Blazers SG Shaedon Sharpe Building Trust with Chauncey Billups

Portland Trail Blazerssecond-year guard Shaedon Sharpe has had a lot of growing up to do in the past year or so.

After not playing college ball, Sharpe was drafted by the Blazers with the No. 7 overall pick in last year’s draft, but it took time for him to develop and get a chance for serious minutes in the rotation.

“Obviously he didn’t have a college experience where he was able to learn a lot,”Billups said postgame. “He came really almost from high school and so his learning curve was was a great one. I just thought with what he had coming in just the institutional knowledge of the NBA and and the game it was almost a blank canvas and boy, did he work his butt off last year! He came a long, long way and he did the same thing this summer and to the point now where we trust him on both sides of the ball.”

With Anfernee Simons injured and out for several weeks, Sharpe is stepping into the starting lineup and making an impact. Sharpe scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds in the team’s 99-91 win against theToronto Raptorson Monday night.

“He made some big big plays in this game came with some huge rebounds some huge defensive stops,” Billups said. “His ascension has been fun to watch.”

The team saw an advanced look with Sharpe as the top guard in the lineup late last season, where he was able to start 10 games without Damian Lillard alongside him, Sharpe scored 20 or more points in all but one of those contests. That’s the peak of potential for what the Blazers could get in Sharpe, but now with an even bigger opportunity ahead of him, the second-year pro can show he can be consistent for a longer period of time.

So far this season, Sharpe has scored 14 points in every game and the Blazers will need that kind of production out of him to secure a long-term spot in the organization’s rebuild.