Portland Trail Blazers: The balancing act between now and later
Chris Phillips
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The Project
The Portland Trail Blazers have been down this road before when it comes to selecting a player with a potentially high ceiling but currently isn’t close to that level yet. It wasn’t all that long ago that Simons was in a similar situation. Rip City fans remember that Simons was a young kid who scouts projected had a very high ceiling in his future.
However, not everyone was convinced that he could reach his ceiling. They did agree it would take time and proper development for Simons to reach his potential. In 2021-22, they were proved right. Another example of a developmental project is Nassir Little.
Last year Blazers fans got to see the reward of that draft selection. Now, the Portland Trail Blazers are back at it again with Sharpe. Mr. YouTube is the nickname I’ve given him as the only footage of him playing can be found on YouTube.
He is another player whose range of possible outcomes is anywhere from draft bust to All-Star. If the Portland Trail Blazers can repeat their developmental success with Sharpe, then a future backcourt pairing of Simons and Sharpe will be awesome.
The 6’6”, 200-pound Canadian is listed as a shooting guard. But with his size can also play small forward. He is a long, strong, bouncy wing player who loves to attack the rim. Unfortunately, his decision-making and shooting need work, as well as his ball-handling. Regardless, he shows great promise and compares to former Portland Trail Blazers first round pick Brandon Roy.
Shaedon Sharpe is heading to Portland with the No. 7 pick! @brhoops
Sharpe, Dame, Simons
Blazers have a scary back-court 👀 pic.twitter.com/n9d8epm4Ua
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 24, 2022