Blazers Training Camp Day 4: The Shaedon Sharpe Update

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — On Monday, the world will finally—finally—get to see Shaedon Sharpe for the first time.

It never happened in his freshman season at Kentucky, where he opted to sit out when he got feedback he was being projected as a lottery pick. It didn't happen at Summer League in Las Vegas, when he suffered a shoulder injury five minutes into the Trail Blazers' first game after being the No. 7 overall pick in June's draft.

Behind the scenes, the debut of Sharpe has been happening this week in Santa Barbara, and his teammates and are universally saying three things about him. One is what we knew from the pre-draft scouting reports: his physical talents put him in rare air, even among NBA players. Two, he picks things up quickly. And three, he's still in the process of coming out of his shell.

"He's so quiet," Jusuf Nurkic said after practice on Wednesday. "I finally got [Anfernee Simons] to speak, now I've got another one? I can't even hear him sometimes. But it's amazing. I'm telling to do certain things, and he picks it up quick. He'll be jumping from behind people to get rebounds, and you forget how athletic he is. I think when he figures out how to play basketball, he can be super-nice."

The shyness is something that's stood out as long as Sharpe has been in Portland, but even that is already starting to change. From his predraft workout in mid-June to his introductory press conference after the draft to his media day availability on Monday, he's slowly starting to get more comfortable in front of a microphone. Because he didn't play during his time at Kentucky, he didn't go through the daily routine of speaking to reporters and the public despite being at one of the most well-covered major college programs in the country. This is all new to him.

He's already figuring out what he should and shouldn't say. On Friday, the first time he spoke at training camp, I asked him to give us an example of something he picked up on after struggling with at the beginning of camp.

"Probably one of the defensive sets," he said. "I wasn't too sure about '55.' But once we practiced that a little more, it was easier to pick up."

I followed up by asking him what "55" was, and he started to explain the play before catching himself and realizing he probably shouldn't be giving away intricate details of the Blazers' playbook before he'd played a single NBA game.

"It's a defensive set," he said, sheepishly.

Sharpe's increased comfort extends beyond us lowly beat writers—he's getting more comfortable with everything else at the NBA level, too.

"Shaedon picks stuff up pretty quickly," head coach Chauncey Billups said Friday. "I'm really impressed with him. All of these things are so new to him. He's starting to ask questions a little bit more. He's a pretty shy guy. But we're starting to show him stuff and he picks it up pretty quickly."

Lillard has been impressed with the progress.

"To be as young as he is and to have not played college and coming in as a rookie, I think he looks good," Lillard said Tuesday after the Blazers' first practice. "It takes time for anyone to get back up to speed and get comfortable at the pace of the NBA game. And for him to have not played at college, missed Summer League and then come to this, it's gonna be fast. Once his game gets used to the NBA pace and he can settle in, that's when his talent and his ability can really shine through."

That talent has gotten rave reviews so far. Lillard called Sharpe's physical abilities "off the charts" on media day. Simons said he "pretty much has it all." Nassir Little called him "crazy-athletic." The offensive skills have been on display since high school, when he was a five-star recruit. But the defensive potential is what has had people with the team excited this week.

"I think he's one of those guys that's going to be able to use his athleticism on both ends of the floor," Billups said Wednesday. "He's an incredible shot-blocker already. He's never out of a play. He goes and meets guys up at the square. It's unbelievable the instincts he already has on that end. His positioning, understanding and knowing where to be. He's not all-world yet, but he shouldn't be. The game is new for him. Once he gets more familiar, he's going to be a very, very good defender."

Sharpe should get to see plenty of time on the court over the next two weeks. The Blazers kick off preseason in Seattle on Monday against the Clippers before returning home for two more games on Tuesday and Thursday, and two road games the following week. Coaches almost never play their regular rotations in these games (why risk injury in an exhibition game?), so there will be plenty of opportunity for Sharpe to get minutes in the preseason.

If he looks as good in those games as players, coaches and staffers have been saying he does this week, be prepared for fans to be clamoring for him to play as soon as the team hits a rough patch in the regular season. That's how it works.

Both Billups and general manager Joe Cronin have expressed an openness to playing rookies and young players if they prove they're worthy of minutes, but the organization isn't going to force it when it comes to Sharpe getting minutes early.

"Chauncey won't be hearing it from me," Cronin said on media day in response to a question about Sharpe's early role. "I trust Chauncey and I've fully empowered him to make that decision."

The praise from his teammates so far has been qualified. Lillard on media day made reference to "the end of this year or next year" for when he expects everything to fall into place for Sharpe. Nurkic said he'll be great "when he figures out how to play basketball." Simons said it'll happen "as soon as it slows down and he figures some things out."

When he does play, expect some flashes of greatness and a lot of rookie mistakes. Very few rookies, especially guards, can avoid that. Lillard, Ja Morant and Derrick Rose are the only guards that immediately come to mind who came into the league hyped as future stars and had it happen right away. Anthony Edwards, who today looks every bit like a deserving No. 1 overall pick, had a very rough first half of his rookie season before it clicked. So did De'Aaron Fox, who made such a jump from year one to year two that he was a finalist for Most Improved Player as a second-year pro.

And for a team trying to compete in the playoffs, a rookie who needs to play through mistakes and adjust to this level might not be able to find minutes.

I'm reminded of something Billups said at Sharpe's introductory press conference in June: "Most of the guys that were drafted in Shaedon's range are going to teams that will probably be there again next year, by way of they're rebuilding. That's not what we're doing here, obviously."

"I'd understand," Sharpe said when asked if he was prepared to not play many minutes early in his rookie season. "Anything to help the team, for real."

I'm just as intrigured as you are to see what this all looks like. We'll get to see a lot of it in the preseason. After that, who knows? But if he gets up to speed as quickly as everyone says he is, Billups might have no choice.