Chauncey Billups Believes Blazers May Have All-Star Already on Roster

The Portland Trail Blazers have been trying to find out what they have in their young players for the last few years. They haven't been able to get an All-Star on the team since Damian Lillard left.

When they selected Scoot Henderson third overall a couple of seasons ago, they were hoping that Henderson was going to be that guy who could end up being an All-Star.

As they prepare for the NBA Draft, they aren't giving up hope on some of the guys on the current roster being All-Stars. In fact, head coach Chauncey Billups believes he has some guys who can develop into that caliber of player.

Billups thinks that he has some guys who can turn into that this year.

“Most people will say, ‘Yeah, go get such and such. But we might have that person. We might already have those guys. But we’ll see.”

Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe are the two guys that they believe have the best shot at developing into an All-Star caliber player. The Blazers really like how those young guys operate.

How well they are able to develop those two young guards now that Anfernee Simons is in Boston could determine whether or not they turn into a playoff team this season. That is their stated goal after falling just short of that this season.

Portland has the 11th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft on Wednesday night. They could end up getting a superstar player with that pick, although that remains unlikely.

The Trail Blazers are an organization that relies on the draft and trades in order to be good. They are not a free-agent destination, so they have to do some things internally to be competitive.

Next year is the season when the development they have for their players needs to start to show itself. If Billups is right about his roster, those flashes need to be shown next year.

Billups and Joe Cronin got contract extensions in the offseason. It's time for them to show why they earned those extensions.

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