Shaedon Sharpe has taken off over his past five games, netting an outstanding 23.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 3.2 assists. During that time, he's connected on 45% of his eight nightly attempts from deep, and done so with a shot profile that's hard to believe.
Sharpe hasn't just been spotting up. He's been taking a large chunk of those attempts off the dribble, be that as a trailer pull-up shooter, via step-backs, or him just simply dribbling himself into shots nice and slow.
The 6-foot-6 hyper athletic rookie wing flat out looks like a star, to the extent that if he had played like this all season, Paolo Banchero would be viewed as the league's second-best rookie.
What has floored me during Sharpe's recent run is the on-court maturity, and the ease of which he gets into the paint. He's deliberate in his movements, even without the basketball, but he doesn't seem to pre-plan his course of action too far ahead, leaving room for instincts and opportunities to grab.
Most rookies tend to think too much. Map out too many actions. Make backup plans.
Sharpe? He seems, as of late, to have understood the assignment of letting himself get caught up in the flow of the game, and surrendering himself to it.
Now, that doesn't mean he doesn't still take some questionable shots from time to time. And sometimes he'll have turnovers that reveal he's still just a teenager.
But let's be honest. Even 15-year veterans don't play the game perfectly. For what Sharpe is doing right now, he needs to be commended. His positives heavily outweigh his negatives, especially as fine-tuning tends to come later in a player's career.
While I'm not a big comps guy, Sharpe's recent play looks awfully similar to the play of Zach LaVine, particularly the ability to get all the way to the rim off the bounce, in what looks like fairly simple ways. A power dribble, following by a long stride, keeping the ball high, and finishing with a layup? That's textbook LaVine, and Sharpe is doing a tremendous interpretation of it.
In fact, on the season, Sharpe is hitting a ridiculous 69.9% from within three feet of the basket, which makes up for 29.5% of his offense. It'll be enormously interesting to see if that level of efficiency can be duplicated next year.
Sharpe, after all, isn't a sure thing to stick in Portland given the team's devotion to Damian Lillard, who is going to turn 33 and wants to win now. If that is indeed the goal, Sharpe would fetch a haul in a larger trade, which the Blazers hope to catapult them into championship contention.
Of course, there's also the chance the Blazers and Lillard decide to go their separate ways, thus keeping Sharpe in Portland.
Whether Sharpe sticks with the team, or finds himself elsewhere next season, the 19-year-old looks every bit like a future star. In fact, it might actually behoove teams to try to get him sooner than later, as next season could be much more of what we've seen over the past five games.
Unless noted otherwise, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball-Reference. All salary information via Spotrac. All odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.
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