In-Person Scouting Notes: Portland Trail Blazers at Washington Wizards
Shaedon Sharpe shines bright in the road win
I attended the Blazers vs Wizards game and wanted to quickly share some of my thoughts from the game:
Right off the bat (and this continued all night) Kyshawn George got overpowered defensively. He can be bullied out of his spots, which led to multiple shooting fouls. George’s defensive liability status puts more pressure on him to hit jumpers at a high rate, which means his room for error is slim offensively.
I thought it was odd how often the offense ran through Khris Middleton. It was likely a bit of showcasing for a potential trade after Middleton likely opts into his $34M player option for next season, but still a bit puzzling how much of the keys to the offense he had.
Jordan Poole is incredibly skilled with the ball in his hands. However, his decision-making is poor and so is his defense. It was also eye-raising how Smart and Poole only shared the floor for three minutes (Poole played 30.5 minutes, Smart played 20.5 minutes). The stark difference between the two defensively couldn’t be more obvious: Poole gambles for plays and goes almost exclusively for steals, whereas Smart is methodical, fights through screens, and talks a ton defensively.
Speaking of defense: Bilal Coulibaly is a fantastic defender, but the lack of help around him on that end can minimize his defensive proweess. Adding a premier defender, like a Cooper Flagg at the top of the draft, would go such a long way to maximize his defensive impact.
Shaedon Sharpe could be PG1 if he was better at playmaking in the paint on full speed drives from the top of the key. He does a good job of passing under the rim off of baseline drives, usually coming from spot up attacks, but needs to be better when coming off of isolation and out of the top of the key. He is close to taking a playmaking step, and it could be maximized with a roster shakeup.
Another area for improvent for Sharpe is shot selection. He forces too many tough shots near the rim off of drives, and can be too stubborn about finishing his fantastic driving moves.
Ending on a positive with Sharpe, that dunk is probably the second best dunk I’ve ever seen in person, short of the Aaron Gordon Christmas dunk vs Phoenix. If you have never seen Sharpe play live, he is worth the price of admission to the arena. I have seen him three times in person and each time he has thrown down a monster dunk that gets the crowd gasping.
Corey Kispert had a stellar second half, going for 14 points on 5-9 shooting and a perfect 4-4 from three. Kispert is fully deserving of contributing to a playoff team as early as next season off the bench.
An unexpected big game was veteran Richaun Holmes, who did a great job finishing lobs and contributing as a roll man to eat space. He finished with a perfect 7-7 shooting for 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists. His play was a big part of the game being so close all night. Holmes is on his last legs in the league, but still nice to see a veteran have an impactful game like this.
Lastly, Donovan Clingan’s defense remains underrated as a rookie. He was in drop coverage all night, and impacted the shot quality of the Wizards, forcing them to shoot threes when he went under screens because they didn’t want to challenge him (and the gameplan was to shoot threes). There are some mobility concerns, but I still buy the elite defensive upside for him, as well as the label of him being the future rim presence for Portland.