preseason

Casey Holdahl

PHOENIX -- Just a week after it started, the Trail Blazers’ 2023 preseason is already over.

Portland wrapped up their four-game exhibition schedule by losing 117-108 to the Suns in front of a sellout crowd of 17,071 Monday night at Footprint Center in Phoenix. With the loss, their second to the Suns in the last four days, the Trail Blazers finish preseason with a 1-3 record, though such things are hardly important.

What is important during preseason is progress, and while they didn’t get as much done as they would have liked, they have a good foundation with a little over a week until the start of the regular season.

“I think the preseason, we had some ups and some downs, some good and some bad, which is normal,” said Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. “We never really got to really see our team with our two bigs playing, so we’ve got to get our guys on the floor.”

As noted, Deandre Ayton played in two of Portland’s four preseason contests, while Robert Williams III missed all four. Both centers, along with Anfernee Simons, Malcolm Brogdon, Matisse Thybulle and Jerami Grant all sat out Portland’s preseason finale as well.

With the veterans resting, Billups turned Monday’s game over to the first and second year players and those still competing for contracts. And the result was Portland committing 28 fouls, turning the ball over 24 times and trailing at one point by as many as 25, though considering they were going up against a Suns team featuring Devin Booker, Brad Beal and Kevin Durant, it’s not hard to understand the issues.

And again, more important than the result was the opportunity for those still making their way in the NBA -- the Blazers started Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Toumani Camara, Jabari Walker and Duop Reath -- to get extended playing time in a low-pressure environment, and in that regard, Monday’s game and preseason in general was a success.

“I just thought that there were some good lessons learned for our young guys,” said Billups. “For Scoot just to kind of see how our game is played and how people going to play him, great lessons learned. Shaedon as well. So thought we got a lot of great things we can take away from some of our games, most of our games, honestly.”

Sharpe, who started two of Portland’s four preseason games, finished Monday’s contest with 19 points on 9-of-18 shooting, four rebounds, four assists and a steal in just under 28 minutes. Sharpe shot 43 percent from the field but just 4-of-21 from three through preseason while also averaging 4.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists in four games.

“I think I did pretty well, always room for improvement,” said Sharpe of his preseason performance. “Regular season is on the way, I got to see what different coverages I can go against and how I can help my team. I think preseason was a success.”

Henderson finished Monday’s loss with eight points on 3-of-11 shooting and five assists, albeit with five turnovers. The 19-year old who played last season with the G-League Ignite went 20-of-28 from the field in preseason and finished with an assist-to-turnover ration of of 1.5.

“Scoot is a perfectionist, he’s hard on himself,” said Billups. “So to come out and see five turnovers in this game, he had six in another game, he’s kicking himself. But that’s who he is, that’s something that we won’t be able to control but that’s why he is who he is. But some great lessons learned for him.”

Jabari Walker had his best statistical game of the 2023 preseason Monday night in Phoenix, going 5-of-7 from the field for 13 points, nine rebounds and a teal in 16 minutes.

“I feel like there’s some improvement areas, but I improved on a lot as well from last year,” said the forward going into his second season out of Colorado. “There’s always going to be areas to improve but I have to acknowledge the good. I think I’m becoming more consistent and filling into my role, so I’m happy with it, ready to get to the real thing.”

Though Walker and the rest of the Trail Blazers will have to wait a bit with their regular-season opener versus the Clippers more than a week away. And considering their youth, inexperience and inability to get everybody on the court during preseason, that extra time should come in handy.

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Preparation Continues As Preseason Ends With Loss In Phoenix

Greetings from sunny Phoenix, where the Trail Blazers will wrap up their four-game preseason schedule Monday night versus the Suns. But before facing the Suns for the second time in the last week, wanted to get in yet another edition of The Brief Case, which you can listen and subscribe to below...

Topics on this, the 59th edition, include...

• The Trail Blazers 138-133 loss to the Utah Jazz in their third preseason contest

• Why the Jazz the loss to the Jazz is a better marker of where the Blazers are currently at than their first two preseason game.&nbsp;

• Anfernee Simons delivering a reminder about where he ranks among the guards on Portland's roster

• Thoughts&nbsp; on the play of Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Jabari Walker and Toumani Camara in Saturday's loss

• The Trail Blazers' record&nbsp; versus the spread so far in preseason play

• Portland's preseason finale versus the Suns in Phoenix and how it is being broadcast over the air on KPTV FOX 12 Plus

And finishes off the show with an interview with Trail Blazers forward Jerami Grant about how he spent his offseason, being a first-time father and how the experience has changed him, Paris Fashion Week, his thoughts on how the team has come together  during training campo and how his role has changed since joining the team prior to last season.

You can subscribe to the Brief Case on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, IHeartRadio, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podcast Addict, Podchaser, Pocket Casts, Deezer, PlayerFM. 

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Jerami Grant Talks Training Camp, Fatherhood and Leadership On The Brief Case

SALT LAKE CITY -- There’s been plenty of change in Rip City over the past month, but at least one thing has remained the same: Anfernee Simons gets buckets, and when he’s really dialed in, he gets them quickly.

Simons, one of the few holdovers from last year’s roster and the longest tenured Trail Blazer by a significant margin, posted 18 points in the first quarter and 29 points in 24 minutes of play in Portland’s 138-133 loss to the Utah Jazz in front of a crowd of 14,746 Saturday Night at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

“Ant had a great summer, he had a great training camp -- even though we’re still in training camp as I tell our guys,” said Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. “He’s 12-for-15 in 24 minutes, he’s capable of doing those types of things.”

Simons’ 29 points are the most any player in the NBA has posted during preseason play this year and matches the number of points he scored in Portland’s first two exhibition games combined.

“Got a couple good looks and it went on from there,” said Simons. “That’s pretty much it. I started the game with a couple good looks, able to knock ‘em down, got in a good rhythm and just keep shooting from there.”

Selected by Portland with the 24th pick of the 2018 Draft, Simons has made steady improvement every season, so much so that it it was all but a given that he would he handed the reigns as the next great Trail Blazers guard once Damian Lillard moved on.

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Anfernee Simons Highlights (29 Points) | Portland Trail Blazers 133, Utah Jazz 138 | Oct. 14, 2023

But after the team drafted Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson in successive drafts, both young, athletic talents who share a number of similarities to Simons, one could be forgiven for wondering if that assumption was still valid. His performance in the first half of Saturday’s loss, in which he went a perfect 7-of-7 from two and 5-of-8 from three, was a good indication that, while the Blazers do have plenty of young talent at guard, Simons still has next.

“Just taking it day-by-day, enjoying the process of growing as a player, as a person, as a vocal leader on the team,” said Simons. “I know there’s going to be ups and downs on the road and I’m just fully prepared for it, going through it and getting the best out of it.”

The 6-3 guard scored in bunches Saturday night, as he’s been known to do throughout his career, netting three three-pointers in a two-minute span and would eventually go 7-of-8 from the field and 4-of-5 from three in his first eight minutes of play.

“That’s who he is, that’s the player he is: he gets buckets,” said Scoot Henderson, who has started alongside Simons in all three of Portland’s preseason games thus far. “It was a surprise to me, I’m like, ‘Give him the rock.’”

After taking just three shots in the second quarter, Simons went 4-of-4 from the field and made his only three-point attempts before calling it a night after the first seven minutes of the third quarter.

Billups turned the game over to the rookies, second-year players and those playing for contracts in the fourth quarter, with Utah coach Will Hardy opting to do the same. The Blazers steadily chipped away at the Jazz lead that was as large as 15 at one point, though they never managed to get over the top.

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Game Highlights | Portland Trail Blazers 133, Utah Jazz 138 | Oct. 14, 2023

“I thought it was a good game for us, I really do,” said Billups. “That’s a good team, that’s a difficult team to guard with their size and their length. Wanted to keep them off the offensive glass, we held them to six, that’s a team that’s probably going to average 10, 12, 14 during the season, so we scrapped really hard and we ended up getting 15 offensive rebounds, so I was happy about that… I was just proud of the guys, they just fought so hard, proud to watch them.”

Simons wasn’t the only Trail Blazer to turn in his best preseason performance thus far Saturday night.

Jerami Grant posted 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field and 2-of-3 shooting from three to go with two rebounds and a block in 26 minutes. Shaedon Sharpe came off the bench to go 8-of-15 from the field for 20 points in addition to seven rebounds, four assists and two steals in 29 minutes.

Henderson finished with 17 points and eight assists while turning the ball over just twice. Jabari Walker finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. Rookie Toumani Camara continued his eye-opening preseason play by also posting 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and 3-of04 shooting from three to go with five rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal in 24 minutes.

Deandre Ayton, Malcolm Brogdon and Robert Williams III did not play in Saturday’s contest.

The Trail Blazers now wrap up preseason play by once again facing the Suns, this time in Phoenix, Monday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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Simons Sizzles In Preseason Loss To Jazz

porjwilliamson

Trail Blazers fall short to the Utah Jazz in their third preseason game.

After winning their preseason opener by 40 Tuesday night versus the New Zealand Breakers, the Trail Blazers came back down to Earth with a 122-111 loss to the Phoenix Suns in front of a crowd of 17,713 Thursday night at Moda Center.

“The thing that stands out to me the most is the shotmakers that (Phoenix) has over there,” said Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. “That was pretty impressive. They made us pay for every mistake that we made in that first half and I thought it kind of deflated my guys. They haven’t seen nothing like that before, especially the young guys.”

The Trail Blazers are now 1-1 in exhibition play with two preseason games still left to play.

Thursday’s game might have given a window into what games might look like for the Trail Blazers this season, at least against elite competition. Portland comported themselves well in the first quarter to take a 40-37 lead into the second. But after the game was tied 53-53 with 5:26 to play in the second quarter, Phoenix went on a 23-3 run to take a commanding 76-55 lead into the half.

Phoenix turned the game over to their bench in the second half, while Billups opted to play much of what one would expect to be his regular rotation this season, specifically Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson, and for fairly obvious reasons.

“They need these minutes,” said Billups. “They need the time, they need to get out there, they haven’t played in the league long enough to be kind of sitting back and chilling. I knew they wasn’t going to be playing against NBA players the first (preseason) game, obviously we were winning but I really didn’t care about the score, winning or losing, but I didn’t want to just keep them in the game not playing against NBA players. But games like today, they need the experience.”

And while they weren’t playing against the same caliber of competition, both Sharpe and Henderson turned in better performances in the second half. Sharpe, after posting just two points in the first half, went for 10 points, two assists and a steal in the second. And Henderson was even better, using his elite athleticism and understanding os court spacing to go for 16 of his 22 points points on 6-of-7 shooting in the second half alone before fouling out after playing nearly 31 minutes.

Malcolm Brogdon went 5-of-7 from the field and 2-of-4 from three to finish with 13 points, two assists and two steals in 15 minutes. Jerami Grant also added 13 points, albeit in 25 minutes.

Anfernee Simons posted 15 points, four assists, one rebound, one steal and one block in 22 minutes. Deandre Ayton, playing against his former team for the first time, added seven points, six assists, three steals and a block in 22 minutes.

Eric Gordon lead all scorers with 20 points. Jusuf Nurkic, traded to Phoenix just weeks ago in the deal that netted Portland Deandre Ayton, finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block in 20 minutes. Nassir Little, also a part of the trade, added five points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals in 29 minutes.

With the home portion of their preseason schedule now complete, the Trail Blazers hit the road for their final two exhibition contests starting with a Saturday night tilt versus the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.

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Familiar Faces Return In Preseason Loss To Suns

Greetings from North Portland. With the Trail Blazers getting their 2023 preseason going with a 40-point victory, it seemed like a great opportunity to get in yet another edition of The Brief Case podcast, which you can listen and subscribe to below...

Topics on this, the 58th edition, include...

• Stephen A. Smith's entirely plausible theory on why Scoot Henderson will win Rookie of the Year

• Impressions of Scoot's preseason debut versus the New Zealand Breakers

• Portland starting their 2023 exhibition season with a 106-66 victory versus the Breakers Tuesday night

• Results from the annual NBA GM survey as it pertains to the Portland Trail Blazers

• Shaedon Sharpe having his third-year option picked up and the Trail Blazers signing center Greg Conditt

And the show wraps up with an interview with Trail Blazers rookie forward Toumani Camara, who discusses his path from Belgium to the NBA, grinding out the predraft process, the trade that sent him from Phoenix to Portland before ever playing a game with the Suns, French trash talk, how he would describe himself as a player and what goals, if any, he had going into his first year. As I noted at the end, he might not be Scottie Pippen, but if he wears the same number as Scottie Pippen, has a specific placement of a sweatband like Scottie Pippen, looks a little like Scottie Pippen and plays a bit like Scottie Pippen, then who is to say he's not the next Scottie Pippen?

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Preseason Debuts And A Conversation With Camara On The Brief Case

PORTLAND -- Prior to Portland’s preseason opener versus the New Zealand Breakers, head coach Chauncey Billups listed off some of the things he would like to see out of his incredibly young, new-look team as they prepare for the regular season.

“You want to see them play fast, you want to see them share the ball, you want to see them attack the paint,” said Billups. “Defensively, you want to try to control the ball the best you can, help each other and protect the rim. You want to just see that every night, no matter who you’re playing.”

Billups and those in attendance Tuesday night might not have seen all of that, but they likely saw enough, at least for a first attempt.

After playing to a draw in the first quarter, the Trail Blazers outscored the New Zealand Breakers of the National Basketball League 83-43 thereafter to come away with a 106-66 win in front of a crowd of 12,694 at Moda Center in their 2023 exhibition season debut.

“I thought defensively, I thought we did a good job, just played hard as heck defensively,” said Billups. “(New Zealand) plays so fast and so hard, it’s hard to guard teams like that and I thought we did a really good job. Offensively, I thought we had a lot of nervous energy. Everybody was in a rush.”

On defense, Portland held New Zealand to 30 percent shooting from the field and 16 percent shooting from three while converting 22 turnovers into 22 points. But on the other side of the ball, the Blazers were one worse than the Breakers in turnovers and shot just 39 percent in the first half. Portland’s offense shows flashes of being the high-pace, free-wheeling unit Billups has envisioned, though Tuesday’s game showed the work is still very much in progress.

“We came out very rusty, we kind of expected that,” said Anfernee Simons, who started Tuesday’s game at guard alongside rookie Scoot Henderson. “I think we’re on a good track, I feel like we’re going to get better as preseason goes along and we’ve got plenty of time to the first game. There’s a lot to learn from tonight as well, so we’ll be good.”

Simons led the Blazers with 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting. Henderson, who Portland selected with the third overall pick of the 2023 Draft out of the G-League Ignite, posted seven points, a game-high six assists and a rebound in 19 minutes.

“I felt comfortable with the floor spacing and all of that,” said Henderson. “Getting up and down the way we was playing, the way Chauncey want us to play this year, you guys kind of seen a glimpse of it, but I think we’re going to adjust pretty well.”

Deandre Ayton, acquired a little more than a week ago from the Phoenix Suns, started at center and finished with eight points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals in 15 minutes. Matisse Thybulle also finished with eight points as did Jabari Walker, who also tallied six rebounds and two steals.

Billups turned the game over to the bench and those playing for contracts in the second half. Toumani Camara, who came over with Ayton in the trade with Phoenix, posting 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal in 14 minutes. Duop Reath, who played for Portland’s summer league team, added 12 points, five rebounds and a block in 17 second-half minutes.

Next up, the Trail Blazers host Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little, Drew Eubanks and the rest of the Phoenix Suns Thursday night at Moda Center in their last home preseason game of 2023. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ROOT SPORTS Plus and Rip City Radio 620 am.

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Trail Blazers Shake Offseason Rust In Win Versus Breakers

PORTLAND -- It’s only right that a new era of Trail Blazers’ basketball begins in earnest with a game versus a team they’ve never faced before in franchise history.

After an offseason of change and a week of training camp, the new-look Trail Blazers begin their 2023 exhibition schedule by hosting the New Zealand Breakers of the National Basketball League. Tipoff is scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Portland, thanks drafting three rookies and executing a number of offseason trades, have just five players returning from last season’s roster, making Tuesday’s contest at Moda Center the first, at least as Trail Blazers, for the majority of the roster.

Tuesday’s game also presents the first opportunity to see how Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups utilizes a guard rotation that now features Anfernee Simons, Malcolm Brogdon, Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson, who Portland acquired with the third overall pick of the 2023 NBA Draft. Same goes for the center position, which is now comprised of three players -- Deandre Ayton, Robert Williams III and Moses Brown -- who were not on the team last season.

Tuesday’s game is also the preseason debut of rookies Kris Murray, Toumani Camara and Rayan Rupert, who played last season for the Breakers before being selected with the 43rd pick of the 2023 Draft.

Travis Demers and Michael Holton will have the call of Tuesday night’s game on Rip City Radio 620AM and on all of the stations of the Trail Blazers Radio Network. There is no television broadcast of Tuesday’s game.

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Blazers Host Breakers To Start Exhibition Season

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