New Trail Blazers head coach Micah Nori spent part of his summer explaining exactly how Scoot Henderson fits into a backcourt that got a lot more crowded this month. In an interview with Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report, Nori said the priority is building an offense that lets Henderson do the one thing nobody questions: get to the paint.
“We’ve got to make sure we create space for him,” Nori told Highkin. “The thing he can do is attack the paint and get downhill and go where he wants to go. What we have to do is have good spacing, make sure the corners are filled and then we have outlets for him to get to the paint, and if he can’t finish, then the kick-outs are right there for him where he can see.” After that, Nori said, the work is on decision-making and pace — not slowing Henderson down, but making his speed controlled.
The context makes this more than standard coach-speak. Henderson, still just 22, is on his third head coach in less than a year, and Portland’s guard rotation now stacks Ja Morant, Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard ahead of or beside him. Nori’s answer to the logjam is an off-ball role, and he pointed to the group’s passing as the reason he believes it works: “They’re all looking to make the right play. So I have no problem thinking all these guys are going to be able to play together.”
One more rotation note from the interview: after five years in Minnesota, where two-big lineups were the norm, Nori told Highkin he is more likely to downsize in Portland — Robert Williams III and Donovan Clingan will share the middle, but Toumani Camara at the five and even Holiday at the four are on the table.
The proof arrives at training camp, when four guards with starter résumés start splitting three spots. How Henderson handles the first stretch of that competition is the clearest early measure of whether this rebuild-within-a-retool is working.
For fantasy purposes, Henderson is the swing piece in this backcourt. An off-ball role beside Morant and Holiday caps his assist upside, and until camp sorts the minutes, he is a late-round flier in redraft. Dynasty managers should hold: the coach publicly building the offense around his downhill game is the most encouraging thing said about Henderson in a year.
