Once upon a time there was a guy named Jerryd Bayless

by Murcy on Nov 19, 2008 5:17 AM PST

But whatever happened to him? I figure it would be the best to ask you guys, seeing how you are the "real" Blazers fans I just kinda like the team ever since Rasheed has been here.

So, after summer league and preseason I was really excited about Bayless, he seemed perfect to play with Roy as Roy can handle the ball really well, and with the offense flowing through him, plus Oden and LMA occupying the inside defenders, Bayless could penetrate as much as he wants to. But then games came and games went and he is nowhere to be seen... What is Nate waiting for? Really, I'd love to hear what you think about him, his value with the team and why the hell he is not playing... of course Rudy has been fantastic, but still, Bayless should get some more time in my opinion.

ps.: as i am in Europe i don't get to watch many games, so he might have been horrible in the few minutes he got... if so, sorry for the whole post.

Poll

What would you do with bayles?

Trade him and his potential plus Raef's expiring for an upper-level PG

24 votes

Have him play about 10-15 minutes a night to see how he fits in

54 votes

Insert him into the starting lineup

7 votes

Make him 6.-7.-8. man

11 votes

96 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 24 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

I don't think the issue is Bayless himself.

But rather that he has better players in front of him. At the PG position, Blake and Rodriguez are both better point guards than Bayless right now, making him the third best on the team. At the SG position, Roy and Fernandez are both better shooting guards than Bayless right now, making him the third best on the team. That really hampers Bayless’ playing time. If he could surpass any of these players, he would see significantly more court time, and it is possible that could happen this year, but I’m not going to hold my breath for it. Next year? A couple of years down the road? The probability goes up.

So, as far as your poll goes, I wouldn’t pick any of those options. Rather, keep him. If an injury happens, he needs to be ready to step up. If not, he’s a rookie, needs to be patient all this year, and concentrate on getting better.

Nevertheless, this could become an interesting conversation here on Blazers’ Edge.

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by T Darkstar on Nov 19, 2008 5:53 AM PST reply actions

You're as omniscient as that dude that proclaimed Oden an "offensive bust" after 16 minutes of game action...

At the PG position, Blake and Rodriguez are both better point guards than Bayless right now, making him the third best on the team.

"Sergio is clearly the MJ of 3rd string point guards!" —Mortimer Pritchard

by timbo on Nov 19, 2008 8:06 AM PST up reply actions

.................... How could you POSSIBLY say that until he's actually played?

"Sergio is clearly the MJ of 3rd string point guards!" —Mortimer Pritchard

by timbo on Nov 19, 2008 8:07 AM PST up reply actions

I'm making an assumption, of course.

If he was better, he should be playing.

Of course, you know what they say about assumptions. It tends to make one into a co-redemptrix. (I really should hang out with people who aren’t seminarians who make bad puns.)

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by T Darkstar on Nov 19, 2008 8:15 AM PST up reply actions

he could POSSIBLY say it

because apparently the entire Blazer’s organization agrees with it. If Bayless was outplaying Sergio and Blake in practice, then he’d be playing in games, simple as that. Unless you are saying Nate is biased TOWARDS sergio, which goes quite against what we’ve seen in the past.

"I saw him in the face." – Sergio, when asked about how the latest Rodriguez-to-Fernandez alley-oop came to be.

by sergioFTW on Nov 19, 2008 8:32 AM PST up reply actions

I think it's pretty fair to say

It’s an expert opinion of McMillan, and it’s a reasonable extrapolation of his preseason/summer league play.

by rmcdougall on Nov 19, 2008 11:08 AM PST up reply actions

His situation is actually really similar to Crittendon's on

the L*kers last year. Drafted in the mid-first round, expected to be a PG of the future, shows some potential, and then runs into a brick wall in terms of playing time with a steady vet and a young up and comer in front of him (Fisher/Farmar in Crittendon’s case). And then Crittendon ended up being one of the “centerpieces” to that Gasol trade.

As much as I want to keep him while Blake slowly gets phased out over the next couple years, this might not be realistic. Blake is still young enough that his play isn’t going to drop due to age off any time soon. Bayless is going to need PT to see if he’s ever going to reach his potential, not just time practicing with Sergio and Blake, so he’s caught in a kind of catch-22. In that he needs PT to get his game together, but to get PT he needs to get his game together. This would obviously be solved by an injury, bur unless that happens, he’s kinda stuck.

I hate to admit it, but the end result of all of this is probably Bayless being part of a trade package at some point in the season. I hope we can find a spot for him here, but the early returns aren’t good for that possibility.

by Royster on Nov 19, 2008 6:42 AM PST reply actions

There is no viable choice in the poll

The correct answer is, leave him on the bench and try to develop him into the PG of the future. On most other teams, he would warrant significant PT as a scorer off the bench. But on this team, with Rudy and Travis on the bench, there’s no room there.

Is there another team in the league with a more stacked SG position? I doubt it.

What he’s not, yet, is a PG. He’s not ready to fill that spot, even next to Roy. But that doesn’t mean the Blazers should trade him, and they probably won’t. They drafted him because they think EVENTUALLY he could be a perfect fit at PG. He’s not there yet. And that’s ok.

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by KP Corleone on Nov 19, 2008 7:09 AM PST reply actions 1 recs

excellent.

by mcmillion on Nov 19, 2008 7:40 AM PST up reply actions

Not sure he'll ever be a pure PG

Seems a bit too much like Jarrett Jack with regard to how he playes – e.g. combo guard (but he lacks that killer set of eyebrows to complete the look). To be fair, his mistakes are rookie mistakes (whereas Jarrett shouldn’t have been making some of his mistakes as a 3rd year player). I think Bayless will get some burn as the season progresses, but for a while he’ll be the Josh McRoberts Memorial Human Victory Cigar™. Hopefully he’ll rise to the challenge rather than letting it fester inside him.

by DonkeyShins on Nov 19, 2008 7:46 AM PST up reply actions

yes I figured that out too

that he is not a “pure” PG kind, that was one of my points: he doesn’t need to be when he’s playing with Roy. He won’t have to set up the offense, but he doesn’t have to go up against bigger SGs if he’s playing the PG position, rather like the Spurs do many times, with Ginobili creating, directing the offense and then Parker penetrating and flopping spectacularly… oh I mean scoring

Once upon a time the Suns got out on the break... and along came Steve sucKerr

by Murcy on Nov 19, 2008 8:05 AM PST up reply actions

No offense meant

Was more resonding to KP Corleone. :-)

by DonkeyShins on Nov 19, 2008 8:11 AM PST up reply actions

It's gonna take more than Bayless and RLEC to get an "upper-level PG" unless you're talking about Stephon Marbury...

……………………… Nate did the right thing in the GS game, 4 minutes to get him to work out a few jitters. It takes a few games, as we see from the example of Oden…

"Sergio is clearly the MJ of 3rd string point guards!" —Mortimer Pritchard

by timbo on Nov 19, 2008 8:05 AM PST reply actions

no no Marbury

I’m crzay but not that much… okay, then, a PG who is better than Blake MAY be had for the package (better in the sense that he is more creative and has better vision… I’m not indicating that Blake is not a good point… he is.

Once upon a time the Suns got out on the break... and along came Steve sucKerr

by Murcy on Nov 19, 2008 8:07 AM PST up reply actions

and I'd change the poll according to the comments

But there is no such option

Once upon a time the Suns got out on the break... and along came Steve sucKerr

by Murcy on Nov 19, 2008 8:07 AM PST reply actions

Where's the

“he’s a 20 year old rookie… let’s be patient” option?

Boomshakalaka

by jksnake99 on Nov 19, 2008 8:24 AM PST reply actions

well

the second option is supposed to be something like that… yeah the poll is bad in many ways, but I can’t edit it… I think one of the reasons why it is wrong is that I’d love to see him play, so my subconscious made me type only these options out. (or… yeah… I might have screwed up simply)

Once upon a time the Suns got out on the break... and along came Steve sucKerr

by Murcy on Nov 19, 2008 8:29 AM PST up reply actions

Bayless will get his chance

They’re still programming, give it time. He’ll get his shot this year, I promise.

He’ll play an important role for this team, sometime this season. Maybe it’s next month, maybe it’s in the playoffs, who knows, but he will get his chance this season.

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by iDea on Nov 19, 2008 8:33 AM PST reply actions

Bayless! Bayless!

As people have said above, we should just be patient. Not everyone gets to play. I believe that the coaches must see something in practice that is preventing Bayless from getting more minutes…for now.

As far as RLEC, would it best just to let the contract run out? It seems on paper it would, but I do not understand the world of NBA salary cap, rules, contracts, etc.

by clonigro on Nov 19, 2008 9:46 AM PST reply actions

Yes

it would be better to let it expire… But we could also use it as a trading chip to a team who wants free cap space. They would have to give us a player worth 12 million + 2ish million Bayless is getting. In that case, we should be seeing a near equal amount of cap come back at us. This is cap space KP has been saving, I doubt we will trade RLEC.

Time For The Spanish Guard To Step Up

by TheGreatDane17 on Nov 19, 2008 10:19 AM PST up reply actions

The Poll

Is too constricting. Shouldn’t have gotten into the details of how the trade would work, that is all. What do I think of Jerryd? Wrong place wrong time. He will be used as an asset to obtain’s KP’s “Icing on the cake” player.

Time For The Spanish Guard To Step Up

by TheGreatDane17 on Nov 19, 2008 10:17 AM PST reply actions

I really thought

When Bayless got in the game last night he should have been more offensive minded. He was clearly better at offense than CJ Watson is at defense. Take him to the rack. If you cant get to the rim I know a 7 footer who likes to dunk you can dish it to

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by GreatOden'sRaven on Nov 19, 2008 10:59 AM PST reply actions

Clearly?

He looked like a lonely puppy out there. Where is this TRex everyone is talking about? Attacking the hoop? Ill credit to the rook jitters.

Time For The Spanish Guard To Step Up

by TheGreatDane17 on Nov 19, 2008 11:13 AM PST up reply actions

Okay

Here is my singular personal approach to Bayless. Obviously he looked great in Summer League, but I temper everything I see in Summer League. To me, The Blazers are playing well and Bayless is our rookie, he’s playing behind one of our more veteran players in Blake, and a more experienced Sergio, who is also playing well. In any given season there is only so much you can worry about. Not seeing Bayless, I just have to trust that coaching knows what they are doing, they are the ones seeing him in practice everyday. Bayless has to scavenge opportunity when it presents through either a blow out, or maybe (hopefully not) an injury. But I refuse to worry too much about it. I don’t feel we are losing games because we are not playing him. Hopefully behind the scenes Bayless is working hard, staying prepared, in my opinion that is really the role for a new rookie PG on this team. I can see a bigger role for Bayless as he develops but that bigger role probably isn’t coming this season. It’s probably not the rookie season Bayless dreamed of, but it’s the one he’s challenged with dealing with. Bayless? Stay Prepared, keep working, be ready. In the meantime enjoy the ride. As a fan, this season I’m not defining it as a problem.

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by Krang on Dec 3, 2008 12:10 PM PST reply actions