Unveiling the Enigma: An Analysis of Shaedon Sharpe’s Performance and Potential

Shaedon Sharpe is someone who is always ready to show his talent. Not only does he have a 6’5, 200-pound swingman figure, he also has excellent body control, coordination and dynamic talent, especially his jumping, speed and explosive power are among the top in the league. Sharpe not only has a historical 49-inch jump, but also has a wingspan of nearly 7 feet, coupled with excellent coordination, making each of Sharpe’s high-altitude dunks full of fun.

Coming off the bench and playing next to Lillard, Simons, Grant and Nurkic, Sharpe is bound to have few shots. Therefore, during the competitive record period when the possession of the ball was relatively scarce, Sharpe’s main job was to play without the ball. And he also did a good job of the tasks entrusted by the two teams of off-ball cuts and outside lines.

With his unique speed and jumping ability, Sharpe can stay in the air for a long time and use a very beautiful posture Alley-Oop, no matter whether he is cutting the bottom line of the half-court offense or in the open fast break. Sharpe’s PPP (Point Per Play) for air cuts is 1.47 points, with a shooting percentage of 76%, and his efficiency can beat 84% of players in the league. Air cutting seems simple, but actually requires players to integrate physical fitness, footwork, defensive interpretation, court interpretation and sense of space. Being able to produce excellent cutting efficiency in his rookie year shows that Sharpe has already mastered the above-mentioned skills.

Sharpe also has good outside ability, and his shooting posture is the best-looking among the Blazers’ rookies in the past five years. Although many analysts have talked about it, his shooting posture is not fixed, his feet are not fixed, and his force is not coherent enough. But statistically, Sharpe’s Catch-and-Shoot three-point shooting percentage is 45.5%. Although the number of shots per game is only two, it has already shown that Sharpe is a perimeter shooter that cannot be let go casually.

The air cut and outside line make Sharpe a player who cannot be let go on the weak side and can open up space. With his off-ball value, in the modern NBA that focuses on offensive space, he can already become a passing starting 3D this year. Looking at the entire league, the closest young player who can deliver such outstanding off-ball value is Michael Porter Jr. Moreover, his ability to integrate into the characteristics of the Blazers’ empty-handed running tactics also won him more opportunities to play.

Sharpe’s dribbling also benefits from coordination, allowing him, who has an average dribbling foundation, to still protect the ball when he is disturbed and his body loses balance, and then use coordination to regain his body balance. This is also the key to his ability to practice holding the ball in the future.

But so far, I think Sharpe’s ball handling is more potential than strength. As mentioned earlier, Sharpe has very good body control and coordination, which greatly increases his chances of dribbling. But in fact, Sharpe’s dribbling ability at this stage is still mediocre, because the dribbling center of gravity is too high. In terms of cutting with the ball, Sharpe doesn’t know how to use his top explosive power to dribble. Whether in singles or after passing a screen, Sharpe’s first-step explosive power is limited by the high center of gravity of the dribble, and his legs cannot be put in a sprint acceleration posture, making it difficult to get rid of the defender.

However, Sharpe has a good sense of dribbling rhythm in singles. Now he can occasionally read the defender’s center of gravity shift, and seize the opportunity to cut in. And his ability to use screens is also good. Occasionally, he can be seen wrapping his shoulders with the inside line, leaving no gaps, and completely clinging to the screen inside to pass the screen, making it impossible for defenders to bypass the screen from above. Of course, it doesn’t mean that he can do these ball-handling tasks stably now. After all, he is restricted by dribbling, and his ball-handling offense still has more potential than strength. But in his rookie year, he showed the embryonic form of a ball-handling attacker, and he definitely has the capital to persuade the team to give him more time to hone his dribbling and handling.

And the ball-handling skill that best reflects Sharpe’s physical talent is the end of the penalty area. As Jia Da described: “Sharpe is a natural finishing machine.” Sharpe is not afraid of confrontation near the basket. With excellent body coordination, waist and abdomen strength, explosive power, jumping ability and other physical advantages, Sharpe’s finishing efficiency is very good. As a wing swingman of average size, he has a 71.1% shooting percentage from 0-3 feet at the basket. Of course, this shooting percentage has been boosted by his off-ball cuts and transition fast breaks, but being able to hand over Paul George’s stats in his rookie year also shows that his future is limitless.

In the tank stage, Sharpe also showed some ability to actively create mid-range. Sharpe can make good use of turning and leaning back in the middle distance, and in the case of being blocked, he just creates a gap. Cut to the bottom line in the Lakers game against good defender Vanderbilt, and it was a turn that swayed Vando away and eaten him. Even facing a small defender, he can cut to the defender and pull hard. Sharpe’s mid-range shooting is a typical 2-Motion, jumping first and then aiming at the basket, coupled with excellent air suspension, it is difficult for Sharpe’s shots to be interfered by guards. It shows that Sharpe will have a better chance to practice stable dislocation singles in the future.

Recalling before the draft, as a Trail Blazers fan, in order to hit the championship, of course I don’t want to choose a mysterious potential stock like Sharpe. But in retrospect, Sharpe is indeed a talented and capable player. Although he finally passed the first two teams of the rookie team, Sharpe’s potential and the ceiling he can achieve are the highest in this class until now. Regardless of where the Blazers go in the future, I don’t want Sharpe to end up being reduced to a trade reinforcement chip.

Because as long as he is not injured, he is a superstar we can entrust to the next decade.

(Brandon Roy and Greg Oden: Huh? Why is this sentence so familiar.)