Scoot Henderson, Portland Trail Blazers (fallen short of expectations)
Comparisons to Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul are usually tough to meet, especially for rookies. Sometimes it takes a season or two or three to enter such conversations. As for Scoot Henderson, this might be a 2-3 year project.
Henderson's physicality along with his court vision looked like a very polarizing blend coming out of the G League Ignite. You could see hints of some of the greatest point guards to play the game on his own and it was very easy to get excited about his style of play in the NBA. More than a quarter into the season, we might have to pump the breaks on Scoot Henderson being the next "Point God," at least for now.
So many times turnovers are a detriment to a young player's development and Henderson is no exception. It's been a small sample size, 19 games, however, Henderson currently sports a 1.34:1 assist-turnover ratio, meaning that for every 1.3 assists, he is turning the ball over. That is not great for a point guard, typically you'd want that ratio to be at least 2:1. If you are going to be turning the ball over, you might as well be efficient with shooting the ball, but unfortunately, that has also been spotty for Henderson, as he holds a shooting split of 37.3/23.5/78.4 (FG%/3PT%/FT%).
Scoot is a terrific athlete and he is still incredibly young, so this will hopefully just mean that the jump to the NBA has been more of an adjustment for him than originally thought. Some thought that in any other draft, he would be the de-facto first overall pick. And while comparisons are never truly fair, as each individual player holds their own unique play style and identity, it is tough to not be underwhelmed by Henderson so far in this early stage of his career. I'm rooting for him to turn it around, but so far it's been more bad than good.