Everyone in Portland’s locker room seemed to have an opinion about Shaedon Sharpe, both in terms of his future prospects in the NBA and which of his numerous dunks from the first start of his career Friday night versus the Houston Rockets was superior.
Trendon Watford thought Sharpe’s first finish, a one-handed jam off an assist from Jerami Grant in which his eyes were clearly above the rim, was the winner.
“The kid is going to be a star,” said Trendon Watford. “We see it all the time, but I’m not going to lie, I’ve never seen him jump that high. That was crazy. I forgot about my little hip injury for a second I jumped up so high. That was a crazy dunk, came back the next play and did it again, crazy sequence. The first one might be Dunk of the Year.”
Jabari Walker, who has probably spent more time with Sharpe than anyone on the team after they were both selected by Portland in the 2022 Draft, preferred the more technical nature of the alley-oop finish off a pass from Keon Johnson on the very next play.
“It’s supernatural,” said Walker. “I thought the second one was better because of the timing. You have to go locate the ball, you can’t see where he’s going to throw it, you’re guessing. It’s tough to catch a lob like that while someone is falling away. Credit to the pass, it was a great pass after running full court. There’s a lot of hand-eye coordination that most people don’t even realize that he just has.”
Anfernee Simons, no stranger to uncommon athleticism and the 2021 NBA Dunk Contest champion, simply noted that his reign as the team’s most impressive leaper had officially come to an end.
“I ain’t never seen no bounce like that in my life,” said Simons. “I told him that. I saw from the first practice his bounce and I was like ‘I ain’t got the most bounce on the team no more. It’s over with.’ He’s just talented, beyond this world talented.”
And as for the man himself? He noted he typically doesn’t rank his dunks, though he admitted after being pressed that he preferred the first.
“I feel like the first one was way better than the second one, but I don’t really grade them,” said Sharpe. “I just felt like I really elevated.”
The same could be said of his entire performance in Portland’s 125-111 wire-to-wire victory versus the Rockets in front of a crowd of 19,082 Friday night at Moda Center.
“I though Shaedon played well,” said Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. “He’s just must-see TV, you never know what he’s going to do when he gets that runway like that. He made a couple plays that got the crowd going but I thought he was solid overall. Thought he did a pretty good job defensively, stuck to the rotations and things like that, didn’t try to overdo it. Thought he did a good job.”
Though Sharpe wasn’t alone in turning in a quality performance Friday night. Billups got significant contributions up and down the roster with Damian Lillard sitting out Friday’s contest with a strained right calf.
“When you get 30 assists and 11 offensive rebounds, you’re playing and you’re playing for each other,” said Billups. “I talked to the guys before the game just saying we’re missing Dame, that’s basically 30 (points) and seven (assists), one guy is not going to make that up, let’s just keep doing it together, keep playing together.”
Simons made seven three-pointers in the first half and shot 50 percent for the game to finish with a game-high 30 points, seven assists, five rebounds, a steal and a block in 37 minutes. Jusuf Nurkic went for 27 points, 15 rebounds three blocks and was nearly unstoppable from start to finish, abusing whichever Houston player was unfortunate enough to draw the assignment.
Jerami Grant posted 15 points five rebounds and four assists and Drew Eubanks went a perfect 4-of-4 from the field for 10 points. Josh Hart had nine points, eight rebounds and four assists while Justise Winslow came off the bench for seven points, seven assists and six rebounds in 24 minutes.
But while the win belong to the team, the highlights were almost entirely Sharpe’s purview. He finished the game with 14 points, with nearly half of his field goal makes coming off dunks, and never once looked like a rookie who has only played in six games in the last 18 months.
“I feel like each and every day I’m coming in, just learning more and more each and every day,” said Sharpe, who also dunked on LeBron James in Portland's victory versus the Lakers on Sunday. “I feel like I fit well with this team and can play with the guys that are on this team, still learning from Dame and all the vets and everything.”
Whether Sharpe gets another start in the near future is still to be determined, but if his performance Friday night was any indication, Lillard, who was as excited as anyone in the building during Sharpe’s sequence of dunks, might have the luxury of taking his time rehabilitating.
And speaking of time, the Trail Blazers will now have four days off before finishing up their first extended homestand of the season by hosting the Memphis Grizzlies Wednesday night at Moda Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ROOT SPORTS PLUS, ESPN and Rip City Radio 620 AM.