Bayless proved himself finally to Nate. He can't be ignored, or can he? Roy will get his 40 minutes, so who's minutes get taken away from what happened in San Antonio? Miller, so Nate can continue his stubborness with Blake, but make it look like he's "giving Bayless a chance"? Bayless, where Nate totally ignores what he did the last week as if nothing ever happened. or, Blake, where Nate finally succumbs to the obvious and the pressure of the rest of the NBA world (who's telling him all the time he's been doing it wrong when it comes to Bayless and Blake and Miller). I'm guessing Miller gets the ax and has fewer minutes than Blake against Denver. Nate's pretty stubborn.
+1 Also remember that the Spurs game was ONE game. What separates players like Roy is consistent performance over multiple games and entire seasons. Bayless will have to prove the same thing. Also, some of what Bayless does is redundant to what Roy already does - so, with Roy playing, don't expect to see 30+ points from Bayless - even when he's on. However, there is no question that Bayless will be getting more minutes and should continue to improve. What I think all Blazer fans should be more interested in is how well Bayless & Roy can play together. That will be key in determining if Bayless can start at PG next year.
I wonder if Nate will let JB have some of Brandon's minutes? We've all worried that Brandon playing 40 minutes a night is going to wear him down. I'd like to see Brandon average about 35 or 36 minutes, and so far he's almost 42 for December. The other night at SA, Nate said they ran the same plays for Jarryd that they do for Brandon. Why not feature Jarryd as the playmaker/Roy's role for 5-7 minutes that would be Brandon's minutes? JB had been averaging 25 minutes in the 5 games prior to SA (Sac - Dallas) so that would bump him up to 30 or just over. You have to think that Blake and Miller's minutes will go down a little too. And I think between those two it will simply be who is playing better. Now if Jarryd is playing more consistently? All bets are off and he gets his 35 + minutes a night. Sorry Andre. Sorry Steve. And when Rudy comes back?? Aye Aye Aye . . . we'll figure that out in a month a guess. Who knows? Maybe we'll have another injury (gulp)
I'm not even going to guess what Nate is going to do about minutes, because what he does with the guard minutes mystifies me. But they keep winning, so.... What I HOPE to see when the guards are healthy is 34 minutes for Roy and 31 each for Rudy and Jerryd. That will suck for Dre and Steve, but BR/RR/JB looks like it could be a championship back court. Merry Christmas & Go Blazers
Blakes minutes must go down. Please Nate send me a little Christmas present of less Blake on the floor. Or better yet, KP send me a huge present and trade Blake for a legitimate big man ( not a star, won't happen, but a legitimate big man)
IMO Bayless will see his minutes go back down to 15-20. The other thing Nate will probably do is ride whoever he feels is having the best game. No one will know their roles and, well.....it's Nate
If he gets the chance. That's the problem. The SA game was the only game in which he was given a chance and he dominated. He only do with what he has in front of him.
I have already mentioned this 1,000,000 times, but the Phoenix IMO is all you need to look at. Those two meshed so well and were the key in our come back from behind win. Bayless didn't need to domiante the ball to get his 29, Roy was still able to do that, but Bayless was able to score quickly and also make some wonderful cuts which ended up with Roy passing it to him and Bayless with a much better jumper got the kickout from Roy too. They meshed much better than Roy and Rudy ever have in the 4th IMO. I will probably get knocked for it, but I feel that way.
Nate never does this, he takes people out when they are hot and seems to forget that they were having a great game. A couple games ago Martel was playing great, had 11 points in the 1st quarter, he benched him and did not put him back in until late in the 2nd, and guess what MW had cooled off by then. I hate Nates rotation during games.
IIRC, Marty got pulled for making the same mistake in three out of five defensive possessions in a row. He was rotating to the wrong guy.
I agree with this, and Roy will be playing more minutes as SF for awhile as well. He doesn't like it, but the team need is there. I guess we have until Batum+Fernandez are both back to trade/unfairly give bench splinters.
