J. Kyle Mann

He gets out of control a lot.

It's early for Scoot.

It's early this year for Scoot.

But he's fast enough to beat you to the spot.

And he is strong enough already to knock you on your heels with one little shoulder block.

Now, the finishing after that has not been good enough.

And he's been a bad rim finisher in the NBA.

And if he can't finish at the rim...

He's never going to be that good of a player because that's where he's really got to live.

And the last thing is, look, he's shooting 36% on threes combined over the last two seasons, which I realize is only like 70 games and not a ton of attempts.

It looks okay to me.

He's taking them off the dribble pretty willingly, and I'm glad that he's experimenting with that.

I don't know exactly what he's going to be.

Portland is no longer built to just hand the keys to him.

Damian Lillard is looming to return next season.

But I do think all of us are a little bit guilty of like, you're either an on-ball engine or you're an off-ball player and there's nothing in between.

And Scoot is not an off-ball player.

He has no gravity.

No one's going to guard him.

And really for most teams, there's a continuum between those two extremes where