Portland Trail Blazers: Scoot Henderson or Brandon Miller – Part 2 G-League Guard
Andrew Elderbaum
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Concerns
Shot selection remains one of his biggest question marks. Henderson took a ton of contested mid-range 2’s last year and barely made 30% of them. His three-point shooting was also atrocious, and even with his new mechanics, the wasn’t much overall improvement.
It’s possible Scoot didn’t see enough game action for it to translate, but teams are going to be concerned with his shot. He can be too loose with the ball and occasionally makes sloppy turnovers. Usually, it happens when he leaves his feet in the lane without a plan, or when he gets tunnel vision and weak side defenders jump his passing lanes.
His jump drives are the bigger issue, and most times Henderson would be better off trying to initiate contact than trying to pass through defenders. There’s some shades of Ja Morant in his reckless drives to the paint.
Defensively Henderson is a mixed bag. He’s small and easy to bully when he’s defending on the ball. He needs to improve his footwork and strength, or bigger guards will go right through him at the next level unless he improves his footwork and adds some muscle. Also, because Henderson is 6-2 teams will always try to switch bigger wings on him for an advantage, so his team will need to adjust accordingly.
It’s not all bad. He’s an energetic defender and can disrupt when he’s off the ball. Weak-side steals tipped passes, and kicked balls are all part of his repertoire. He’s even shown the ability to block shots from behind when he’s beaten because of his speed and leaping ability. He’ll never be a DPOY candidate, but he can be useful in the right scheme.
The Fit
Scheme is important and bring s the conversation to his fit with the Portland Trail Blazers, and therein lies the problem. Portland already has Damian Lillard, Anfernee Simons, and Shaedon Sharpe.
Sharpe can slide up to the wing, but the other three are all too small. There likely won’t be enough minutes for everyone.
Also does Dame want to watch Scoot dribble for 10 seconds and then launch a bad mid-range jumper ten times a night while he develops? Lillard and Scoot can’t play at the same time for any real minutes. Their size, defensive shortcomings, and need to have the ball would be a disaster.
Simons can play off of either, and his shooting would help give Scoot space to work. Unfortunately, the Portland Trail Blazers would still be an undersized defensive mess with Simons and either Dame or Scoot.
