Shaedon Sharpe's Upside on Full Display in Maccabi Ra'anan Exhibition

Throw out the opponent.

The Trail Blazers' Thursday night preseason blowout of Maccabi Ra'anan wasn't much higher-level competition than a Summer League game. But it was the first extended look most people who aren't draft-film junkies have gotten at Shaedon Sharpe.

In the first two preseason losses, when Chauncey Billups played something close to his regular-season rotation, Sharpe got in sparingly and had two very uneven performances. On Thursday, though, he got in early and often and played the kind of game the Blazers envisioned when they took him with the No. 7 overall pick in June. The pick has been called a "high-upside swing," and the upside was obvious.

The numbers are irrelevant in an exhibition game against a second-division Israeli team, but for what it's worth, he led all scorers with 27 points off the bench and shot 10-for-13 from the field.

And he did it in every way imaginable. There was a broken play that led to a floater. He hit an open corner three on a catch. There were a couple of highlight dunks. A couple of pull-up jumpers from midrange. A few layups in traffic. And it all looked effortless, as those who have watched him in practices have been telling us it has for a week.

"He has the type of ability where when he's rushing, you still can't tell because he's graceful," Billups said after the game.

Throughout the organization, from Billups and Joe Cronin to Damian Lillard, the messaging has been consistent around Sharpe: don't get too excited yet, because he's not ready. He's going to be great when he figures it out, but he's not there yet. After his hit-or-miss first two preseason games, Billups was quick with the reminder that he's still 19 and this is all new to him.

It's the right way for the Blazers to play it, not rushing Sharpe into action to justify the draft pick. When he does eventually get on the floor in a game that counts for something, there will still be growing pains. But watching him get extended run, even against a team like Ra'anan, you see it.

You see why Portland took him in the top 10 rather than trade the pick for more win-now help for Lillard. You see why Lillard, who initially seemed skeptical over the summer of Sharpe's makeup after skipping his freshman season of college to prepare for the draft, has been fully on the bandwagon since camp began. You see why they looked through the "mystery man" hype and questions about his readiness and decided the talent was worth it.

You even see him taking trash talk from one of the few former NBA players on the Ra'anan roster, former Warriors, Heat and Grizzlies guard Briante Weber, in stride.

"That's when you find out about a lot of people," Billups said. "I thought it was cool. It even made me mad. I drew up a play for him right away in that timeout."

"I don't really pay attention to that yapping and everything, so it's cool," Sharpe said after the game. "Coming in as a rookie, guys are gonna go at you and talk more."

These games, where the NBA team sits its top six rotation players and their opponent isn't even in the top division in their own country, are tough to take anything from. But with Sharpe, the selling point has always been the physical gifts, and that part was on full display Thursday.

It's not going to happen right away. But games like this show you there's something there.

"I feel like I can play in the league," Sharpe said. "So once I got a dunk, it gave me more motivation and more confidence to play my game and play loose."