Barring a trade, the Portland Trail Blazers seem to have four of their five starting lineup positions locked in between Anfernee Simons, Deni Avdija, Jerami Grant, and Deandre Ayton. The final guard spot will come down to arguably the two most essential pieces in their rebuild: Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe.
It appears that Sharpe will get the nod over Henderson, sliding Scoot to the sixth-man role to lead the second unit. Ideally, both Sharpe and Henderson would be starters on a rebuilding Blazers team; it would give them valuable experience to aid their development while also helping Portland land a top pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
That's where their backcourt conundrum arises. Simons is better than both guards at this point in their respective careers and needs to start as long as he remains on the roster, suggesting that it may be in the Blazers' best interest to move on from in and fully embrace bottoming out. But if Scoot does end up being the Blazers' sixth man for the 2024-25 season, there is still reason for optimism that he will succeed in that role, primarily because of the bench unit that would be surrounding him.
Blazers' bench has a unique defensive identity
The Blazers' bench has its own identity, which comes on the defensive end. Besides Henderson, defense is the calling card for almost every other player expected to see substantial minutes off the bench.
They are stacked at the center position between Donovan Clingan, Robert Williams III, and Duop Reath. If Robert Williams III can stay healthy (and that's a big if), he will have a key role to play in the Blazers season should they decide to keep him. He averages 1.7 blocks per game in this career and is a former NBA All-Defensive Second Team member in 2022.
Between RW3 and Clingan, who set the Summer League record for most blocks per game at 4.3, the Blazers will have an intimidating one-two punch in terms of defensive anchors. Reath's minutes may be more limited than the 17.9 per game he averaged as a rookie, but he still provides Portland with a chance of a pace center that can reliably stretch the floor on offense.
Henderson isn't a great on-ball defender at this point in his career, but guards will quickly run into a wall in the paint that forces them to kick it out. Portland's centers compensate for Scoot's weakness, but Henderson makes up for it by giving them easy looks at the rim on the offense end. Clingan looked impressive as a lob threat in Summer League action, and those opportunities should only increase for him with improved guard play.
The Blazers' defensive prowess doesn't end with their big men; they also have a handful of two-way wings that will make life difficult out on the perimeter with their length and switchability. Toumani Camara and Matisse Thybulle are the two most notable players, and they seem underappreciated around the league. Some of that has to do with the fact that they are on a 21-win Blazers team, but there's also a misconception that they are poor shooters to the point where they significantly hurt you offensively.
In Thybulle's two seasons with the Blazers, he's connected on 38.8 and 34.6 percent of his three-point attempts. Meanwhile, Camara fell all the way to the No. 52 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft due to concerns surrounding his age and ability to space the floor. If there were a redraft, he would be a first-round pick, as he shot 33.7 percent from three, which is respectable enough to keep defenses honest and should only continue improving with more reps.
Both Thybulle and Camara are around league-average shooters that more than make up for it on the defensive end of the ball. They are the type of two-way wings every team would love to have come playoff time to help slow down superstars.
Potential second unit for Portland
The Blazers could roll out a second unit of:
PG: Scoot Henderson
SG: Matisse Thybulle
SF: Toumani Camara
PF: Robert Williams III
C: Donovan Clingan
That lineup is arguably the best defensive bench unit in the entire league, with the only player not elite on that side of the ball being Scoot. That's not to mention the other up-and-coming bench players who could make giant leaps this season, such as Rayan Rupert, Jabari Walker, and Dalano Banton.
Head coach Chauncey Billups may elect to play a bit smaller than this, as having Williams and Clingan on the court together would hurt their spacing. It's more realistic to expect that some of these bench players will be sprinkled in with the starters to give them a better mix of shooting and scoring (the strength of their starters) and defense (the strength of their bench).
The Blazers' bench must see significant minutes this upcoming season regardless of the lineup combinations. Several of their players coming off the bench, including Henderson, Camara, Clingan, and perhaps Williams III, are long-term pieces of their core, while only a few starters—Shaedon Sharpe and Deni Avdija—fit that criteria.