Scoot Henderson has earned the starting spot.
After a bit of a rough start to his rookie campaign with the Portland Trail Blazers, combo guard Scoot Henderson has been finding his footing in the NBA as of late. The Blazers haven’t made up much ground in the Western Conference Standings as part of what seems to be a lost season for the franchise following the departure of Damian Lillard via a trade to the Milwaukee Bucks this past offseason; however, Henderson is beginning to flash the unique combination of size, athleticism, and skill that convinced Portland to take him with the third overall pick this past NBA draft.
In fact, so stark has been Henderson’s rise in recent weeks that Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, who knows a thing or two about being an elite NBA point guard, recently made the decision to promote him to the starting lineup for Thursday evening’s home game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Recently, Billups broke down what went into the decision to start the rookie against the best defense in the NBA.
“The biggest thing is he deserves it. He’s just played really well,” said Billups, per Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “…I’ve wanted him to earn everything he gets. And he’s done that.”
Billups added that as things stand now, Henderson projects to be in the starting lineup “for the rest of the season,” per Highkin.
This decision is sure to give Blazers fans something to cheer for even as the team struggles to stack wins.
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