They were without McGrady and (after beating us) Yao. We're without Roy and Oden. They had canny vets in Battier and Artest. We have Miller and Camby. They played a grind-it-out style. Do we ever.
Actually, I think Roy being out makes Bayless more useful. He can play more minutes at SG where he's actually halfway useful because it comes naturally to him. But who's our backup PG? Rudy?
JB needs to play along side Andre to be most effective. Don't know who our backup PG could be though.......... maybe Pendergraph?
And Brooks was just as mediocre last season as Bayless this season. He stepped up in the playoffs, when given a bigger opportunity. Certainly possible for Bayless to do the same.
Hmm--interesting point. Based on the statistical comparison, Bayless has actually been better this year than Brooks was last year (although Brooks shot better from 3). Could we be so fortunate as to get something similar from JB this postseason?
I think if Bayless started alongside Miller, there would be a decent chance for some big performances out of Bayless. I think right now Bayless needs to have the game simplified a bit for him. Give him a straightforward, defined role..."You don't have to run the offense, you just have to be active, attack the hoop when Miller gets you the ball and play the best defense you can." I think the team can still be pretty dangerous like that. Not as dangerous as with a healthy Roy, of course, but I think Bayless has a chance to be a real weapon this post-season if given that role. Of course, Rudy will also need to play off of Miller...a Bayless/Fernandez backcourt just doesn't work. That means Miller will have to play damn near the entire game. Could be a problem.
The three ball is deffinitely the biggest difference between the two. Still, Brooks was given more of an opportunity once Yao went down. Shots opened up for him. Hopefully, Bayless can see a similar spike in his production, with a similar opportunity presented.
That's why nate brought him off the bench early in the season, he saw all of this coming. He knew we'd need him to play a full 48 per in the playoffs, so he limited him early on. Brilliant!! COY!!!
Rudy starts. Bayless comes in for him to switch up the look after about 7 minutes. Diener comes in with about 2 minutes left in the first to give Miller a breather. Miller's back in about 2 minutes into the 2nd. Rudy's back in for Bayless 2-3 minutes after that to finish out the half. Rinse. Repeat.
Is there any precedent for a player who has played a grand total of under 13 minutes for "his" team having much of a role in the playoffs? Hell, Patty Mills has played more than double that! (Almost exactly.) Besides which, the message to Bayless is clear: "all that stuff about you being a PG? Kidding!"
