{"id":72191,"date":"2024-04-07T11:28:41","date_gmt":"2024-04-07T15:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=72191"},"modified":"2024-04-07T11:28:41","modified_gmt":"2024-04-07T15:28:41","slug":"top-nba-draft-picks-sing-praises-after-first-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/07\/top-nba-draft-picks-sing-praises-after-first-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Top NBA Draft Picks Sing Praises After First Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>2023 No. 2 pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/millebr02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brandon Miller<\/a> and 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> faced off for the first time in their careers last week, with Henderson\u2019s Portland Trail Blazers pulling out a narrow three-point victory over Miller\u2019s Charlotte Hornets.<\/p>\n<h2>Brandon Miller, Scoot Henderson Sing Praises After First Meeting<\/h2>\n<p>Miller finished the game with a team-high 21 points on 9-20 shooting from the field (1-8 from 3). He also added two steals and a block.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Brandon Miller 21 pts 2 reb 2 stl vs Portland Trail Blazers | 2024-04-03\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GNR8CHJl-bA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Henderson ended the contest with 22 points, a team-high 10 assists (six turnovers), and one steal. He shot 9-16 from the field and 4-7 from 3.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Scoot Henderson 22 pts 1 reb 10 ast vs Charlotte Hornets | 2024-04-03\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oRSHFuRrn60?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>After the game, Miller and Henderson offered <a href=\"https:\/\/www.charlotteobserver.com\/sports\/charlotte-hornets\/article287236435.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">complimentary scouting reports<\/a> on the other.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust to go against each other early in our careers \u2014 like, there\u2019s gonna be even more fun in the long run,\u201d Henderson says, per The Charlotte Observer\u2019s Shane Connuck. \u201c(Miller) can shoot it really, really well. Off the dribble, catch and shoot. That really stuck out to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe can do a bit of everything, tonight he was knocking down threes,\u201d Miller says of Henderson. \u201cA big physical guard who can get downhill and finish around the rim and create.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s a good fit for him in Portland,\u201d Miller adds, \u201cbecause he has pieces around him who can knock down shots. So you know he\u2019s going to have a great career and I look forward to playing against him again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Neither were off the marks in their assessment.<\/p>\n<p>Miller is a do-it-all wing whose poise and polish are well beyond his years. In any other season, he would have a legitimate shot at <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/31\/nba-awards-end-season-predictions-2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Rookie of the Year<\/a>. Averaging 17.3 points per game while shooting 44.1 percent from the field and 37.4 percent from 3, he\u2019s looked every bit like a player worthy of his draft selection.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s disappointing that he and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/ballla01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LaMelo Ball<\/a> haven\u2019t played much together this season. Nonetheless, Miller getting early reps as a go-to scorer accelerated his development and Charlotte\u2019s timeline.<\/p>\n<p>Henderson has had a rockier rookie season. Not just in terms of his performance on the floor but staying on it; he\u2019s been limited to 58 games due to injury. However, he\u2019s shown flashes of being a high-level starting point guard due to his combination of size, speed, and upside as a two-way playmaker.<\/p>\n<h3>Future Outlook<\/h3>\n<p>Miller and Henderson have shown enough in their rookie season to be confident in their potential. As a result, the Hornets and Blazers will enter the offseason trying to figure out the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/08\/jeff-peterson-first-hire-hornets-premier-franchise\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">best way to build around<\/a> their young core.<\/p>\n<p>In the case of Charlotte, the next step could be finding a 3-and-D wing. A prospect who can play off of Miller and Ball offensively while taking pressure off them defensively may be ideal. However, the Hornets could also look to replace the embattled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bridgmi02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Miles Bridges<\/a> this offseason.<\/p>\n<p>In the case of Portland, the best path forward is similar. Pencil Henderson in as a starter, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/aytonde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Deandre Ayton<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/grantje01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jerami Grant<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/simonan01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anfernee Simons<\/a> sure to join him. In that event, a 3-and-D wing that can play off them offensively is the optimal prospect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2023 No. 2 pick Brandon Miller and 2023 No. 3 pick Scoot Henderson faced off for the first time in their careers last week, with Henderson\u2019s Portland Trail Blazers pulling out a narrow three-point victory over Miller\u2019s Charlotte Hornets. Brandon Miller, Scoot Henderson Sing Praises After First Meeting Miller finished the game with a team-high [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":72197,"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":[62,1608,7,556,3,23],"tags":[4731,98,4702],"class_list":["post-72191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-hornets","category-nba-draft","category-news","category-trailblazers","tag-brandon-miller","tag-nba-draft","tag-scoot-henderson"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72191","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=72191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}