Blazers SG Shaedon Sharpe ‘Taking Leap’ Early in Second Season

Portland Trail Blazers second-year guard Shaedon Sharpe is in the middle of an incredibly impressive start to his second season in the NBA. His play early in the year has gained him national attention already.

Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale featured Sharpe in his recent article on players taking leaps this season.

Favale included Sharpe in his category of second-year leaps, putting him aside Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren and Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams in that tier. Sharpe’s scoring and efficiency was lauded by Favale in the article as standouts from his improvement across the board.

Bonkers-but-convincing shot-making from the perimeter buoys his 20-plus points per game. Sharpe is downing 37.5 percent of his pull-up treys and knocking down almost 42 percent of his above-the-break triples overall.

This is just the beginning. Sharpe will finish more efficiently around the rim. His passing is basic but better. He has thrown a couple nifty dimes in the pocket and on post entries. If he ever starts deferring more consistently on drives, it’ll be, as the kids his age say, scary hours.

Sharpe is following up a rookie campaign where he averaged 9.9 points and 3.0 rebounds per game with a massive jump in counting stats.

His scoring average has improved to 20.1 and his rebounds per game is now at 5.9 through the first seven games of the season. Sharpe’s assist numbers have also seen a jump, improving from 1.2 per game his rookie season to 2.9 per game so far this year.

Sharpe and the Blazers are back in action Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. PT at the Golden 1 Center.