Rookie of the Week: Shaedon Sharpe, SG, Portland
(Note: This section won’t necessarily profile the best rookie of the week. Just the one I’ve been watching.)
The mystery meat of the 2022 NBA Draft, the Trail Blazers selected Shaedon Sharpe seventh despite him not playing one minute in his lone season at Kentucky. His first 15 games have shown why the Blazers made that leap of faith, as Sharpe has been able to credibly fill a rotation spot. Already, he has nine double-figure games, including 20 against Brooklyn on Friday, and several highlight dunks.
At the moment, Sharpe offers two clear plus weapons: a sweet shooting stroke and superior leaping ability. Sharpe has made 47.2 percent of his 3s thus far, and while that figure surely will regress, the eye test says his shooting stroke with his feet set is the real deal.
If anything, he should be launching a lot more often than he does. Sharpe has only tried 5.9 3s per 100 possessions, barely a third of his field goal attempts. Sometimes he seems unready to shoot when he catches the ball, like here when he passes up an open 3 and instead bails himself out by making a more difficult stepback.
Sharpe’s profile also includes the ability to attack in straight lines and finish at the rim with his leaping ability. Watch here, for instance, as he grabs a rebound, pushes it up court and uses a screen and a hesitation move to glide through the paint and smoothly finish at the at the cup:
Sharpe’s upside is clear, but for now, some weaknesses limit his utility. His motor can weirdly shut off a times, and he’ll seem content to float around off the ball for long stretches. That’s a shame because he could do so much damage as a cutter, flying in for alley-oops (or more conventional finishes) with his hops.
As a ballhandler, Sharpe’s game is limited by severe tunnel vision. Right now, he is just a play finisher, not a play starter; amazingly, he has just six assists the entire season. To really capitalize on his abilities, Sharpe will have to advance his capabilities off the bounce and figure out what the other four players on the court are for. His 0.9 assists per 100 possessions is second-to-last in the NBA, ranking only ahead of Detroit rookie big man Jalen Duren, and mind-blowing for a guard.
Here, for instance, is a clip that amalgamates some of the work Sharpe has left to do: He’s unready to shoot despite being wide open and drives into three players and throws up a heavily contested shot instead of hitting an open Jusuf Nurkić.
With all that said, Sharpe’s ceiling is really high — he’s only 19, remember — and his shooting gives him a finite floor. He’s already useful enough to deserve the minutes he’s getting. The question is whether he can develop his motor and feel enough to become more of a primary offensive option.