How Scoot Henderson's High Volume, Low Efficiency is Detrimental to the Trail Blazers

The Blazers rookie returned from injury in early March and has seen just two wins since.

Mar 29, 2024; Miami, Florida, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Scoot Henderson (00) drives to the / Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

Scoot Henderson's rookie season has had its fill of peaks and valleys.

There are upsides to be excited about and there are downsides to be just as weary about, especially for a team aspiring to be an efficient one.

With a record of 19-55 and just eight games remaining, this could be the franchise's worst season is just under two decades, dating back to the 2005-06 season – claiming a measly 21 wins that year.

And with some strong young talent in looking at Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe, veterans in Jerami Grant and Deandre Ayton, and of course their recent No. 3 pick in Henderson, this season wasn't supposed to be this abysmal for the franchise.

In an absolutely loaded Northwest division, Portland has suffered vastly. Bringing in an adept scoring rim runner and athlete in Henderson was thought to be a stepping stone to possibly reach the fringes of a Play-In game. And while he's brought plenty of scoring along with him, he's also introduced another sense of inconsistency and inefficiency.

Since his return from injury being sidelined for just under a month, he's been putting up similar stat lines to the beginning of his rookie campaign. In the 12 games since his return, Portland is 2-10 and Henderson averages 14.9 points on 39.2% from the field, shooting 14.3 times per game – along with going just 28.8% from 3-point distance on 4.3 tries a night.

Following two wins at the start of the month, the Trail Blazers are now on a 10-game slide.

On the season, Portland is one of the most inefficient teams in the league, sitting second to last with a 44.3% average from the field as a team. Henderson, who shoots the seventh most shots on this team and has the third highest usage rate of 26.3%, shoots the fourth worst from the field for the Trail Blazers, highlighting the quantity of his volume while shedding light on his inefficiency. On top of that, Henderson leads the team in turnovers with 3.2 per game, and sits 12th in errors among the entire NBA.

The impact of his usage and the quality of his playmaking and scoring ability will be a point of attention as the team heads into the summer and next season, as maximizing his desirable qualities while minimizing his costly traits will be essential to heightening their number in the win column in his sophomore campaign.

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