Trail Blazers Announce Summer League Roster with No Scoot Henderson

Trail Blazers Announce Summer League Roster with No Scoot Henderson

in today’s show the Blazers released their summer league roster and there is one obvious Omission where’s scoot welcome to lockdown Blazers let’s get into [Music] 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 first point guard and Trailblazers reporter Mike Richmond you’re listening to another episode of lock on Blazers part of the lock on podcast network available wherever you get Podcast and also on YouTube thanks for making the show your first listen coming at you each and every weekday Monday through Friday so make it a part of your daily routine make your first listen tell your friends to do the same it’s lockdown Blazers your team every day in today’s show we are talking Blazer summer league the team officially announced their summer league roster which begins uh next weekend in Vegas summer league practice will start this this coming week and then next week in Vegas the games will kick off and the Blazers will play four and potentially more if they win enough probably got to go four and0 to make the championship but four games in Vegas uh and the impossible thing to ignore is that when you look at the roster scoot Henderson’s name’s not on the list well let’s we’ll talk about that in the uh in the first segments uh I want to give my like sort of first blush looking at this roster before we really get into it for the game start kind of who I’m going to be watching and how I’m going to be watching those players and some names you need to know as a Blazers head for Vegas next week and then finally some news out of Australia matis thel is not going to Paris did not make the final 12-man roster for the Aussies what’s going on there we’ll talk about that in a little Olympic Roundup to close the show let’s start here with the Blazers roster they they announced their summer league roster and um you know there’s there’s there’s the names you’d expect Donovan kingan only rookie that they drafted this year he’s there Ryan ruper back in Action Chris Murray back in Action Justin manah their two recent two-way Reign is going to be there along with uh Jackie sway who they signed who worked out for them during the pre-draft process and then they signed to an exhibit 10 contract an exhibit 10 contract is basically like guaranteed incentive money to send someone to your g-league team so um I think sway will likely end up being on the remix um but you look you look at the roster and the number one thing you notice is that scoot heners name isn’t on the list and I think this is notable I don’t think in the grand scheme of NBA development a week of practice and four games in in in Las Vegas are going to have any material impact on scoot Henderson’s development or outcome or any of those things right his his budding chemistry with young big man Don vling and it is not going to be damaged or impacted in any way by his participation or lack thereof in summer league right like in in the grand scheme it’s it’s totally meaningless um but it’s notable that you don’t see his name on this roster because quite quite simply scoot wasn’t good last year he had some moments at the end of the season where he looked very promising right where it was like okay I can see the outlines of a good NBA player I can see the the playmaking and and and some sort of better decision making and a little bit better scoring efficiency although it never really ramped up for for any consistent run but for the most part for the vast majority of the Season scoot Henderson was a bad NBA player plenty of rookies are bad right plenty of rookies are bad but scoot was bad in a way that was probably surprising to the franchise certainly surprising to the fan base and like he struggled he was someone who struggled he he he rightfully lost his starting spot because he wasn’t good enough to keep it and they wanted to give him the keys to the boat they started him night one of the season they thought he was going to be ready and he just clearly was not which again doesn’t really mean much for years two three and 10 but that type of player a rookie who wasn’t very good and could just use more reps more seasoning and more uh probably like just close full watchful minutes under the instruction of the Blazers coaching staff that’s the exact type of player you bring to Vegas that’s the exact type of player the goal and and I will mention like I will highlight like the Blazers did this you don’t need to say like oh they don’t they don’t do this or like give me an example here’s an example I’ll offer you one they did it with Shane sharp sharp was played you know he played 80 games he basically missed one game his rookie season um don’t let anyone tell you he was hurt his rookie year he missed literally one game and then they held him out of another game to tank um he he would have played in 81 games his rookie year if he had been able to but he wasn’t very good like the the beginning of of Sharp’s um NBA tenure he looked like someone who was making the leap from high school basketball to the NBA because he was he was of the worst like regular big minute players in like regular rotation players in the NBA then he had a great run at the end of the season a 10 game stretch to close the year 11 game stretch to close the year if you want to include um the game against Utah Damen Lord’s final game in a Blazer uniform where it’s like oh this dude can hoop and he after year one which was a rocky year one that showed some much more promise than scoots to be clear um they played him in summer league he played he played because it would be normal to play and two summer leagues is about as much as anyone could ever need um I know that in in Blazer’s past this is eight nine years ago they like kind of begged Alan Krab to come to a third summer league because they were like please you need it like we we really want you to play different regime different era different time all of those things but like as recently as last season a a decorated and high minute rookie who had played went back for a year two in Vegas and they are not asking scoot to play in Vegas whether that scoot’s preference or the team’s preference or some combination of I imagine we will get some reporting this week about what that kind of looks like but I would say and and again I don’t think this is Meaningful like I don’t think this is like I don’t think this is like organizational malpractice or like a just like it’s just notable this is a this is a notable Omission from the roster it’s like a thing that you look at and say huh no scoot uh because like he could play and what you what you would want like the goal for scoot in these games um would be to graduate out of Summer League uh you would like have him play game one and look good have him play game two and look really good and say you’re good dude like you can go home or you you know or you can stay for the week and and and cheer on your teammates or whatever but like you’re not going to play anymore you’ve you’ve spent two days you spent the first weekend in Vegas and that’s that and you’re good to go like we don’t need to see any more from you but that would give him practice reps um because they will practice a little bit in Vegas but they’ll practice the week of in uh leading up to Vegas in in at the at the practice facility they’ll get they get real real reps there and you get a couple games and and a game in between the Blazers play Saturday and Monday so I imagine they’ll have a Sunday practice in Vegas next week so like just some time with the coaching staff to play games get get like full speed reps against teams against players wearing a different Jersey on you know games that are refed and all of those things with the clock and all that like real organized basketball summer league is like not super organized but certainly more organized and pickup um like get those get those reps in and then graduate out of it that’s what you’d want you like you want like in the I’d say like the ultimate goal for scoot is to play about something like 55 to 60 Minutes of Summer League basketball and then be done with it but instead he’s going to end up with zero I will I I’ll be very curious to figure to learn what um how this decision came about because if the decision is we just didn’t think he needed it that’s really bizarre and I like quite frankly don’t believe it I assume maybe scoot didn’t want to go like that that’s has to be part of it or um it’s just a really weird it’s an odd decision um again not impactful not meaningful don’t don’t extrapolate it out to like anything else just like note it for what it is it’s a weird it’s kind of weird that that this is the way they’re doing it um but there are some players that I think are are useful to watch um in summer league let let’s talk about you know watching Donan kingan and Ryan ruper and and Chris Murray and and how to kind of watch summer league um uh as an amateur then and then some other names to know on the rest of the Blazers roster join me in that third in that second segment and that’s what we’ll talk about won’t you first though I want to tell you about eBay Motors there’s three words you need to know passion drive and patience it’s the formula for winning championships and it’s also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and leveled up to Peak Performance whether that’s superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you’re into speed or power or style eBay Motors has got you covered with over 122 Million Parts to choose from for your number one ride or die you’re always going to find exactly what you’re looking for and with eBay guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back because with eBay Motors you’re burning rubber baby not cash with all the parts 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league to some extent last year to as like a as a way to find a player that could help the roster um so I think that’s notable um but baji not b not being there is I I would put it I like to say this in the show and I’ll say it here like put a star on put a star next to it but baji not being in some Su league is is worth is worth starring there’s four players that are that are on the roster or on the you know portions of the Blazers roster that that are going to be the focus for me when I watch summer league um you know I’ll be curious to see what Jackie sway is like a 68 Ford who’s playing professionally in China last year um HJ Lee played at Davidson and is a um is a bucket uh played professionally in spent a year in the g- league and professionally and and and uh in Australia and I knew about him in college I I I’ll definitely keep an eye on him um Alex Reese played of the remix um when I went to go see the remix game someone who had watched them a bunch told me you’ll like this guy he never misses immediately Alex ree can to three shot 40 some 40 almost 45% from three in the G League like he’s kind of a stretchy big he’s he’s worth keeping an eye on uh for me tur quavian Smith who had two-way contract with Philly and is now joining the Blazers G League team he’s like a 64 bucket like 64 160s L’s at60 he like a skinny Bucket from NC State um yeah those are like the non guys I’ll keep an eye on but like the players I’m going to watch are on the roster and for me that’s what it’s all about it’s like seeing guys can make the team and they can get you know professional opportunities in those situations by by by playing well in summer league right and so much of summer league is like doing agents a favor hey can you get my guy some playing time can you get my guy on a roster can you get him some minutes and all of these things but like for the Blazers purposes and for the purposes of this podcast and as sort of like the uh arm the armchair and analysis out there like analysts out there um you watch the roster guys I’m really curious to see what Donovan kingan looks like in his summer league it’s not a great environment for a player with Donovan kingan skill set like he’s not a dribble guy um it’s mostly a activity for folks who can dribble it’s a really good place if you’re a Score first guard um jaquavian Smith he might Tren Smith might have some games in summer league um but like it does but you can watch the functionality of of of of what they do um the Blazers going to be coached Again by Jonah hu an assistant on on chony staff and like for the most part chony Chon’s under the the Chon’s tenure as a coach like the Blazers have shown what they’re going to do they’ve like okay and summer league we’re going to play a bunch of zone or we’re going to we’re going to try this and that and like you can kind of say like okay that’s that’s easily going to translate so like how they use kinging on offense how they use him on like how impactful is he on defense what kind of what kind of actions do they ask him to run on offense where do they use him on defense is they exclusively drop when he plays Zone how does he move his feet like all all those things that’s kind of the basic stuff I just don’t expect like I don’t think klling is going to have like a 20 and 10 game just because I don’t know that they’re G he’s going to get enough sort of like pick and roll stuff to make it happen but he could get some garbage buckets and he has okay touch and he might surprise me on offense and maybe he’ll get there but again like I I I’m not sure this is a great setting for Bigs that don’t shoot and don’t um and don’t do a lot off the bounce and kingan his impact is going to be on defense and that’s maybe uh maybe will be felt in uh in another setting but he might be impactful on defense in summer league it’s it’s more organized than it has been in the past I’m pretty curious to see what Ryan ruper becomes because if you remember back to last year in his first summer league he looked awful he looked he just so raw like he just clearly wasn’t ready he couldn’t dribble um like he just he just wasn’t ready to play at that like level of competition and that translated to the league where it took him a long time to get um to earn trust in in the Blazers system and and uh like get regular minutes and all of those things like it it just took him a long time I’d love to see ruper like and and I think one the the two ways to think about like summer league is like you like for kinging it’s like how will he be used how will this directly translate and for a guy like uh Ryan ruper and to the same extent Chris Murray it’s like you want to see them be asked to do way the heck more than they would on a normal like ruper is surprised in the end of last season because he shot pretty well like it’s like he looked pretty good as a shooter mostly stand still shooting but a little bit of movement shooting maybe a couple step backs here and there but like he was better at the only thing he was good at on offense was making threes which was like huh that’s pretty cool he wasn’t supposed to be a shooter maybe he can maybe he can grow into into sort of like a a real three and D wing and he has that he has that potential because obviously has some interest and want to on defense and he’s really long but like I don’t want to see Ryan ruper be a spot-up shooter in summer league I want to give him the ball and let him run pick and roll and make mistakes and like make reads and like have do something that’s way outside of his role way outside of his normal comfort zone Way Beyond what he’d be asked to do in a normal BL Blazer game like put more on his plate than he can handle and see what he does and I feel the same way with Chris Murray I want Chris Murray to be like a go-to offensive player on the Blazer summer league that’s what’s holding Murray back right now he can’t shoot um but if he can’t shoot you know you can improve in shooting and maybe he’ll get a little bit better but he’s if he can’t shoot he has to do other stuff on offense and and and that’s what I’d love to see it’s like what is he like with the ball in his hands making plays what is he like trying to create his own offense inside the ark as it not just a standstill shooter because you know his first season the pros he’s pretty pretty serious negative because they didn’t guard him as a standstill shooter and he missed shots then he seemed to lose little confidence was taking less of those shots it’s like let’s instead of worrying about what Chris Murray can’t do let’s see what other stuff he might be able to do in a setting where might is totally a reasonable is like a reasonable measuring stick it’s like can do this oh no well okay it doesn’t matter like truly truly this game doesn’t like can’t matter so for both of those guys for for ruper and for Murray it’s like see what they let them let them expand their games like let them do more stuff I feel similarly about Justin manah but it’s like he’s a two-way guy and the Blazers have a lot of like like straight up like rupair and Murray are if the if the Ross if the game if the if the regular season was going to start today and the Blazers roster is full I don’t think Ryan ruper or Chris Murray would have a night one rotation spot I think they’re behind players in the on the in the roster I think the two top two forwards are very obviously Denny AIA and Jeremy Grant Choose Your Own Adventure on who plays what position people care about that more than me um the backup to forwards uh mati thel is going to play and I think it’s a pretty safe bet that Jabari Walker is ahead of both ruper and and Murray as like today day one uh if if the if the NBA regular season was to start in the middle of July I don’t think ruper has a spot has has a spot I don’t think Chris Murray has a spot uh the Blazers you know they could still make plenty of roster moves and all of those things and hopefully they will and they don’t run back the exact same group but if if they do run back this group that they have now like Murray and Murray and uh and ruper are out of out of the rotation like they’re they’re on the they’re on the fringes of the rotation and Justin maniah is behind those two dudes because he’s a he’s like a similar player some extent and a two-way guy so I don’t have as much like I want to see Justin manah do this but any positives from him will obviously cover and highlights like if he continues to improve as an offensive player it’s it is worth noting and knowing and highlighting and all of those things um but that’s like that I think like I said I think there’s two ways to watch summer league that you either watch for how does this guy fit in a realistic here’s the role he’s going to have in the NBA or how does this guy fit in a totally unrealistic role where he’s asked to do way more and kind of depending on the type of player they are and the type of roster I think with this roster ruper and Murray are the expansive roles and kingan is the specific role type of guy and those are like the sort of the two minds in which I will go about evaluating summer league players play four games of Summer League starting Saturday July 13th against the Spurs then uh Monday they play Philly Tuesday a back the second night of a back toback against Washington and then they wrap up their schedule July 19th against the Hornets um I they’re doing the championship thing so you gotta you know win win your games and win your games by and the point margin matters and all those things you lose twice you’re done you go three and one you have a chance you go 4-0 you’re probably in the championship that’s how it works uh we’ll talk more about summer league into next week as we probably Friday show next week preview the week ahead in Vegas uh it’s it used to be a little mom and Poppy out there in Vegas not every team went the games weren’t always on TV um it was just a little bit different now it’s a big television event all of these games are easy to watch on TV and will be broadcast on television with like um people in polos who are not talking about the game but uh I’ll talk about the games here it’s like um summer League’s Chang it’s like a big deal and the whole NBA is there um if if you’re probably too late to make your choice to go because we’re a week away but in the future like the first weekend is the time to go to summer league the whole NBA that is there it’s really fun it’s really fun you’ll see It’ll be like um you know you’ll see like darl Mory and Denny a and LeBron James and for some reason Chris Bosch and like and it’ll be it’s like the whole league is there the whole NBA family is there you’ll be playing you know uh crap said the casino and all of a sudden the whole like Blazers analytics staff will also be at the table next to you it’s like a it’s a it’s a fun time if you get a chance to go always go early in that first weekend it’s a whole bunch of fun um speaking of fun trips matis thel isn’t taking one what the heck is going on with the Aussies let’s talk about it to close the [Music] show all right still a pass firsts point guard I’m still Mike Richmond you’re still listening to lockon Blazers the news came out today F I’m recording this on Friday um July 5th this is Friday July 5th show uh this one’s late because um the 4th of July is a birthday in my house so it’s always a big celebration uh and your boy just didn’t have it in him to make make a late night episode and I was uh doing other stuff this morning so this is this one’s super late in the day I apologize but you got five I promised you five you’re getting five it’s here and on Friday it was announced that the the Australian men’s national basketball team the the the Olympic team for Australia the Boomers announced their squad and matis thel isn’t on it huh huh that’s a surprise I called him on this very show had but previewing the Olympics and who might very be there I said him and duop breath were locks to make it for Australia so don’t even worry about a team that already qualified they’re both you know guaranteed to be on the team so don’t even worry about it I didn’t worry about it and then this news comes out today and maybe we should have worried about it what a weird thing here’s here’s here’s the real deal I don’t know enough about the sort of politics and layers of the Australian men’s national team and the Australian basketball team so like tell you H how this came about but I did read a story on new news.com.au in which many Aussies were puzzled baffled and angry that matis is not on the team like and and and some of it was pointed at Matthew delova and and and others like as a as a very notable Omission I mean like like I say like scoots Omission from Summer League doesn’t matter because it doesn’t this matters right like matis Thy might not be um you know missing this cycle in in 2024 means that he might he just might not play in 2028 he might he might the relationship might be done and he might get you know he was going to get a chance to play two more Cycles probably just because of his age with with the Australian national team and now Australian team and now he’s not like now he might not he might not be in the 2028 Olympics either that stinks um so I I I can’t speak to like the whole rationale but it seems to be that there is it is more to it than just a basketball decision or if it is just a basketball decision it’s a bad one I think is is my read on it from reading the um news you know news based reporters based and and columnist based in in Australia who have a much closer much closer view of it than I do um doop Reed’s going to be there uh they’re kind of light at center with jacqu LEL and and doop as their only as their only centers so you’ll get to see doop at the end of July when when things kick off the the games start well the opening ceremonies July 26th and then uh the next 20 days of following that are the Olympics and so you’ll get to see duop but you won’t get to see which that’s a bummer um that’s it’s it’s a curious it’s a it’s a curious one in a bummer and and obviously if there’s some more hard reporting on how what went down I’ll share it on the show but um that’s what you need to know for now uh so right now only one Blazer in the Olympics only one Blazer in the Olympics is duop reath um deand Raiden’s got a chance uh they the his team the Bahamas they play Lebanon in the semifinals of their Valencia based their spain-based uh uh qualifying tournament excuse me and they he they play Lebanon in the semis and then if they win they’re very likely to play host Spain Sunday 11:30 a.m. uh Portland time uh in in Valencia for a winner take all shot at the Olympics that should be a fun one I hope you know I hope it’s Spain versus the Bahamas and we get a really good International game to see see who advances and see if da can join doop as the two Blazers centers in the Olympics uh that’s going to do it for today’s show I appreciate you listening come back for more next week that’s what we do five days a week wherever you get Podcast and also on YouTube tell your friends about the program uh sorry this one was a little bit late but hopefully it gives you a little something to listen to into your weekend I appreciate you listening I’ll talk to you soon [Music]

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