Blazers Give Sharpe a Promise?

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handiman said:
And what exactly was Sharpe's situation? I've yet to see that explained. That is a huge factor in assessing his value.

What I'm trying to say is, anyone's a potential star if you never see him play. Use Duren as an example. He was supposedly considered the #1 pick in next year's draft, had he not reclassified and left HS early. A year of college ball showed how raw he still is, and he may end up being a late lottery pick.

When I watch the HS footage of Sharpe, I don't see a particularly fluid or smooth athlete. Athletic, yes. Abundantly so, not sure. Put him in the same collegiate scenario as Duren and I think he would be similarly exposed as having a lot to work on. To say there's no worry about striking out is a roundabout way of saying trust others, don't think for yourself. Because there's nothing in front of us to support your belief that he's risk-free.
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With all due respect (and I mean that genuinely) -- what you saw, when watching a high school kid on youtube doesn't amount to anything with regards to this discussion. We're not the ones making the decision, professional scouts and General Managers are. Many folks in the industry have said he has the highest ceiling in the draft, so that's not some completely foreign idea. Literally ALL I'm trying to say is that -- IF YOU'RE TAKING A "SWING FOR THE FENCES" MENTALITY -- the delta between Sharpe's draft value and his talent, which is caused, at least in part, by him not playing this year, makes him an extremely intriguing, if not obvious candidate.

The answer around why he didn't play doesn't seem well known, so yes, that's worth digging into -- but again, that's out of our control. Much like major injury red flags, if that's something that's going to disqualify a prospect; a) we wouldn't know about it beforehand, and b) would render the discussion moot anyway.
 
Natebishop3 said:
Probably ED was hoping for the New Orleans lottery pick.
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I agree with glazeduck. And to add, I am not comparing Sharpe to Kobe Bryant the Hall of Famer, but I will compare him to Kobe Bryant the rookie straight out of high school that the Lakers threw into the mix and threw up many airballs as a rookie. But the Lakers knew he had "it," whatever that is. He showed incredible confidence in himself jacking up airballs then having the occasional great play. I would hope the Blazers brass has this confidence in Sharpe if he is the guy. And I hope he has the confidence in himself to go "Kobe" the rookie, that was pretty awful. Then we can pass judgement.
 
If we end up with Sharpe, I'll be excited. There are some other scenarios out there that I like more but Sharpe would be really interesting to see what he can do now and then watch develop.
 
My comparison of Sharpe's best case impact wise is like: MPJ. It's gonna be at least two season before he's a legitimate threat.
 
B-Roy said:
My comparison of Sharpe's best case impact wise is like: MPJ. It's gonna be at least two season before he's a legitimate threat.
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I'd be thrilled with that. If Sharpe turns out to be good enough to get a max extension off his rookie deal, then that is a risk worth taking.
 
illmatic99 said:
I'd be thrilled with that. If Sharpe turns out to be good enough to get a max extension off his rookie deal, then that is a risk worth taking.
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That's his best case IMO. There are a lot more universes in the multi-verse where it's not......that.
 
blazedanugz said:
couls you imagine if we traded that pick for grant? People would be freaking out
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Depends on where it ended up. If it was top 10, yeah..... not so much.

If we had gotten the Lakers pick from them, I would have been pissed if we traded the 8th pick.
 
BIG Q said:
I agree with glazeduck. And to add, I am not comparing Sharpe to Kobe Bryant the Hall of Famer, but I will compare him to Kobe Bryant the rookie straight out of high school that the Lakers threw into the mix and threw up many airballs as a rookie. But the Lakers knew he had "it," whatever that is. He showed incredible confidence in himself jacking up airballs then having the occasional great play. I would hope the Blazers brass has this confidence in Sharpe if he is the guy. And I hope he has the confidence in himself to go "Kobe" the rookie, that was pretty awful. Then we can pass judgement.
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I think it is a bit more than just confidence. What Jerry West saw in Kobe was the laser focus and dedication to be the best. That is hard to duplicate.

Even if all these young 18, 19 years old players don't have that exact same drive as Kobe, (Few do) it still needs to be at a high level. Not saying Sharpe has that or doesn't have that.....just that a lot of them have confidence, just not the work ethic to get better. That is the skill set IMO that determines who will be best in 3 years. Because they are all good, but they all need to get better.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
I think it is a bit more than just confidence. What Jerry West saw in Kobe was the laser focus and dedication to be the best. That is hard to duplicate.

Even if all these young 18, 19 years old players don't have that exact same drive as Kobe, (Few do) it still needs to be at a high level. Not saying Sharpe has that or doesn't have that.....just that a lot of them have confidence, just not the work ethic to get better. That is the skill set IMO that determines who will be best in 3 years. Because they are all good, but they all need to get better.
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One might say that too much confidence kills that drive. Ego about being the best means not having to work on your game for some.
Thinking you are the best and wanting to be the best are two different things and one can kill the drive of the other.
 
BIG Q said:
I agree with glazeduck. And to add, I am not comparing Sharpe to Kobe Bryant the Hall of Famer, but I will compare him to Kobe Bryant the rookie straight out of high school that the Lakers threw into the mix and threw up many airballs as a rookie. But the Lakers knew he had "it," whatever that is. He showed incredible confidence in himself jacking up airballs then having the occasional great play. I would hope the Blazers brass has this confidence in Sharpe if he is the guy. And I hope he has the confidence in himself to go "Kobe" the rookie, that was pretty awful. Then we can pass judgement.
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I can't imagine Kobe sitting out a year for undisclosed reasons. He was way too competitive for that. Sharpe has to prove he has a competitive drive, let alone an extraordinary one, before he can even be included in that discussion.
 
handiman said:
I can't imagine Kobe sitting out a year for undisclosed reasons. He was way too competitive for that. Sharpe has to prove he has a competitive drive, let alone an extraordinary one, before he can even be included in that discussion.
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eh... kobe's competitive drive is more mythical than anything.

if he truly wanted a challenge, he wouldn't have forced his way to LA from Charlotte or threatened NJ that he was gonna sit out or play in Italy.

Sharpe didn't sit out a year. He sat out the last 15 games or so. He only arrived at UK in January, while his teammates were there since last May.

The question about this comp is if Sharpe has Kobe's maniacal drive to work hard and improve.
 
illmatic99 said:
eh... kobe's competitive drive is more mythical than anything.

if he truly wanted a challenge, he wouldn't have forced his way to LA from Charlotte or threatened NJ that he was gonna sit out or play in Italy.

Sharpe didn't sit out a year. He sat out the last 15 games or so. He only arrived at UK in January, while his teammates were there since last May.

The question about this comp is if Sharpe has Kobe's maniacal drive to work hard and improve.
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He's a soft spoken kid. He's kind of an introvert. He's a self proclaimed home body. I think Portland is the perfect place for him.
 
illmatic99 said:
I love how Chauncey empowered Ant/Nas. Nas in particular spoke to how much more confident he knew about what he needed to do to get PT. Think he's the perfect coach for Sharpe.
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Yup. I think a big city would be horrible for him. Or even a coach like Stotts would be just awful.
 
illmatic99 said:
I love how Chauncey empowered Ant/Nas. Nas in particular spoke to how much more confident he knew about what he needed to do to get PT. Think he's the perfect coach for Sharpe.
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I'd like to see how Chauncey manages expectations for young players when there are clearly better players in front of them.
 
glazeduck said:
Ditto, especially given what we've seen from Chauncey so far...
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You and I seem to have the same confidence in Chauncey. I think Sharpe could really thrive here under Chauncey and Dame.

He’s going to be able to get on the floor if he can be a defensive impact early or shoots the ball well. At best, he’s a Duncan Robinson kind of player that won’t ever see crunch time during his first year, at worst, he doesn’t play at all.

Billups should develop him into a point forward, encourage him to make plays for others right away. If he can shoot the ball at a decent clip and move the ball well, you have to get him 10-15mpg even if he’s terrible defensively. He’ll need enough court time to develop sooner.

Defensively, there are plenty of guys his size like Booker, Derozan, etc that he’ll be able to guard. I don’t have any concerns there, just hope we’re good enough for him to get some court time and learn from defensive mistakes.

Hoping to see plenty of lobs between Ant, Nas, and Sharpe if we draft Sharpe.
 
handiman said:
I can't imagine Kobe sitting out a year for undisclosed reasons. He was way too competitive for that. Sharpe has to prove he has a competitive drive, let alone an extraordinary one, before he can even be included in that discussion.
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I agree, and have never heard what the reasoning was for Sharpe being out. Has anyone?
 
illmatic99 said:
eh... kobe's competitive drive is more mythical than anything.

if he truly wanted a challenge, he wouldn't have forced his way to LA from Charlotte or threatened NJ that he was gonna sit out or play in Italy.

Sharpe didn't sit out a year. He sat out the last 15 games or so. He only arrived at UK in January, while his teammates were there since last May.

The question about this comp is if Sharpe has Kobe's maniacal drive to work hard and improve.
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How is "competitive drive" and "maniacal drive to work hard and improve" any different? You just used different words to reiterate what I was saying.

I wasn't aware that Sharpe only arrived at Kentucky in January. So, the question changes to, why did he join the team so late?

Here's another way of getting at the gist of my concern with him... Skal was considered to have similar upside going into college, but his stock plummeted when people saw firsthand how far he was from a finished product. He never came close to living up to those early expectations. In a sense, the one-and-done era came about to protect teams from making mistakes exactly like Sharpe is a 50/50 likelihood of.
 
handiman said:
How is "competitive drive" and "maniacal drive to work hard and improve" any different? You just used different words to reiterate what I was saying.

I wasn't aware that Sharpe only arrived at Kentucky in January. So, the question changes to, why did he join the team so late?

Here's another way of getting at the gist of my concern with him... Skal was considered to have similar upside going into college, but his stock plummeted when people saw firsthand how far he was from a finished product. He never came close to living up to those early expectations. In a sense, the one-and-done era came about to protect teams from making mistakes exactly like Sharpe is a 50/50 likelihood of.
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He graduated HS early after reclassifying. He was supposed to join UK this summer and be in next yr's draft.
 
Fez Forthright said:
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Very prominent placement
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He knew.
 
handiman said:
How is "competitive drive" and "maniacal drive to work hard and improve" any different? You just used different words to reiterate what I was saying.

I wasn't aware that Sharpe only arrived at Kentucky in January. So, the question changes to, why did he join the team so late?

Here's another way of getting at the gist of my concern with him... Skal was considered to have similar upside going into college, but his stock plummeted when people saw firsthand how far he was from a finished product. He never came close to living up to those early expectations. In a sense, the one-and-done era came about to protect teams from making mistakes exactly like Sharpe is a 50/50 likelihood of.
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It's funny to me that the ones who are afraid of this pick just completely ignore any and all logical points that those who are excited about it provide, yet I've not seen ONE single poster who's excited about Sharpe not willingly admit that he has the capacity within him to bust.

Literally NO ONE is saying he's not a risk. We get it, you're afraid we wasted a lottery pick, point taken. The unfortunate reality is that every prospect at 7 had some concerns... Daniels is a work in progress offensively, Sochan may never be an offensive weapon, Duren is raw and somewhat undersized for the position, Dieng is basically a rawer/PF-version of Sharpe, Davis and Agbaji have basically no upside, don't get me started on Williams and Griffin...

You know what the Sharpe pick is? It's a bet on Chauncey and staff's ability to develop and Dame's ability to lead and Ant's ability to mentor a kid whos in an almost identical situation. It's a bet on the foundation and culture that we have in place. Yes, given Cronin's less than perfect track record, and our iffy ownership situation, that feels a little scary. But if you trust Dame, and you buy that what we've seen from Chauncey so far is the real deal, Sharpe seems like better than 50/50 chance to develop nicely. And if he does, he could be a star.
 
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