Free J-Bay?
by Jeff Picket, Peppy New Beyondbowie Blogger
Seeing Jerryd Bayless play at the 2008 NBA Vegas Summer League was a religious experience for me. Not that I had expected it to be. My dad had talked him up during his sole year at Arizona, but as a Wildcat himself, I figured my dad may not have been the best judge of J-Bay's talents.
After hearing Jerryd put up a few nice games at the Las Vegas Summer League, I happened to find myself in Sin City. I dragged my dad and my fiancée to the Blazers' final tilt, against Robin Lopez's Suns. The Blazers only scored 11 points in the first quarter, and it was hard to tell Jerryd was even in the game. By the time it was over, Mr. Bayless had poured in 36 points and had three steals to boot...and I was a convert.
Well, the level of competition is indisputably different, but I think J-Bay can dominate like this in the NBA - now. Hell, he's already done it once. His game against the Nets last year was scintillating. His flying, hesitating, two-handed dunk along the baseline was one of the highlights of the season. It's one game, I know. But I think he's going to start doing it more often the minute we give him even a modicum of playing time.
Jerryd brings an X factor that we need. He can play the 1 and he can play the 2. With his penetrating and scoring abilities in the equation, we become a much more difficult team to prepare for. And I don't think we give up anything with him in. He defends well enough. His assist rate is low, but he can a) improve in that area or b) play alongside Andre or Steve, when Brandon is out. This kid is too good to keep on the bench. This is insanity. If he were on the (world champion) Lakers he'd get more run than he's likely to on the Blazers.
We bought the car - why not take it out for a spin? So his inexperience costs us a game or two that we should win. Thanks to his offensive creativity, we'll win plenty that we would likely lose with him riding the pine as he does now.
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So with J-Bay in, whose minutes do you sacrifice?
Andre Miller, our new $21M man whose already disgruntled that he hasn't been given the starters job? I'm sure we'll See 'Dre get at least 25-30 mins/game.
Steve Blake, Mr. Dependable, who has the best on-court chemistry with Roy (so far) and can reliably knock down the 3 much better than J-Bay, who is still looking like a mediocre jump shooter on his best days? I bet he gest 15-20 mins/game.
B-Roy? MVP Candidate? No. He gets 35 mins/game
And Rudy. Our Spanish star and potential 6th man candidate who Nate has promised to run more offense through this year? I bet he gets 20-25 mins/game replacing Roy and in 3-guard line-ups.
Maybe J-Bay steals some time from Blake, but that's the only place I see it, and it will be a helluva effort to dislodge Steve. Jerryd will have to show that he can knock the jump shot down consistently because it's such a key part of Portland's offense with Roy or Rudy in the game.
Same question as Ryan... whose minutes does JBay take?
It's all well and good to say, damn we need to play this guy, but you can say that with nearly the entire roster! it's not "insanity." It's an insanely deep team. Yes he played well against NJ... but he played horribly many times too. Not knocking him, rookies will do that, but I don't agree that he will play that way the minute we give him even a modicum of playing time. There's a lot to be proven first.
I think J-bay will find some limited run with the second unit. To me the problem is, like you mentioned, his low assist production/high turnover rate. I think the log-jam on the wing will really stunt Jerryd's growth as well. Not only will he have a difficult time beating out anyone for time at the point but moving him to the 2 takes away minutes from more productive players, or at least players who can space the floor. Right now i think pairing Jerryd with one of our 3's (in my opinion Outlaw) and moving them along makes a lot of sense.
Someone is giving out free B-Jays?
because we have a guy by the name of Rudy Fernandez. The only category that Jerryd beats Rudy in is likely to be physical strength. All other aspects of the game I believe Rudy is the superior player.
Rex is an example of a tweener who will succeed if he's on an up tempo team, a la GSW or NYK. Barring a trade or injury, I don't see how he can crack the rotation this year.