Bayless can def. be a PG as the position is evolving to the Harris/Parker type PG. There are better options out there that i'd take over Bayless but i'm happy he is on our team and wouldn't be disappointed at all if he was the heir to the PG position (meaning we didn't get a PG like Sessions in the offseason). Hes really gotta work on not having tunnel vision when he drives and creating more rather than always just putting up wild shots. He has had some good moments when he has done that and it shows flashes of his potential. Go Jerryd! Go Blazers!
It's hard to think of any significant player who's ever been less likely to be a PG than Bayless. A SG who is hardwired to look to score at all times will likely end up doing so elsewhere and fairly successfully. I don't see him ever reaching the popularity or stature of any of the players mentioned in the OP though, that's a stretch.
I actually like the young Stevie Franchise 'combo' guard comparison. Jerryd has shown that explosiveness to the hoop, and all-around athletic ability to dunk and be on the receiving end of alley-oops unlike a guy like a Chauncey Billups. I just hope Jerryd can develop some kind of jump shot. I can't believe how bad he was outside of 15 feet. It's like a race between Sergio and him, and if any of those two could make a consistent jumper, they'd be getting the minutes.
I've said this before, and I'll say it again: some things you can just tell, and it's clear that Bayless just doesn't have PG instincts. You can learn to shoot (certainly the 3 pointer) and many players have. You can get better a defense just by caring (see LeBron James). But in all my years watching the NBA I can only think of Chauncey Billups who seemed to "learn" to be a PG. Being a PG just doesn't come naturally to Bayless. The only way you can get him to do it is to completely shackle what he is good at. Haven't you ever been in pickup games with people like Bayless? He's great, but eventually you just get tired of running up and down with him and never seeing the ball. This is Bayless at his best, and it's not being a PG: [video=youtube;jYqsB5VuSFY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYqsB5VuSFY[/video] In fact: here is a challenge to someone like HCP: compile a highlight reel of every Bayless assist.
Pritchard did NOT trade up for Bayless. He traded up for Augustine. But Augustine got picked ahead of us and we took Bayless as he was dropping down the board.
So wait, what, you'll pull some limited playing time business, in his first year no less, to pigeon hole the dude's career? Yet we have a starter PG (5 years into the league) that barely averages 5 assists per game running our show? I don't think the Bayless comparisons are legit yet. We definitely should see him w/o Sergio on the team, pulling back-up PG duty until he can take over Blake's spot. Not saying Blake is bad, not saying Sergio is bad, but saying, the diagnosis on Bayless is bad because of the limited sampling. I think he'll turn into a great PG, he just needs time, time to play, time to know that he's not going to get pulled for doing a Rookie thing, etc.
What does Blake have to do with my assessment of Bayless? I've wanted Blake gone for a while. In fact, I was even screaming for him to get a minor-non-career-threatening-condition to keep him out of the Houston series, which would have meant minutes for... Bayless! I disagree. He's so far from showing any PG abilities that I think you can make safe assumptions. It's why he fell to 11 in the draft. Why not? I am! What about his high school and college career? Show me evidence he can run a team rather than simply be the dominant scorer with a supporting cast. I'd be happy if he stayed and changed into Billups or Parker, but I'd be pretty damn amazed. I gave up on Telfair after his rookie season - I wanted us to draft Paul or Williams but I guess John Nash agreed with you. So... you're criticizing me for inferring from a data set that clearly shows he's been a short 2G that that is what he'll stay, and then you turn around and infer from the same data set that he'll suddenly become something quite different? He had that in Summer League. And he showed that he was a short 2G, and a good distance behind Petteri "playing behind Earl Boykins and may never sniff the NBA" Koponen in PG skills.
oh jesus....here we go. the difference between your post and mine, is that you're stating things in a way that come across as the final word regarding the future of Bayless.... luckily neither of us are GM's
exactly. That's my thoughts. We need someone that can drive to the hoop and finish along side Roy. To keep the defense honest AND defend the perimeter. That is where our bigs picked up most of their fouls, having to switch on PnR's and other craptastic defensive lapses by our perimeter. If I have to endure another quick PG torching Blake or Sergio, I'm going to scream Bayless just needs minutes to develop. Here's hoping to this next season.
If Bayless starts to show the perimeter range he had in college, improved defense, and he cuts down on turnovers, do we really need a lot more out of our PG? He'd basically be Steve Blake with speed and the ability to drive and dunk. He'll never be a 9 assist per game true PG. But in an Aaron Brooks-like role on this team, he might not be a bad fit.
On BlazersEdge somebody compared Bayless to Louis Williams of Philly. I think that's an accurate and fair comparison (in terms of ability to play the point).
Actually, if you re-run that for 5-player combinations, you'll see that one of our most effective combinations this year was our eventual starting five of Bayless-Roy-Batum-Aldridge-Oden. +.875/min over 32 minutes--that's a 28 point lead. Oh, if only it were that simple...
Actually if you look at why Nate played Sergio in the playoffs it seems to me quite obvious. When Bayless played major minutes, he did well. For example while Blake was out, Sergio and Bayless covered the point spot, and there number of turnovers was quite low, easily as low as Blakes. The problem was when Bayless played spot minutes. When Bayless played this year he often took a minute or two to get used to the speed of the game and often wasn't effective in those spot minutes. It was pretty obvious whoever was coming off the bench down the stretch, and especially in the playoffs, was only going to get spot minutes. They needed that person to come in and be productive, no matter how few minutes it was, because in the playoffs it is critical. That is why the decision was made. Now that being said, I felt all year long when Roy and Bayless were on the floor, they complimented each other with the exception being the lack of outside shooting by Bayless. I think that will come, his shot isn't ugly. He just needs to get used to the NBA range. He had several games with a good amount of assist for the minutes he was on the floor, and I remember several games, where he threw passes that were money only to have somebody like Joe "hands of stone" Pryzbilla not be able to catch and finish.
