The Blazers Land Scoot Henderson And Now The World Waits To See What Happens With Damian Lillard
Arturo Holmes. Getty Images.
Advertisement
We had a little bit of a #SourceOff between Shams and Woj when it came to the #2 pick. Woj was adamant all along that the Hornets were going with Brandon Miller. Shams came in and said not so fast my friend it's actually going to be Scoot Henderson. Just your classic #SourceOff between these two that we seem to get every year.
In the end, Woj won
I imagine the Blazers were pretty happy with that decision given that it enabled them to be able to draft Scoot Henderson
who many projects to be an absolute monster point guard, the type you build your franchise around. That's significant of course because the Blazers also happen to already employ a player just like that in Damian Lillard. The entire debate heading into this draft was if the Blazers should move that pick for win now help or just draft someone and move Dame. That obviously did not happen before tonight, and now the question turns to is the next step a post Draft trade or a trade later tonight. Remember, all the reporting about this suggests that Dame is in no way interested in a youth movement/additions. He wants win now talent
Advertisement
If you have to trade your franchise point guard, I would say drafting the next franchise point guard to pair with whatever you get in return for Dame makes some sense. I also don't think you can totally rule out the Blazers still moving Scoot if the right situation presents itself, but in my gut I feel like this is probably it for Dame. I guess maybe they could stick it out for next year and then jsut move Dame next summer, but you may as well strike when his value is at its highest.
Is that MIA? BKN? A mystery team? That's the million dollar question. The first box to check was where Scoot would end up, and now that we know it's the Blazers for all we know this is just the first domino to fall. For all we know, the entire landscape of the NBA could change by the end of the night, that's technically what's on the table for the rest of the Draft and then again as we enter free agency in a few weeks.
If Dame can't bring himself to ask for the trade, I do wonder if the team will now just make the decision for him and just send him where he wants to go. That's usually how these things work.