I'm not sure what exactly our coaching staff is trying to accomplish... we have 9 healthy players, 6 of which played 32+ minutes tonight. We have a game tomorrow against teh 9th quickest pace team in the league and we will have Bayless, Cunningham and Howard with semi fresh legs.
Me either. Sure, KP wanted Blake back. That was a different time and a different team. KP LOVES Bayless. I have no doubt KP will trade Blake in for an upgrade if presented with the chance. Same as he would do with Miller, or Bayless for that matter. KP isn't stupid.
My only guess is that Dean doesn't want to rock the boat, but what the fucking hell? 8 lousy fucking minutes and instead we are treated to another 35+ night of Steve Blake (yes he played OK defense and did distribute the ball OK) ... but 8 minutes? Seriously!?
Well I guess with all the minutes JB has been logging it's a legitimate concern. You have to wonder how a 21 year old athlete who averages 10 minutes/game could possibly be able to play tomorrow night. He's got to be running on fumes already.
Considering he's a T-rex it's a shock he's even alive after the ELE and that's not even considering he's around 65 million years old. That our training staff can even get him to play in games is an accomplishment in and of itself.
lol.. yeah. The other Holton homerism he had the other night in defending the coaching staff was you don't want to stretch out his minutes too much or else his effectiveness decreases. Jerryd is supposedly more effective in short bursts than if you play him 20-25 minutes. If you play him more, then his flaws will show. Oh well... I think that'd be more applicable to a guy like Juwan, but not a young kid who has the most energy on the team. This season, when Jerryd plays more than 15 minutes, he averages 13.3 ppg When he plays less than 15 minutes, he averages 3.2 ppg
i really do believe they are showcasing blake and miller, or else nate is a scared little bitch and is afraid of playing bayless on a tv game
This just insane. I think we now can give full weight to the lie of Nate saying the players will decide who plays based on their performance. First there was a case Miller outplayed Blake in the preseason and now with Bayless shooting over 50% from the floor, not turning the ball over as much (picking up his dribble in the backcourt last night was a faux pas) and finally looking like he understands how to create offense. Give the fucking guy a chance at least, what's the worst thing that could happen? Either you find out if you have a player or you find out he's not.
Case closed. Unless, of course, his +/- somehow goes in the toilet, but I don't think it does. My sense - just from watching him, not relying on any stats - is that Bayless gets better the more he plays. He's prone to mistakes, but they're the kind I think the Blazers can live with, where he's trying to force some action, and gets in over his head. If he doesn't try stuff like that and occasionally fail, though, he'll never get better. I'm in the "give Bayless 20 mpg" camp, and have been for a while.
Agree 100%. He needs to play. Of course the guy blows his wad some nights, he's like an inmate on a conjugal visit - he never knows when CO McMillan is going to end the show. I want to see what a comfortable JB looks like out there. I think we'll see a more consistent jumper, less of those reach-in (over aggressive) fouls, and a more fluid overall game. He plays with such anger right now, and he tries to do too much. Wouldn't you if you knew you had 8 minutes to do your thing?
If playing Bayless significantly more minutes hasn't happened by now I have to seriously wonder if it will ever happen with the current coaching staff. With the injuries, Blake's lousy play and Jerry'd very good play just what the fuk does it take? I'm as upseet about this situation as I can possibly be.
I'm getting there too. I can't believe with all of the injuries and his performance against Houston & NY that he isn't getting more tics. I understood not playing him last year when we were fighting for playoff spot and then home court - he was too erratic. What do we have to lose now? This team needs a jolt of offense, and who other than Bayless is even a candidate for that? I for one can live with his mistakes. I know full well he will have some stinker games, and may even cost us a few wins. Better now (when we aren't likely to make a playoff run) than next season.
Hell, Blake does nothing and that by itself costs us wins IMO. Blakey may be a bit better at D for now but his offense is a joke, while Bayless has turned into a serious offensive threat and has really decreased his turnovers. Oh well, what does it matter?
Whats crazy to me as well is he is totally playing team ball right now. His stat line in the game last night was all about assist, because he made the right passes while he was in. I don't want to argue stats with folks over Bayless. We can do that all day and it will change nobodies minds. What I would talk about is: 1. He looks like he is playing in control. The big knock on him is that he always looked out of control when playing, and had no patience. I don't see that anymore. He looks comfortable, and looks to me like the game has slowed down for him. That is what you are usually waiting for. 2. He was unselfish. His first run all he did was make passes for buckets. He didn't even take a shot until that quick burst to get a trip to the line just before half. That being said, I felt most of the guards played pretty well last night. They all looked pretty focused.
