after the all star game. Might be before, but around that time period sounds good to me. He definitely has some things to work on though.

as a p.g. so will wait patiently with hands folded to see how he becomes part of the team. Maybe Rudy gets fed up and returns to Europe or BRoy has to take some time off for injuries or another kid … but right now I’m not convinced JB is a starting pg. Integrating Brandon & Rudy & Jerryd is going to be interesting.

I don’t think starting is that big a deal, especially not to Nate. I think Nate and KP care more about minutes and PT distribution. I also think they value 4th quarter minutes more highly than opening tipoff minutes. For those reasons, the “starter” category is not that highly descriptive for the way Nate runs this team. I think it’s a status thing that has been made much of in the media and probably means a lot to quite a few players, but has little arguable significance in how basketball is actually played.

That being said, I think Bayless could start quite early (I actually voted for after the All-Star break), but it will be very situational. It will depend a lot on the matchups with the team we’re playing against, and also with what players the other team has starting and backing them up. There are certain games where the offense and drives to the hoop that Bayless provides may be more helpful than the steady leadership that Blake gives, and I think Nate will take that into account when setting his lineups.

The way that Bayless plays with Roy will determine it, mostly. With Bayless’s drive to improve and Roy’s incredible awareness of both basketball the game and team dynamics, I could see them clicking at a high level almost immediately. If that’s the case, I don’t think Nate would hold back Bayless if playing him gave the team the best chance to win.

will probably compete for key fourth quarter minutes opposite Roy + Outlaw. My guess, without having seen Rudy play, is that Rudy starts out in that role early (as the more experienced guy) and Bayless supplants him by the all-star break.

If Bayless brings that much intensity to the fourth quarter of a summer league game, imagine how crazy he’ll get for real games. He may actually decapitate somebody with his laser-glare…

I don’t think he will be a starter this year and maybe even next year. It will take him some time to learn the offense and Nate won’t just hand him the job. He will have to beat out Blake and Sergio at the point or Rudy at the 2 to start. That will be tough.

I’m not necessarily predicting that happens, but it wouldn’t surprise me. When it came our turn in this years draft, KP picked the best player available. That doesn’t mean Jerryd is a good fit for our team. And if that route is chosen, he will probably have good trade value.

that he is traded, no ones gonna gamble and give us something better from only watching him in summer league. I say KP at least evaluates him this season to find out if he is really our point guard of the future.

He still has alot to learn, which is also why I dont see him starting til after next season. If he cant play the point he will be traded to a team that needs a scoring 2 guard. He’s not gonna see much meaningful time at the 2 behind Roy and Rudy, even Webster for that matter. If he catches onto the point guard role he’s gonna see alot more PT but the learning curve is much greater.

If they didn’t believe that Bayless and Fernandez were not going to be better over-all players, they wouldn’t have drafted them. But they did

Why is that the only scenario? As the post above yours pointed out, the Blazers very well could have selected Bayless because they believed he was the best player available at our draft position. KP has often stated that this is the philosophy he usually follows.

And I’m not saying Blake is the answer to our dreams at PG. But neither, I suspect, is Bayless. Based on only a few very unimportant Summer League games, I wonder if he is a point guard at all. Down the road, I’m thinking Koponen could be our guy … maybe … and it’s also too early to discount Sergio.

Wait until he runs into real NBA veterans and
let’s see how he fares. Steve Blake is a tested
veteran PG. He has a high assist to TO ratio,
dosen’t demand shots and plays decent defense
(especially in the zone). He also hit 40 +% on
his threes. He’s going to hard to bump from his
job.
I forsee J-Rex being part of a great white unit
with TO, Rudy, Pryz and Buffet. Pryz will set the
screens and JRex will curl for the jumper or attack.

COINCAST, COINCAST COINCAST, why won’t you
do a DEAL ? BLAZERVISION, PLEASE !