Part of the reasoning behind adding a 35-year-old Jrue Holiday to the young Portland Trail Blazers roster was to serve as a bridge, giving their up-and-coming backcourt more time to develop. It took some of the pressure off Scoot Henderson in particular. The Blazers wouldn't be so reliant on a 21-year-old point guard who is still trying to learn how to play the hardest position in the league. Henderson showed promising signs of development last season following a shaky rookie campaign, but that still would've been a lot to ask of him.
Still, part of the risk in Portland's offseason Anfernee Simons-Jrue Holiday swap with the Boston Celtics was Holiday's injury history. He was coming off a down year in Boston, averaging 11.1 points and 3.9 assists per game, the lowest marks since his rookie season in 2009. Injuries played a role in that drop in production, with Holiday playing just 62 games that season.
The Blazers already had injury-prone players on their roster in Robert Williams III and Matisse Thybulle, and added another one over the summer in Holiday. In fact, with the new NBA rule that you need to play a minimum of 65 games to be considered for awards, Holiday would've been ineligible in four of his past six seasons.
Scoot Henderson's return is crucial for Portland's season
So while the injuries have been unfortunate and untimely this season, contributing to an underwhelming 11-16 start, they're also not that surprising. That's why the Blazers desperately need Henderson to not only come back soon but also to play at a level that he's never reached before.
The Holiday trade initially appeared to have worked as intended, but the Blazers veteran guard has been sidelined since Nov. 14 after suffering a calf strain. It's now been over a month, and Holiday still doesn't have a timetable for return. Meanwhile, Henderson is well beyond the initial expected recovery timeline of four to eight weeks when he first suffered the hamstring tear in late September.
Last week, Blazers beat reporter Casey Holdahl shared that Henderson is progressing well but is still only doing non-contact work. Portland is taking an extremely cautious, patient approach to the recovery timelines for these injuries, which are dragging on longer than initially expected.
It remains to be seen if Henderson will even return by the new year at this point. But what is clear is that once he finally returns, he'll have a massive role to play in the remainder of the Blazers' season. Portland can no longer afford to solely rely on Holiday, and they'll need to get a boost from Scoot to catch back up in the playoff race.