That's a little bit of revisionism with Jermaine. He got a shot at C with the Blazers for some extended minutes (I can't remember, but I think injuries created an opening). He sucked. My explanation for Jermaine's sudden success is Isiah Thomas. Thomas as a coach picks a favorite player and really pumps up his ego and gears the team around working for him. The guy's game explodes -- and the team is mediocre. But when either Thomas or the player moves on, that player's game falls back to Earth. I give you: Damon Stoudamire (okay, so Thomas wasn't the coach. But his handpicked guy was.) Jermaine O'Neal Eddie Curry I agree that Bayless's work ethic and natural smarts are encouraging. Of course, his stubbornness has led him to excel and might hold him back. He needs a mentor, and not just Nate, who can't favor him over other players. I'm serious about asking TB to mentor him. Either that or give Sam Cassell a better offer than Washington. I'm ready to be proved wrong on Bayless. But the odds are greatly against him. Fair enough. You can add Terrell Brandon and Sam Cassell to that list...
That blog entry doesn't seem to make much sense in a few ways... 1. If Portland had Rush #4 on their board, why would they give up Jack to move UP to take Bayless? 2. Augustine wasn't even good enough to start for the Bobcats, as it turns out. There's no way he would have been starting for Portland ahead of Blake as a rookie. Clearly the second point is only valid (to whatever extent) in retrospect. I think that Quick's "Blazers board" of Westbrook/Augustine/Alexander/Rush is the group of guys that they hoped would be attainable at or around #13. Westbrook clearly went earlier than expected (justifiably) and Bayless slipped. I'm delighted we didn't take Rush or Alexander. Or at least keep either of them. They looked terrible this year. Ed O.
I think his point is that they are both exceptions that are too often quoted as a rule. Or at least a probability. I tend to agree with him... not many players learn to play the PG spot in the NBA like Billups has, and not many young guys who do absolutely nothing at a very young age explode when they get traded. With that being said, I think that Bayless has the tools and the ethic to become a very good player... maybe never a pure PG, but certainly a combo guard like Cleveland has in Williams and West. Ed O.
Fair point - Bayless is conspicuously absent from that list, so in theory he could be above Augustin. UNfair point. 1. Augustin not only was good enough to start, he did start on several occasions. They even tried starting Augustin and Felton together before the Bell trade. 2. Even if Augustin ended up legitimately behind Felton in the PG depth chart (and not simply because of injury or seniority concerns), that doesn't mean he couldn't've started ahead of Blake. He's certainly more of an NBA-level player. That's not to say that Nate would've started him, but he certainly would have deserved to. Let's suppose (almost certainly wrongly) that Quick had the actual Blazer Board. Your suggestion sounds right, but it should also be noted that the players on it are PGs or SFs. No Bayless might mean they didn't originally consider him because, like Mike Dunleavy, they considered him a too-short SG. (So why did they end up taking him? Because they figured he was a valuable piece who'd slipped.) Alexander, certainly. Rush actually had some very good games when given minutes near the end of the season.
Nate is always going to start who he feels is more experienced, unless he is forced into a corner. When Batum entered the starting lineup, he was forced into a corner. But when you have multiple PG to choose from, he is hardly cornered. It's almost like for some guys to not see time, you have to move them so they aren't on the team.(Jack).
You cannot seriously look to Jason Quick on who was ranked where on POR draft board last year....can you? I mean, he has "some" inside information but he hasw been wrong far too often to be relied on for accurate information, particularly when it comes to whom POR had ranked where.... Using that as your source doesn't help your cause\theories at all IMO....
I have felt all season that people expect far too much from Bayless this season. He's a rookie point guard. Other than center, I'd say point guard is the hardest position to learn in the NBA. As Billups said, he's a young man leading veterans. That's a hard thing to do. Not everyone is going to be Chris Paul.
