The rebuilding Portland Trail Blazers are investing a lot of hope for the future in their young guards Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe. While the duo has shown great promise, both are far from sure bets to be NBA stars at the moment.

Last season, Henderson got off to a shaky start as a rookie before righting the ship deeper into the year. Sharpe, in year two, put up some terrific performances before his season was unceremoniously cut short by injury after just 32 games.

So what’s the national pulse on this young duo that we as Blazers fans think so much about?

The folks at The Athletic did an NBA all-21-and-under mock draft (subscription required) that may help us make some sense of that question. Writers James L. Edwards III, Kelly Iko and Will Guillory took turns selecting eight players from the pool of NBA’s 21-and-under players. Henderson and Sharpe did come off the board, although not super high, given the uncertainty.

Scoot went first, as Guillory selected the 20-year-old point guard with the No. 11 pick. Scoot’s 2023 Draft classmates Victor Wembanyama, Brandon Miller, Dereck Lively II, Amen Thompson and Cam Whitmore all went off the board before him at No. 1, No. 4, No. 5, No. 9, and No. 10, respectively. Guillory said stock in Henderson had dropped too low for such a highly touted prospect just a summer ago.

It’s been wild to see how many people have jumped off the Scoot Henderson bandwagon over the past calendar year. In this draft alone, we’ve already taken five players ahead of him from the 2023 NBA Draft. I’ll buy low on a guy whom many scouts were in love with this time last summer. As it turns out, playing point guard in the NBA at 19 is pretty difficult. I’m expecting Henderson to show some significant growth in Year 2 under Chauncey Billups’ tutelage.

Nine selections later, Guillory again showed some faith in the Blazers by picking the 21-year-old Sharpe at No. 20. Some names that caught my eye that went before Sharpe: Chicago Bulls forward Matas Buzelis (No. 16) and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace (No. 19). Guillory once again came to Portland’s defense by looking at the upside.

Sharpe’s second season as a pro got off to a promising start, but he only managed to play 32 games before undergoing abdominal surgery in January. Through the first 22 games of last season, Sharpe was averaging 18.8 points while shooting 36.5 percent on 3-pointers (6.2 attempts). I might be one of maybe four people in the world who are excited to see what the Portland backcourt can do next season. I think Scoot and Sharpe have the potential to be an exciting combo.

I haven’t read much of Guillory’s work, but after this article, I like this guy! I’d say we at Blazer’s Edge and our readers collectively form those other three people he’s talking about.

But in all seriousness, Guillory sees the potential and flashes from Sharpe and Scoot, while acknowledging their careers haven’t been 100% peachy so far. He even noted he was able to get Henderson at a discount because of the negative perception following him after a tough start.

After an up-and-down 2023-24 season for both Sharpe and Scoot, it’s clear both have a lot to prove this upcoming season.

Additionally, Portland’s No. 7 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft Donovan Clingan wasn’t selected in the mock draft. However, Clingan’s draft classmates Stephon Castle (No. 13), Buzelis (No. 16), Reed Sheppard (No. 22), Zach Edey (No. 23) and Zaccharie Risacher (No. 24) all came off the board.