{"id":70890,"date":"2024-03-28T02:45:46","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T06:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=70890"},"modified":"2024-03-28T02:45:58","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T06:45:58","slug":"blazers-shaedon-sharpe-takes-next-step-rejoin-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/28\/blazers-shaedon-sharpe-takes-next-step-rejoin-team\/","title":{"rendered":"High-Flyer Takes Next Step to Rejoin Blazers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Portland Trail Blazers wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sharpsh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shaedon Sharpe<\/a> is set to join the team during their current road trip. Sharpe, out since February after undergoing core muscle surgery, has been participating in non-contact and conditioning drills with their G League affiliate since Mar. 24. His rapid recall speaks to him defying their expectation of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/25\/former-nba-lottery-pick-close-to-return-after-2-month-absence-shaedon-sharpe-portland-trail-blazers\/\" target=\"_self\">how long it would take<\/a> to return to game shape.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Shaedon Sharpe has been recalled by the Portland Trail Blazers.<\/p>\n<p>Sharpe participated in non-contact and conditioning drills with the Remix. He will be evaluated over the next week as he joins the team on the current road trip.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Trail Blazers PR (@TrailBlazersPR) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TrailBlazersPR\/status\/1773176390336053283?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 28, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Shaedon Sharpe Takes Next Step to Rejoin Blazers<\/h2>\n<p>Selected seventh overall in the 2022 NBA Draft, Sharpe was all but the picture of perfect health as a rookie. Playing in 80 games, he averaged 9.9 points per game while shooting 36.0 percent from deep.<\/p>\n<p>One-sixth of those games matter most for Sharpe. In 15 starts, he averaged 18.5 points and 3.1 assists per game, shooting 44.9 percent from the field and 36.2 percent from 3. With that, he vindicated the Blazers front office after making a risky decision in drafting him.<\/p>\n<p>Upon leaving Dream City Christian, the high-flyer committed to Kentucky but chose not to play for the team, preparing for the upcoming NBA Draft instead. It was an unconventional and questionable approach. The top-rated shooting guard and <a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/player\/shaedon-sharpe-46097657\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a top-three high school recruit<\/a> in the Class of 2021, Sharpe became the draft night mystery box.<\/p>\n<p>This season, Sharpe was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/10\/28\/nba-rumors-how-portland-trail-blazers-replace-anfernee-simons-in-lineup\/\" target=\"_self\">expected to build off of<\/a> his flashes of potential.<\/p>\n<h3>Opportunity Ripe for the Taking<\/h3>\n<p>Former face of the franchise <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lillada01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Damian Lillard<\/a> left the Blazers \u2014an organization in limbo \u2014to head East. 2023 No. 3 pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hendesc01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scoot Henderson<\/a>\u2019s scoring upside is significant but he wasn\u2019t expected to pour in buckets like Lillard from the outset.<\/p>\n<p>The acquisition of veteran <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brogdma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Malcolm Brogdon<\/a> helped close that gap. Yet, he\u2019s more steady than potent. Consider that Brogdon has scored 30 or more points in four games over the past three seasons. Lillard has had 59 games scoring 30 or more points over the past three seasons.<\/p>\n<p>In 112 career games, Sharpe has only eclipsed 30 points once. However, this season, he\u2019s averaging 15.9 points per game (32 games). He\u2019s scored at least 20 points in 10 games, showcasing his ability as an off-ball threat and shot-creator. Yet, Sharpe has made just 40.6 percent of his field goal attempts this season, his shot-selection a serious problem.<\/p>\n<p>Defensively, there remains concern about Sharpe\u2019s effort and anticipation, even on the boards. His struggle containing perimeter players off-the-dribble has led to him routinely guarding post players despite being 6-foot-5 and just over 200 pounds. When considering why Sharpe is being brought off the bench, it\u2019s likely due more to his defensive weaknesses than any other factor. To that point, the Blazers opted to start rookie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/camarto01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Toumani Camara<\/a>\u2014an intense and versatile defender \u2014in his place.<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word on Shaedon Sharpe<\/h3>\n<p>Sharpe may not have to hit any specific markers to close the season.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, the Blazers will likely be looking for Sharpe to show progression on the mental side of the game. This requires him to take better shots, have better defensive awareness, and make better reads as a playmaker. After finishing the season on a high note, he and the Blazers can prepare for the next phase of their rebuild.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Portland Trail Blazers wing Shaedon Sharpe is set to join the team during their current road trip. Sharpe, out since February after undergoing core muscle surgery, has been participating in non-contact and conditioning drills with their G League affiliate since Mar. 24. His rapid recall speaks to him defying their expectation of how long it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":56447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,1608,62,3],"tags":[4745,4600],"class_list":["post-70890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trailblazers","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-nba-injuries","tag-shaedon-sharpe"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}