The Portland Trail Blazers have been a team of streaks through the first nine games of the 2023-24 NBA season. Head Coach Chauncey Billups’ team lost its first three contests, then won three straight and has now lost three straight again following a Nov. 12 defeat to the LeBron James-less Los Angeles Lakers.
Along with ups and downs come bright spots and dark spots – that may be especially true for an inexperienced team in the first true year of a rebuild following the trade of Damian Lillard.
But what, or perhaps more suitably, who, have been those bright spots for the Blazers? And which players have underperformed?
Four players have stood out through the first few weeks of the season, two because of how well they’ve started the year and two others because of how they’ve struggled.
Which Blazers’ stocks are going up and which are falling as a brand new team attempts to find its footing?
Stock up: Shaedon Sharpe
After an unexpectedly hot start to the season, Shaedon Sharpe has fallen back to Earth, but the 20-year-old’s quick improvement has still been a pleasant surprise.
Sharpe’s game has jumped multiple levels between his rookie and sophomore seasons. After averaging 9.9 points a contest last year, he’s averaging 19.8 in ’23-24. His minutes have skyrocketed, as have his shot attempts, but he’s still shooting fairly efficiently: 37.5 from three compared to 36.0 percent as a rookie.
He’s getting to the free-throw line more than three times as often as last year, a positive sign for a player with more opportunities. He’s not simply settling for step-back jumpers and bad shots in isolation, he’s attacking the basket to the tune of 4.7 attempts per game from the charity stripe and is connecting on 83.3 percent of those.
With injuries to Anfernee Simons and Scoot Henderson, Sharpe has been forced into playing as one of the Blazers’ featured offensive options, and despite having played fewer than 90 NBA games, is showing a staggering level of improvement.
Stock down: Scoot Henderson
The slow start to Scoot Henderson’s rookie season hasn’t entirely been his fault as he’s dealt with an ankle injury, but he didn’t live up to expectations when he was on the floor to start the year, either.
Henderson hasn’t played since Nov. 1 when he exited a game against the Detroit Pistons in the third quarter. After a wait-and-see approach, the Blazers announced he would miss an additional two-to-three weeks, which would put his return somewhere near the end of November or early December.
That’s not ideal for a 19-year-old rookie’s development, but Scoot wasn’t lighting the world on fire in his first four-plus games.
He shot 18-of-52 from the floor (34.6 percent), 2-of-21 from three (0.95 percent – yikes), only attempted 7 total free throws, had 23 assists compared to 20 turnovers and committed 20 fouls, including fouling out of a game against the Toronto Raptors.
It’s obviously far too early to hit the panic button, especially for a young point guard getting his first taste of the NBA. It’s the most difficult position to learn, especially on the fly, regardless of how physically talented you are, and especially when you’re thrust into the kind of spotlight Scoot has been.
Still, it’s at least time to temper expectations for Henderson’s rookie campaign.
Stock up: Toumani Camara
It’s nearly impossible to quantify the impact Toumani Camara has had on the Blazers. The 52nd pick in this year’s drafted came to Portland as part of the Lillard trade, but he was, understandably, lost in the shuffle of Dame, draft picks, Jrue Holiday and Deandre Ayton.
The 23-year-old played well enough in the preseason and during training camp to earn himself a spot in Billups’ rotation, though, and he hasn’t stopped surprising since the regular season began.
Camara is averaging 5.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game, and none of that seems special. It’s the eye test that shows why his minutes and role have steadily increased through the first three weeks of the year.
Camara is the prototypical glue guy – he’s a good defender, both on-ball and off, and he has a knack for being in the right place at the right time on both ends of the floor.
He’s fifth on the team in minutes played, a much better indicator of his impact than traditional counting stats.
But the most obvious way to calculate Camara’s effectiveness? The Trail Blazers are plus-25 when he plays. No other Portland rotation player is in double digits.
Stock down: Matisse Thybulle
Portland matched a three-year, $33 million qualifying offer Thybulle received from the Dallas Mavericks during the offseason. It’s a reasonable contract for a player who’s proven to be one of the league’s best perimeter defenders and showed flashes of a 3-point shot last year with the Blazers.
The 26-year-old hasn’t necessarily played poorly this season. His averages of 6.3 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.0 assists hover around his career averages. His shooting stroke has carried over to this year as well, as he’s hitting 38.2 percent of his 3.8 threes a night.
Thybulle is basically the same player he’s been throughout his four-plus seasons in the NBA. The issue is that he’s getting passed over by players who are actually improving.
Thybulle is only averaging 19.5 minutes per game. In the guard/wing pecking order, he plays less than Sharpe, Henderson, Malcolm Brogdon and Simons, who’s only played one game. Once Ant returns, Thybulle’s minutes will dwindle even more.
Perhaps the most damning number of all is that Camara has bypassed Matisse in the rotation. While Thybulle is technically the starter, Toumani averages 5 more minutes per contest and has played more than 45 more minutes total this season.
The former Sixer simply isn’t as important to this year’s team as he was to last year’s, and he could be a name to watch as this season’s trade deadline inches closer.