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Micah Nori: “I thought Scoot was fine. He’s a plus four. He shot the open ones. He had just the one turnover. I thought that he did a good job defensively. Got himself an offensive rebound. His threes, his catch and shoots were good. I thought that he was fine in 26 minutes to be a plus four. I don’t care how many points he scores, as long as he just continues to play with pace, continues to play defensively and not let the previous play bother him.”
Q. Did you have much interaction with him that summer where you guys sort of overlapped? They drafted him and then like you requested a trade but you didn’t get traded until that whole and so you guys were both like in the gym that whole summer. Did you have much interaction?” Damian Lillard: “Yeah, I was still around a little bit. I would see him in the gym. I was working out early and he would come in and we had our interactions. I always liked Scoot Henderson. I always liked Scoot and even at that time I made it clear, I never had an issue with the team as far as us not being capable. I was just like, I know we are not going for it all right now, but I still thought the team was talented, I liked the team. But we had some interactions. Obviously I knew I wasn’t going to be there, so I wouldn’t say it was anything major. But even when we played the Blazers, I would get in his ear a little bit and try to share some encouragement.”
The Portland Trail Blazers relied on scoring from a number of faces in their 112-90 victory against the Utah Jazz, as five players reached double-figures and 12 of the 13 who suited up recorded a point. Portland moves to 4-1 on the season with the win. Deni Avdija led the Blazers with 24 points and five rebounds, shooting 50 percent from the field and 3-point range, nailing 10 of 13 free throws. Damian Lillard added 22 points despite a poor shooting performance, while Toumani Camara, Scoot Henderson and Jrue Holiday had 14 points apiece.
Sean Highkin: Scoot Henderson is starting in Ja Morant’s place, Micah Nori tells us.
“At some point the rubber has got to hit the road. I honestly wonder if its going to be Scoot Henderson more so than Jrue Holiday,” said Jake Fischer on SiriusXM radio. “Joe Cronin identified Jrue coming back to Portland and I think is pretty proud of that kind of, we sneak in stealthily while the Celtics were dismantling their 2024 title team and got this guy Jrue.”
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Scoot Henderson: “It is what it is. Man above doesn’t make any mistakes. I’m just going to keep playing my best ball.”
Scoot Henderson: “I usually just let them handle it, the business side of it, and like I said, just keep coming out here and playing my best basketball, being the person I am, and let my game do the talking.”
Micah Nori: “At the end of the day, Scoot knows we love him. Scoot knows that he has a huge role on this team, and I envision Scoot being a Portland Trail Blazer for a long time. It is just one of those things that the two sides couldn’t come together for an extension, but that doesn’t mean much. He is still, even if he gets to the point where he is a restricted free agent, we have the opportunity to match. It gives us another year to see Scoot’s body of work.”
Chris Haynes: The deadline will pass with Scoot Henderson — No. 3 pick in 2023 NBA Draft — and the Portland Trail Blazers bypassing on a rookie-scale extension, league sources tell me. He’ll become an RFA following the season.
Sean Highkin: Damian Lillard and Robert Williams are resting today and will play tomorrow. Micah Nori says Jrue Holiday will start alongside Ja Morant today, and tomorrow in Sacramento likely Dame and Scoot Henderson start together with Ja and Jrue coming off the bench.
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Toumani Camara on Scoot Henderson: “To me, he put it together. Scoot always been super athletic, super fast, great finisher, great driver, great shooter, and I feel like now mentally he just put it all together. How can he affect the team defensively, how scrappy he could get, and offensively make the right play every time. I think there’s no one time this summer where I’m like, ‘You should have done this, Scoot.’ Every time he drive and making a decision, it’s the right one and it’s the one that we need for the team.”
“A lot of times these deals are tricky to come by, especially for a high variance player like Scoot has been so far, where has shown some really great moments, and then some other moments where there are still questions about his game,” Cronin said. “But speaking from a Trail Blazers perspective, he is definitely a high-priority player for us. I would love it if he were here with us long term. And if it doesn’t happen this offseason, I wouldn’t be too concerned with it. We still have one more offseason to deal with it.”
Sean Highkin: Scoot Henderson on first playoff experience: "It was fire. I haven't played in a serious game since high school. Definitely trying to get back immediately."
