Scoot Henderson's Move to the Starting Lineup Sets Up Pivotal Stretch Run for Trail Blazers

Henderson's development as a starter will be the top storyline to watch after the All-Star break.

📸: Harry How, Getty Images

📍 PORTLAND, Ore. — For better or worse, Scoot Henderson is a starter now.

Not out of necessity because of injuries, as he was earlier in the season. When Chauncey Billups announced before Thursday’s loss to the Timberwolves, the Trail Blazers’ final game before the All-Star break, that Henderson would replace Matisse Thybulle in the starting lineup, it wasn’t a “just to change it up” decision. Billups said outright that Henderson will start alongside Anfernee Simons in the backcourt “for the rest of the season.”

A funny thing has happened in the last month, since Henderson moved back to the bench following the nightmare seven-game road trip of early January: the national sentiment on the No. 3 overall pick has shifted.

You don’t really hear the word “bust” thrown around by talking heads anymore with Henderson. As premature as it sounds, that was out there in very prominent places in the NBA landscape after his disastrous start to the season. Now, it’s a lot of talk, internally and externally, about the strides he’s made as he’s slowly learned the point guard position as a teenager.

Going into Thursday, Henderson was putting together the best string of games of his rookie season. In 13 games since he moved back to the bench following the end of the early January trip, he averaged 14.5 points, 3 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 24.7 minutes per game and got his three-point shooting, which was in the single digits at the start of the year, up to 37.5 percent over that stretch. The growth in virtually every area has been obvious to those who have watched him from the start of the season.

“In my mind, the game has just been slowing down,” Henderson said Thursday. “The more I watch film of the mistakes I’m making, the less likely I am to [make] them over and over again. Making certain passes, dribbling the ball over certain actions as a point guard, I’m continuing to learn the game and get better.”

As the season has progressed, the organization made the decision to slow-play Henderson’s development. His up-and-down trajectory was one of the primary factors in Joe Cronin’s decision not to trade Malcolm Brogdon at last week’s deadline, as many expected him to. Henderson had begun to find a nice role coming off the bench, and Cronin and Billups both felt that the ability to see the game unfold for a few minutes before coming in had been good for him. And, after the face-planting of his earlier stint as a starter, and all the criticism and scrutiny that came with it considering where he was drafted and who he was supposed to replace at point guard, they thought it better to let him pile up good games rather than force-feed him more responsibility than he was ready for.

Even with Brogdon sidelined since Feb. 4 with an elbow injury and Shaedon Sharpe out for several weeks after undergoing core muscle surgery, Billups kept Henderson coming off the bench. Why mess with what was working for him, when his long-term development is arguably the most important thing to the future of this rebuild?

“Chauncey is real with me and lets me know when I’m messing up,” Henderson said. “Taking me out of situations where I’ve messed up a couple times. That’s his way of letting me know, ‘Take a deep breath and when you get back out there, turn it up a notch.’ I appreciate it a lot, having a coach like that and a mentor like that. Seeing other players’ development, you don’t see that a lot. Having Chauncey on my side as a head coach is great to have.”

Finally, with one game left before the break, Billups decided it was time to reward Henderson for the work he’d put in and the strides he’d made.

“My job is, I want to do the best I can at developing him, but also protecting him,” Billups said. “When I made the decision to bring him off the bench, he was really struggling. I felt like he was playing with so much pressure on him. So I had to protect him from that. But he’s made so many advancements. And I also felt like as a young player, I want him to earn it. He’s playing so well right now on both sides of the ball.”

Henderson’s return to the starting lineup wasn’t the resounding success or star-making breakout that would make for a better story. It also wasn’t the abject disaster of most of his previous starts at different points this season. It was somewhere in the middle. The Blazers played one of their worst quarters of the season (no small feat) in a first quarter that saw them trail 44-14, before cutting the Timberwolves’ lead to eight in the second half, but were unable to sustain a run and stop Minnesota from running away with it.

Henderson shot 1-for-5 in the first quarter and 4-for-7 the rest of the way. He got to the free-throw line six times, something he’s done more consistently over the past few weeks as he’s gotten more comfortable driving. He had a few nice finishes but got sped up at times by a Wolves team that looked every bit like the best team in the Western Conference.

In all respects, good and bad, it was what you’d expect from a rookie who had shown he could handle what he’d been given and was now being given a little more to chew on. The development isn’t going to be linear.

“I thought he was good for the most part,” Billups said. “That first quarter was terrible for all of us. But overall, I thought he was solid. He did what he needed to do.”

Now, with Billups declaring Henderson the permanent starter for the final 28 games of the season, how he grows into that role will be the most important thing to watch after the break. How will he and Simons navigate playing on and off the ball when they share the court? How quickly Henderson adjust to playing against the other team’s starters instead of their bench?

It’s going to be time to find all of that out.

“Everything that I believe in, he’s that,” Billups said. “He’s competitive, he’s a good teammate, he cares, he’s trying to get better. I wanted him to earn everything, and he’s doing just that. I’m proud of him.”