Scoot Henderson was the 3rd pick in the NBA Draft this year, and his season has been full of ups and downs. Scoot’s beginning of the season looked promising as he showed flashes of athleticism and speed. The only problem was that the Blazers were losing almost every game. Scoot seemed to decline increasingly as time progressed, and his playtime decreased substantially. Eventually, he was moved down to the G-League, a move by the Portland managers to help him gain confidence and adapt to an NBA style of play. However, that only lasted about a week as he started playing exceptionally well in the G-League. Recently, Scoot has played very well. According to ESPN, he is averaging about 12.5 points per game, five assists per game, and shooting an excellent 31% from three. These are substantial numbers as he is a rookie and the third option on his team behind Shaedon Sharpe and Anfernee Simons.
At the beginning of the season, Scoot assured everyone that he would be the rookie of the year. This was not looking good for him at the beginning of the season, but as of now, he is about fourth in the race behind Chet Holmgren, Brandon Miller, and Victor Wembenyama, according to ESPN. If Scoot continues to play as well as he has been and takes a jump at the end of the season, he could secure that award even with Wembenyama and how dominant he has been in just his first year.
Scoot has a game that can be compared to Ja Morant of the Grizzlies and Anthony Edwards of the Timberwolves. Both these players are young superstars in the league who have a very fast, slashing playstyle, whose main strengths are their finishing around and above the rim and their speed and agility on defense. I like how Scoot has been playing, as he has been very helpful to the Blazers and could turn their season around if he starts playing to his full potential. That also means that the coaching staff and management must use him to his full potential instead of suppressing his talent and not using it significantly.
Scoot is a generational talent and arguably one of the most talented players in the entire league. His roof is very high, and we see him at his lowest. Many more outstanding performances are to come. Some people think scoring points is the only thing that matters regarding the NBA. However, Scoot is a terrific passer on the Blazers’ offense. He is in the top 30 in the league regarding assists, which is very good, seeing as he only gets about 28 minutes a game, according to ESPN. He is also a very solid defender and is hard to score on. Taking all of this into account, Scoot is almost guaranteed to start emerging as a star in the league either by the end of this season or by the start of next season.
