Let me take the other side of the defensive thing because it kind of dovetails into something else that's been percolating in my brain.
One of the reasons Dame should like playing with Scoot is because Dame won't be stuck defending the other team's best guard so much.
As challenged as Dame is as an on-ball defender, Ant is 10 times more (or more) challenged. You don't run into that with Scoot. Scoot will not be physically overpowered or outquicked by almost any guard out there. He can take that big defensive assignment that would tax Dame or reduce us to trading baskets. And Dame already is a very good post defender at his size; what we need is a guard who can keep the other team's primary ballhandler from getting two feet in the paint and forcing the rest of our defense to help and scramble. I think having Scoot out there with Dame instead of Dame and Ant already improves us in the single biggest defensive shortcoming we have.
Scoot is 6-2, but he plays a very, very big 6-2.
The other thing that Scoot's right about where he and Dame can be a good tandem is that Scoot is one of those ballhandlers that are very hard to keep out of the paint. He's a very natural passer. Can you imagine you much it will save Dame's legs for late in the game or late in the season having someone else be able to effectively initiate offense even against good defenders or multiple defenders for stretches? Can you imagine how many more open 3s Dame might be getting because the defense had to help and pack the paint against a strong driver? And that strong driver also has a good eye for drawing defense and dishing or pitching?
That's what Scoot can do that Ant doesn't. Ant's a much bigger 3-point threat, but he doesn't attack the rim, and, when he does, he's not doing it creating an even better shot than he himself would get, not very often, at least, not as often as I expect Scoot to do.
