I remember a couple years ago, ESPN had a graphic comparing Jake's first 24 NBA minutes with some of the NBA greats:
He kinda reminds me of Vinnie Johnson in the way he could go scoreless for long stretches and then just suddenly rip off 15 points in no time at all and hit all kinds of tough shots.
Turner btw has had 2 TO's in the last 6 games. He averages 2 per game for the season. Not horrible for as much as he handles the ball.
I am withholding judgement on Layman. He is doing great now, but he is not on any scouting reports. Lets see what he can do when teams actually start to worry about him.
Just the fact that they have to actually scout and guard him......is a major plus for our SF position.
That’s actually not true. A friend of mine is a coach for an NBA team and pretty much every player is in the scouting report. I actually asked about layman and what they had on him and he said that he was a great cutter and I proven shooter...this was a couple weeks or so ago
So you can't see how either way would be good for the offense? If they continue to not pay much attention to him he can keep doing what he's doing. If they start to factor him more into the defensive game plan then that takes away some of their focus on Dame and CJ. Last night when he came in the game in the 2nd half Jrue Holiday switched off of Dame and was guarding Layman. Even if Layman never scored because he was being shut down by their best perimeter defender just the fact that they aren't putting that guy on Dame is a huge advantage.
I've missed 2 games this year because of work, and I'm still not a huge fan of ET. I think he's a very gifted passer on the break and does a good job of keeping his head up. His post-up game is pretty legit, and he can be a good ball handler. His defense is very off and on, in certain match-ups he looks incredible, and then other nights he looks pretty lackluster. I think he's a very bad fit when playing with Aminu, CJ, Dame, and nurk because the spacing is just really, really bad in that line up. He can be a good role player, but I think in general he's a bit of a square peg in an offense that needs round ones. Then there is the contract. Ultimately this has been his best year as a Blazer, but I'm still of the opinion I'd love if they were able to trade him. I'm not sure my opinion of him would change if his contract was different, maybe it would, but he's never seemed to really be a great fit in the offense that Stotts runs, at least in the half court. In the open court in transition, his passing can be a good weapon. He and the rest of the bench unit seem to be Jekyll and Hyde depending on where they're playing, they didn't do much in Denver or Sacremento (they played ok), but at Home they usually look good!
Turners biggest problem is his contract, but what was he supposed to do? Say no? He’s been the exact player Olshey payed for. Why Olshey decided it was a good idea to pay $18M per for that is another story, but I do think Turner gets a lot of misguided frustration thrown his way. I wouldn’t say I’m a fan of him, but I also don’t think he deserves to be trashed as constantly as he does. Direct that towards Neil instead.
