Opinions on Bayless in Summer League?

Post 'em here. DON'T post things like "who cares, it's only Summer League", or "it's only been two games". We know that already. Post what you think from WATCHING THE GAMES.

My view: the first quarter of game one was very encouraging. Everything since, not so much. It still seems to me that he either decides to give up the ball early or he's going to shoot it/take it to the basket. I haven't seen him drive and dish or complete a difficult pass. As a PG, he is less impressive than the PG on just about every other team. (On the bright side, Tyreke Evans and Ty Lawson are struggling as PGs.) But he knows he can't just let go and take over scoring, because then everybody will say that's all he can do. He looks frustrated and it's frustrating to watch. I miss Petteri!

 

Bring back Jarrett Jack

 

Most of this isn't his fault, and you wouldn't be saying these things if his teammates actually hit the shot when he did pass it off to them.

There is no back door cutting going on, hardly any good screens for him to PnP or PnR, and when he has the ball everyone just backs away when he drives.

I think a lot of it is his teammates, but also he needs to command a bit better. But again, this is the SL, and everyone is out for themselves mostly.

 

Although I feel like he still has a long way to go I also think that he will be a little more sucessful when he is playing with teammates that command more attention from their defenders. In summer league the defense knows what is coming and Bayless is the focal point. I think his mindset is much much better than it was last year and this will show itself even more with our regular season squad.

The turnovers are concerning but I think a lot of that is Bayless pressing to make something happen which he wont have to do so much of in the regular. season. But his focus has to get better or should I say more consistent.

And finally his jumper looks a little better and he derfinately looks more comfortable with it which to me is as important as anything since we know teams will try to sag off of him to stop his drives (which seem to be almost unstopable by the way, love that).

He seems to have the picks and roll down a little better and I am curious to see how he can run that with Oden after their workouts this summer as opposed to summer league players.

 

Bayless is a lot like Billups. He plays a lot like him, and is even built a lot like him. Bayless will never look good as a PG in summer league because of the talent around him. Bayless is a scorer, who can play the point. He will never be John Stockton, but I think his skill set is perfect for the Blazers because what we lack so desperately is someone other than Brandon that can charge for autographs.....er wait, wrong thread. Someone other than Brandon who can get to the rim and draw fouls. Bayless had a pretty good outside game at Arizona, and you can see it in summer league in spurts as well.

 

I hadnt really thought of it till Ive heard and seen the Billups comparison the last few days but I really like it.

 

I think he is doing well. getting like 17.5, 4 and 4.

Could be better. Too many TOs, he will only continue to improve, so i'm fine.

 

I think Bayless' best case scenario is Billups but I don't see him fully comfortable in the role of starter for at least another year maybe a year and half (if ever). Worst case for him is probably something close to what we saw last year and realistically I guess you could expect Jarret Jack-ish style/production this year (hopefully minus the incessant stepping on the baseline and inability to run a fast break).

Overall I think Summer league has been a mixed bag, but I would have liked to see the scrimmage against Sacramento from the day before yesterday.

 

I am hopeful but doubtful on his ability to ever be a decent enough PG. I know he's young but he seems to have no natural PG ability, and IMO that is a very hard thing to over come. Prove me wrong please Jrex!

 

Thanks to Comcast I haven't watched any Summer League games yet so no comment.

 

I live in Houston and have seen both on the internet. If you wanted to see them, you could see them.

 

Unlike PG's, he nearly stands straight up when he dribbles and keeps his dribble too high.That makes his passes slower and easier to steal. Also as a result, it's easier to steal the ball from him in tight traffic, so I noticed he tends to avoid drawing the defense too close before passing out.

Overall, he has a long long way to go before he'll be ready to handle NBA PG duties. Clearly his best and natural position is SG.

 

Well one thing I noticed last night was that he got the ball in the hands of the players he thought were hot in the 4th. Jeter and Cunningham. In the "real" season that would be Roy and LMA. (Big difference)

There seems to be a very thin line for point guards between over dribbling and giving the ball up too soon. He will get better with that as he gets more comfortable with who he is playing with.


The one main criticism I have with him right now is that he continues to take the ball into the defender under the basket thinking he will either get fouled or get the basket by over powering the guy. Right now he is getting neither. This happened during the regular season as well. He needs some sort of a "floater" when he is in the lane, because what he is doing does not work against bigger opponents.

 

+1. I would like to see him play with some guys that can catch and finish. Hell if it's not Cunningham or Pendergraph he is throwing to, half of the time they aren't even looking the ball in to catch it. If those passes were being thrown to Roy, Aldridge, Oden, Rudy, etc you have a catch and a finish. Maybe not though with "hands of stone" Pryzbilla!

 

What has disappointed me most has been his defense. He should be shutting this level of competition down.

One of the things that hurt us last year was our on-the-ball D. We allowed other teams to set up their offense too easily; it resulted in a lack of easy buckets for us. Bayless has almost all the tools to be a lockdown defender at the point. He has the lateral quickness, the strength and the size to handle most PGs. His biggest drawback are his short arms. However, he hasn't even shown the willingness in SL to demonstrate his defensive ability. Too bad.

 

agree Max/Riggo, he so far just has not impressed me at all. If he is ever going to be a solid PG I think like Billups it will take years. IMO we can't wait that long, I'd really like to see Hinrich here or go after Sessions who IMO has already shown he is capable and is what we hope Bayless might get to.

 

Bayless is exactly where I thought he would be. Let's face it, the guy should have never came out early. Had he stayed at AU, he'd be headed into his junior year. I wish he had frankly - he needs in game experience to develop. Did anybody really think that he was going to come out this summer league and show everyone that he's a COMPLETE PG? (Like he says he is) But I'm not just talking about playing the PG position either. For the game to slow down for him, he's got to get more comfortable. He gets so fired up - it's counterproductive. When he gets frustrated he's like a bull in a china shop (silly fouls, out of control drives to the basket)

I'm not sure about the Chauncy comparisons. Billips came out of Colorado as a jump shooter and developed into a more complete PG, but he's never been as athletic as Bayless. How many times have you seen CB throw one down? They have similar builds, but their games are very different.

I'm not sure what we do with Bayless. Can we trust him to play 15-20 minutes as a b/u? I THINK so. But it scares me a little. The reality is that in short spurts we can put a line-up out there that hides his flaws most nights. You can have Rudy or Brandon help get the offense started and let Bayless attack the basket. One thing I know - he's got to AT LEAST show the league he has a midrange game (if not long range) If he can't knock down 18 footers when he's open - he doesn't deserve to play. I think he can shoot and that most of the bricks we saw last year were due to nerves. At Arizona he shot it pretty well, but last year was bad. Most of his jumpers weren't even close. If he knocks that shot down consistently than he can help us (despite his flaws) We already know he can get to the basket/FT line.

Bottom Line? I think we see major ups/downs from Bayless next year. Some nights, I think he'll drop 25 points and be making plays everywhere. Other nights he's going to struggle mightily. I just don't know what the ratio of good games to bad games is going to be.

 

That is one thing I was hoping for as well Maxie.

 

A lot of talk has been devoted to his inability to run the offense like a real point guard. What actually interests me more is his perimeter shot.

Blake has proven you don't need to be John Stockton to point guard this team. Get the ball in Roy's hand or into the post, then hit a really high percentage of three pointers when the ball swings to you. Don't have turnovers. Play below average defense. That's Blake's game in a nutshell.

Is this really such a high bar for Bayless to meet or surpass? I don't think so. Bayless already plays defense on about the same level. The turnovers can be cut down if he focuses on playing the Blake play-it-safe style. So it really comes down to hitting a really nice percentage on three pointers.

I realize this isn't taking into account Bayless's greatest strength--driving to the hole and drawing fouls. But I'd really rather he not focus on that for now, unless there's a wide open opportunity. He doesn't need to be the star to get minutes--he just needs to not be bad. In Japan there's a (somewhat creepy) saying, "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down." It's a lousy attitude for an NBA star, but for a guy aspiring just to being a role player at this stage, he should keep it in mind.

So I'm not really too concerned about how he looks in summer league. Last year he was the MVP, and Batum looked like a wasted pick. Who wound up having the better season? Summer league last year made Bayless stick out. The regular season hammered him down. This go around, I'd like to see him perform like Blake probably would if he were a summer league point guard. Kind of forgettable, steady, and hitting a nice percentage of three pointers. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like he's there right now. But then summer league just may not be the right environment for Bayless to develop that mentality.

 

I am not concerned about his D because I know he has the ability to turn it up a notch. I am more concerned with the things I am not sure he can do on a consistent basis.