The Portland Trail Blazers invested in Shaedon Sharpe long-term in the form of a four-year, $90 million extension before the start of the season. It's going to be hard to make that a team-friendly deal unless Sharpe can become a more complete, and most importantly, consistent player.
The good news is, Sharpe is just 22 years old and still has plenty of time to figure things out. Prior to injury, he was also having the best season of his promising young career, averaging a career-high 21.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists on 46/34/78 shooting splits.
Statistically, he's trending in the right direction. However, Sharpe is the type of player archetype whose stats don't necessarily translate to winning as much as the Blazers would hope. He arguably possesses the most talent on Portland's entire roster. But at the same time, he needs to do a better job of utilizing that talent. It's difficult to impact winning as a one-dimensional, score-first guard who struggles from beyond the arc.
Consistency and work ethic stand in the way of Shaedon Sharpe's star potential
Despite the impressive stats, Sharpe remains more of a theoretical player at this point in his career. The issue is that players rarely reach their star potential without an incredible work ethic. That's lately been called into question by Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report, who compared Portland's two young guards, Sharpe and Scoot Henderson, on a recent episode of the HoopsHype show "Around the Beat."
"If you put Scoot's attitude, mentality, and work ethic in [Sharpe's] body, he would be Anthony Edwards."
The Blazers don't need Sharpe to be Anthony Edwards to return value on a $90 million extension. With how much contracts go for these days, that's a reasonable investment even if he simply continues this trajectory as a high-volume scorer.
But if the Blazers want Sharpe to be anything more, they need him to become more consistent. And that starts from changing his entire approach. Highkin's comments suggest that Sharpe has a higher ceiling than Henderson. But tapping into that potential will require another level of sacrifice that he has yet to show until this point.
Sharpe is one of the best athletes in the entire league. Paired with his positional size at 6-foot-5, there's no reason he shouldn't be an above-average defender. Yet Sharpe has been one of the weak links on Portland's roster, preventing them from becoming that elite defense their front office envisions.
At this point, Sharpe may be nothing more than an electrifying sixth man on a contender. That's concerning for Portland's rebuild, considering how much their ceiling depends on Sharpe reaching his.
This recent Scoot-Sharpe comparison needs to be a wake-up call, as Portland desperately needs to find a co-star for Deni Avdija. And out of anyone currently on their roster, Sharpe represents their best chance.
That is, if he's willing to work for it.