Joe Freeman of the Oregonian is the latest to report on the opportunity Scoot Henderson has been given while Ja Morant recovers from his hamstring injury. Henderson’s play on the court, which head coach Micah Nori deemed “fine”, has implications beyond just Blazers wins and losses. Scoot is playing out what could potentially be the last year of his contract. His performance in Ja’s absence will go a long way to determine his NBA future.
According to Henderson, he’s giving his contract situation little
thought.
“It’s not something that’s kind of my main focus,” Henderson said. “I don’t want to downplay it at any level, because that’s a thing in this league, it’s hard to ignore. But my main thing is to play the best basketball. The more you start to think about contracts, … things outside of basketball, the business aspect, that’s where you kind of get caught up in your mind, like, ‘I’ve got to make it, I’ve got to force things.’ And I feel like I am too hard on myself. And I feel like it’s going to be a test to come in and just calm down and play hard as hell, be myself out there, have fun.”
Nori agreed with Scoot’s assessment that he’s too hard on himself. The Blazers coach hopes a more optimistic approach with his young point guard will help his confidence.
“There’s no one harder on Scoot than Scoot himself,” Nori said. “So it’s almost like, I don’t want him to dwell on the negative. I want him to look at the positive. And the other thing is, I don’t want him to overthink and try to be an orchestrator. I want Scoot to be Scoot. Just play.”
Nori isn’t the only one in Scoot’s corner, veteran Jrue Holiday also heaped praise on his less-experienced understudy.
“I love where Scoot is,” Holiday said. “I love that he’s being aggressive on both ends of the floor. There may be a couple shots I don’t want him to pass up — I’d like to see him shoot a little more. But I think he’s doing great.”
Scoot’s shaky play has done nothing to rattle the organization’s confidence in the former third overall pick’s future with the team. Or if it has, they’re not letting on. Nori summed up the teamwide belief the Blazers have in Henderson when he said, “Scoot knows that we want him to be a Blazer long-term.”
Scoot Henderson’s play leaves a lot to be desired, but at least knows he can lean on his teammates’ unwavering conviction while he figures things out.
His next opportunity comes Wednesday in Phoenix.
