like when it’s when it’s you know fully functioning have Grant have have brogon play well hopefully you can get some nice minutes from da and if you go one and six on the trip so be it as long as you don’t get hammered in these games and you continue to like make progress

To figure things out this is a data collection season collect positive data from competitive games where you don’t get absolutely hammered and you’re playing you know 40 40 minutes of good of competitive basketball and then if you lose in the final eight because you don’t have enough Talent so be it I

Think that’s what a successful road trip looks like the the the win loss stuff does not matter to me in any meaningful way this is the last show of the year I’m recording this on December 31st uh a couple things one let’s there’s some news of the day I didn’t really want to

Lead with this cuz I think it’s kind of um it’s like silly engagement hunting uh OG and and noobi traded from the Toronto Raptors to the New York Knicks the Blazers were long rumored to be after OJ ogan anobi and were potentially offering him the pick that became Shaden

Potentially offering Toronto the pick that became Shaden sharp and potentially offering a pick centered around anony Simons um I don’t know if the Blazers are quote unquote better off not having made those trades right like they might have Damen lard on the roster if they

Still did that and then it’s in the eyes of the beholder whether they’re better off but I think what this is a lesson in is that when you are a team that needs to Pivot waiting is not always the best plan there are times when patience is a

Virtue and I think what the Raptors because they waited I think they got a worse deal um R RJ Barrett is kind of like your opinion I guess of what the Raptor Hall was which was RJ Barrett and uh and Emanuel quickley and a second round pick from this year from the

Pistons is likely to be a very good one of the top two picks in the second round a very good second rounder as far as those go um your opinion of RJ Barrett probably colors your opinion of this trade I don’t think he’s very good um

But he’s fine he’s like a starting level NBA player just but he’s fine to me he just really well paid and I think Emanuel quickley might has a chance to be a good very good player um but you know we’ll see what he’s like with a

Much larger role he’s been solid as heck for the for the Knicks and he shoots a bunch of fun floaters I like his game um but are these are either of those players better than athre Simons no are either is this second round pick a first

Round pick no it is not it is the second rounder it is the this is just like be careful what be careful uh we know we talk about team building a lot in this show and the sort of the lens of the Blazers I think this is the lesson right

Sometimes there is value in patience and sometimes you end up with without maybe the you know if the if the uh Memphis Grizzlies were really ever offering three first round picks which seems like a lot seems like a lie to me um the the Raptors did

A lot worse than the rumored three first round picks from the Grizzlies but if that if that deal just never existed um at some point if you don’t make moves you end up with worse moves um but I just want to throw that at the end of

The show because I think long long rumored Target for the Blazers um off off the board and headed to the Knicks um and the Blazers will see Oobi on uh January 9th when they head to madon square Garden the other thing I want to say as we wrap up here is thanks for

Making 2023 the best year of lockdown Blazers yet um the show continues to grow more of you continue to find it more of you continue to share it with your friends um this was the largest I’ve been doing this since 2019 I’ve been doing this five days a week since

Somewhere in the middle of 2020 uh I really sort of committed to making this show mine and and you have jumped on board we’ve been doing it on YouTube since 2021 um it’s we you know every year I’ve done this we’ve done more and better shows I feel like the show

Continues to improve and and uh this was the most uh successful year I’ve ever had doing the program and I could not do it and would not do it without you so if you’re listening to this thanks thanks and Happy New Year and thanks for making this um thanks for making this possible

For me I couldn’t do I literally couldn’t and would not do it without you so thank you I appreciate you um let’s keep doing it that’s what we do uh the C the flip to the calendar is not going to change anything five days a week wherever you get podcasts it’s also on

YouTube tell your friends about the program uh Blazers play the Suns on Monday in Phoenix so Tuesday show coming out January 2nd we we’ll recap that one 5 days a week wherever you get a podcast also on YouTube I appreciate you listening I’ll talk to you Soon

Scoot Henderson was hooping, Jerami Grant and Malcolm Brogdon were making shots and the Portland Trail Blazers got a bounce back win over the San Antonio Spurs. This was the best game of Scoot’s career. You can see the vision.

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOBlazers?sid=YouTube

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

Watch the show and subscribe on YouTube
📺 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeE7WdPaNWwA-IZGfHek90Q?sub_confirmation=1

Music for Locked On Blazers by Drae Slapz. Find more of Drae’s work here: https://ffm.bio/thedraeslapz

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
eBay Motors
For parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.

BetterHelp
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDONNBA today to get 10% off your first month.

PrizePicks
Go to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnba and use code lockedonnba for a first deposit match up to $100!

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase.

FanDuel
Score early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
#TrailBlazers #NBA