Trail Blazers Confident in High Upside of Recent Draft Pick

Could he become an All-Star level talent?

The Portland Trail Blazers will enter the new NBA season looking to be more competitive after finishing the year 21-61 last season. While the Trail Blazers aren't looking to contend for a title, Portland is looking for growth and development from their young players.

In today's world, players are expected to make the leap in the league fairly quickly. There is very little patience for younger players as teams have a lot of pressure on them to win right away.

Despite this, Portland seems to be taking a slow approach to its rebuild and will be trying to see who will fill the core pieces for the future. One player in particular is someone that the Trail Blazers are very excited about.

That would be guard Scoot Henderson, who will be entering his second season in the NBA. The former No. 3 overall pick didn't have a bad first season in the league but it wasn't overly great either.

He averaged 14.0 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game. But his shooting from beyond the 3-point line left something to be desired, coming in at 32.5 percent.

To his credit, he did deal with some injuries last season that hampered him a little. But his explosiveness on the court still gives Portland a reason to believe in him moving forward.

He uses his ability to get to the rim as an advantage, blowing by potential defenders. If Henderson gets fouled on his way to the basket, he hit 81.9 percent of his free-throw shots a year ago.

Henderson has the frame to become a versatile player on both ends of the floor. His defensive instincts are solid and can only get better with more experience going up against NBA competition.

One area that Henderson will need to show improvement on is turning the ball over. He averaged a whopping 3.4 turnovers per game, a number that will haunt him if he doesn't clean things up.

His on-ball creation skills have Portland buzzing and was a big reason why the team decided to draft him out of the G-League. Replacing a star like Damian Lillard also is a tough ask for a young player so entering year two, things could be a little easier for Henderson.

While the Trail Blazers are willing to be patient with Henderson, they won't wait forever. He needs to show that he can become an All-Star-level talent this season, otherwise, Portland could look elsewhere down the line.

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