More Injuries Equal More Questions As The Blazers Season Ends Soon
By 750 THE GAME STAFF
When a team’s win total is at 27.5 wins, there aren’t a lot of expectations. That is the exact situation the Trail Blazers were in. Mike Richman of the Locked On Blazers podcast joined the Bald Faced Truth to talk about the Blazers. Richman says this season wasn’t about winning or losing but about learning about the players.
“It’s just been so disjointed because of the injuries that we just don’t know anything and that’s the biggest problem,” Richman said on 750 The Game. “This year they weren’t supposed to be good. Getting caught up in the win-loss record is a fools errand. They were supposed to be bad, and they’re bad. But this was supposed to the be year that you learned what they have so they could make decisions on what to do next and they just haven’t been able to make those decisions.”
It’s been an up and down season for the third overall draft pick Scoot Henderson. Richman says that Scoot has gotten better and it’s noticeable, but that the team thought he would be farther along than he is.
“The beginning of the year was so rough that when everyone talks about Scoot they always say ‘well if you take out the first 12 games…’ They start to segment it because if you take it on the whole it’s (not good). I think he’s improved in a way a young player is going to improve. He was really struggling to make layups and he’s gotten a little bit better at that. He was really struggling with turnovers and he’s getting better at that. The Blazers started him game one, day one, night one as their starting point guard. They thought he was going to be better than this.”
What’s the future plan for the Blazers? Richman says the Trail Blazers have a very tough decision on their hands if they do indeed decide to trade Anfernee Simons.
“The challenge for them is if they move off of Anfernee Simons they are doing it mostly blind, because they don’t know how good the young guards (Henderson and Sharpe) are. But they’re in a challenging spot because they’re going to have to make a tough decision with very little information.”
Listen to the full interview with Mike Richman by clicking the podcast below. Catch the Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano weekdays 3-6 p.m. in Portland exclusively on 750 The Game.
