Portland Trail Blazers' Scoot Henderson Guarantees Rookie Of The Year Win

PublishedAugust 9, 2023 10:55 AM EDT|UpdatedAugust 9, 2023 10:55 AM EDT

Scoot Henderson just put a ton of pressure on himself for no reason.

Exactly.

You might not know the name unless you follow basketball rather closely, but Henderson is guaranteeing that you will know his name sooner than later. He did so by promising that he will win the NBA's Rookie of the Year award.

Perhaps the 19-year-old hasn't learned that the thing with guarantees is, people will definitely know your name - for better or worse, and usually it's because the guarantee comes up short.

HENDERSON WITH A BOLD ROOKIE OF THE YEAR PREDICTION

"I will win Rookie of the Year," the G-League Ignite guard told Playmaker.

“That’s just a mindset of manifestation that I kind of grew,” he continued. “Making sure I’m telling myself, I'm going to have a great rookie season. I’m not saying I want to have a great rookie season. I'm going to have a great rookie season.”

Now, I'm not here to knock anyone's confidence. Hell, I'm all about being cocky and confident at the same time... in certain situations. One area where it doesn't work, however, is in professional sports. There's no reason for Henderson to say what he said. If he needs to personally go into each game with a certain high level of confidence, that's fine... but keep it to yourself my man. It's called "Perfection Through Silence."

Time and time again we've seen athletes try to be like Joe Namath and his famous Super Bowl III victory guarantee. And time and time again athletes have come up short. Anyone know how Vikings wide receiver Jalen Reagor is doing after this burn?

In an age where social media trolls are just begging someone to say something stupid, why give them the alley-hoop to slam dunk on yourself? You're just a poor shooting month away from becoming a meme.

HENDERSON IS GOOD, BUT SO ARE OTHER ROOKIES

There's no doubt that Scoot Henderson is actually a good player. During his stint playing on the the G-League's Ignite team, he averaged 16.5 points and 5.4 rebounds in 19 games. The Trail Blazers were so impressed that they thought the guard warranted using their No. 3 draft pick selection. It's unclear if they also knew he was going to come out with such a high-pressured claim without yet playing an official NBA game.

It could be a generational thing. Michigan football player Blake Corum decided to guarantee that the Wolverines will win a National Championship this year. I'm sure that won't make its way onto Old Takes Exposed.

It's one thing to talk the talk. But when you're a rookie in a league full of some players that can absolutely decimate you with a crossover of a basketball, it's probably not a good idea to go out and start guaranteeing awards to yourself.

Especially when there's another rookie out there named Victor Wembanyama who is going to look to block you anytime you step into the paint.