Okay gang, I just spent the afternoon drinking champagne and watching Shaedon highlights. This experiences has left me with a variety of thoughts and questions. I'll share below:

1. Have we had this type of player since Clyde? I can't think of one player we've had since Clyde who can assert his will via sheer athleticism. Brandon (my all time favorite Blazer) was able to assert his will through unbridled intelligence and skill, and Dame has been able to through sheer will (and also a cubic eff-load of practiced skill). But between Shaedon's ability to (to use another poster's term) perform a "glide back" 3, and his dunking/lob-catching prowess, I just don't remember another Blazer with this level of imposable athleticism. I've always been jealous of Memphis with Ja (pre-gun idiocy), any team that had Kawhi, the Bucks, and fans who got to watch Dr. J, Vince, LeBron, Darryl Dawkins, Blake Griffin, and other such physically imposing dudes. Now we've got Shaedon, and I'm jealous of myself.

2. Minutes: The last two games have crystalized a feeling I've had for much of this season: Why isn't Shaedon getting 30 minutes a game? It was pretty clear by November that we weren't winning, and yet our young stud wasn't getting much run. We traded Josh Hart (more on that later), clearly waving the white flag, but yet Shaedon stayed mostly on the shelf until two games ago, during which time he clearly showed he's up to the task. I was not in favor of hiring Chauncey (I was interested in a more experienced coach), but I was certainly open to the possibilities he posed. I also do not believe him to be a coach that can help this team win on Dame's timeline (very important to me), and therefore not one I think should maintain employment with the Blazers. So, are Shaedon's limited minutes the consequence of a bad coach, Shaedon only recently earning them, or something else I'm not seeing?

3. Non-Dunk Finishing: What's not on Shaedon highlights? Lay-ins. Dude can get to the cup with ease, but unless he is able to jump over the defenders (not a super common occurance), he doesn't have much of a chance of scoring. He doesn't have any sense of changing his timing, creating space, or manipulating defenders the way a great finisher like Dame does. I'm 40, and I run full speed and either lay it in or get blocked. Shaedon's doing the same thing as me, but he can learn, right? He's had at least one misdirection/sidestep in the last two games, right?

4. Josh Hart: Among the million things to love about this dude, he threw beautiful lobs to Shaedon. I know he's not coming back, but in 30 years when we remember Shaedon's early highlights, let's remember Josh, okay?

5. Dame: Is Dame gonna learn how to throw lobs to play with this kid? Dame has learned obscene, nonsensical things in his day. He's learned how to finish over (between?) literally all five dudes from the other team, and he's learned how to shoot 40 foot shots with efficiency while two giant humans put a hand in his face. You'd think he'd learn to toss a decent lob to this phenom, right?

Sub-Question: Justise: Is it worth resigning Justise Winslow just so we can see him throw nice lobs to Shaedon and play good defense for 20 games a year? Or is this where we just ride it out with Trendon tossing better lobs and playing worse defense?