Jeter reminds me of Aaron Brooks, but doesn't finish as well. Bayless reminds me of Chauncey, but faster. I dont agree; I dont think the team that we have showcases J.Bay that well.
Bayless may be "fast" but so what? His passing vs TO's suck, he drives stupidly to the lane many times and gets blocked or stuck making a hail mary pass - this guy is YEARS away.
Well, sure he is. Jeter has 4 world series rings and is a sure-fire hall of famer. I doubt Bayless could even play AA ball.
I don't understand the Billups comparison. Billups is an excellent outside shooter, better than average post up game, steady, good ass/to ratio. Where do you see similarities?
Bayless is trying to reconfigure his tools and abilities into a style of play that he hasn't had a chance to play for a couple of years. That's going to make him look bad for a while as he re-calibrates. It's possible that he'll never be able to get the hang of it, but even if he can adapt to playing more of a traditional point guard role, it's expected that he'll play worse for a while than he would if he were playing the way he's become used to. As an alternate example, a few years ago Tiger Woods rebuilt his stroke in order to get better. He didn't win tournaments for a while because it initially made him worse as he adapted to it. Eventually, it allowed him to become much better. Consolidation/adjustment isn't easy. It's not either "he gets it and looks great off the bat" or "he doesn't get it and looks terrible from the start." He was likely to look pretty bad regardless of the eventual results. What I'd want to see is flashes that he might emerge on the other side successfully...and he's definitely shown flashes of commanding the floor and creating for others.
Bayless hasn't played well at all, and Jeter may well be steadier right now. But the upside of Bayless blows Jeter away. I'm disappointed in Bayless, and I'm sure he is too. This was his chance to come out and show everybody that he can play PG and lead a team. He's failed miserably. I know you can't put too much stock in summer league, but he's making some really bonehead plays still. Frankly he just doesn't look anything like an NBA PG. I know the guys out there aren't helping him, but you can't pin it all on that. I see the same old bad habits. Telegraphing passes, out of control drives (especially when he gets mad) to the basket - sometimes he gets fouled and it feels like a bail out, he drops his head when he makes a mistake, and please stop with the jump passes! Don't they teach you not to do that in junior high? Not to mention his jumper - or lack there of. He's proving to be a one trick pony - he's strong and athletic and can get to the basket pretty well at times. Other than that . . . he's got a lot to learn.
I agree with all you said, IMO he is years away from being a "decent" PG, do we have luxury of developing him when this team has gotten better so fast? with Blake we got to the playoffs, with a better PG and Oden improving, Webs back, and maybe another vet we could challenge for the WCF - Bayless is simply not even ready to be a backup IMO - 3rd string okay.
Umm, I am not sure what you were seeing Kaydow, but his jumpshot has seemed to improve a lot in this years summer league. The rest can be/ maybe true, but he has been a pretty good jump shooter so far.
Great post. I think one more thing to add is that although none of us know if he will come out as a good PG on the other end of the learning process, we do know that he is one hell of a gym rat and that should go a long way towards giving him the best possible shot at succeeding in the makeover.
