Bayless promoted....Sergio demoted

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ucatchtrout

ucatchtrout

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Bayless to Play Back-Up

Portland Trail Blazers' head coach Nate McMillan promoted rookie Jerryd Bayless , who now will be serving as the team's primary back-up to Steve Blake at the point guard position. Bayless unseated Sergio Rodriguez, who has had an up-and-down tenure in Portland, at times lacking the discipline McMillan demands of his lead guards.

Bayless, who has seen a significant uptick in playing time since January, should provide the Blazers with a consistent scoring punch off the bench as he continues to develop his game as a distributor. In Las Vegas Summer League play, Bayless was absolutely dominant in getting to the basket and using his strength to draw fouls and finish acrobatic shots on his way to the Summer League MVP award.

Before the draft, Bayless told reporters that he didn't care that he was widely considered a combo guard. "It just frustrates me a lot of times when they say 'he's a combo guard, he's a pure point guard,'" Bayless said at the time. "But what really is a pure point guard?"

For him, the art of the floor general comes down to decision making. "You need to know when you need to score and when you need to pass," Bayless said. "But all the great point guards in the league need to know how to score." Bayless cited Chris Paul and Steve Nash, both considered "pure point guards" as examples, pointing out that both players can score whenever they want to.

But Bayless needs to be able to do more than score, specifically making sure he takes care of the ball – with 11 minutes last night against Memphis, Bayless had three turnovers and zero assists.

He may have been promoted, but he won't keep his job with that kind of a statline.
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http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=11968


At the morning shootaround, McMillan decided to promote rookie Jerryd Bayless to backup point guard, ahead of three-year veteran Sergio Rodriguez. "We need some oomph, some fire, some scrappiness," McMillan said. "I want to see if (Bayless) can bring that." Bayless was shaky in 11 minutes, finishing with four points on 1 of 3 shooting with zero assists and three turnovers. For the first time this season, Rodriguez did not play, and was dressed and leaving the locker room as McMillan was finishing his session with reporters. ... .
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http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/03/aldridges_secret_gets_out.html
 
Go Bayless. It was time to make a choice which horse to ride. Splitting backup time and jerking those guys in and out of the lineup wasn't working.
 
We just need something -- anything -- out of our backup PG spot.
 
give him consitent minutes, and i have little doubt he'll contribute nicely off the bench
 
give the kid some run but i can tell you how this is going to end....bayless not being effective as a point guard. i've seen it in college, in the summer league and in his minutes so far this season. forget about picking up a SF this offseason, this team needs a decent PG and a banger at b/u PF.
 
I like this decision, largely because I don't think Bayless can realistically be worse than Rodriguez (at minimum, I'd say they've been equally good/uninspiring), but Bayless is more likely to improve with more time, considering he's a rookie and Rodriguez has had time to adapt and change his game in his two plus seasons. Not lots of time, since he didn't play much last year, but more than Bayless. In addition, Bayless gets after it more on defense, even if he's not yet fully up to speed on team defensive schemes.

Also, I assume McMillan did it because Bayless convinced him in practices that he's capable of taking care of the ball and distributing it.
 
This says it all:

"We need some oomph, some fire, some scrappiness," McMillan said. "I want to see if (Bayless) can bring that." Bayless was shaky in 11 minutes, finishing with four points on 1 of 3 shooting with zero assists and three turnovers.

So ends the Bayless experiment.
 
MARIS61 said:
This says it all:

"We need some oomph, some fire, some scrappiness," McMillan said. "I want to see if (Bayless) can bring that." Bayless was shaky in 11 minutes, finishing with four points on 1 of 3 shooting with zero assists and three turnovers.

So ends the Bayless experiment.
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in your mind Maris, in your mind.
 
Nate sometimes says one thing and does another.

barfo
 
I still can't believe we are battling for home court advantage half way through March with 4 rookies in our rotation. Unreal.
 
I want Bayless to succeed. But, I aam kind of with Maris a bit on this. Aside from a couple of games when Blake was out, Bayless hasn't looked good at all. I watched the Memphis game and everytime he was in the game, I got scared. He looked pretty bad. Can he get better? Yes. But now is not really the time for him in my opinion. But, if not wants to experiment, that is his choice and not mine. He does know a little more about the game than I do.
 
handclap problematic said:
I want Bayless to succeed. But, I aam kind of with Maris a bit on this. Aside from a couple of games when Blake was out, Bayless hasn't looked good at all. I watched the Memphis game and everytime he was in the game, I got scared. He looked pretty bad. Can he get better? Yes. But now is not really the time for him in my opinion. But, if not wants to experiment, that is his choice and not mine. He does know a little more about the game than I do.
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Ask yourself, has Sergio played any better?

Over the past month, each player has been absolutely worthless, but Bayless is a rookie, it's more likely he'll learn. Plus, he's got a higher upside.

Nate had to make a choice, and I'm glad he chose the one that helps us in the long run.
 
In defense of all three PG's, Nate says he wants fire and scrappiness, but as Roy pointed out anyone taking a risk gets benched. So there's no way to please the guy with your play. Can't be done.

I've no doubt Blake's and Sergio's worth to the team's success has been compromised by Nate's tight leash.

Bayless's poor shooting, fouls and TO's are the only thing that has limited his time so far, but it's clear Nate is trying to do a Jarrett Jack on him, give him special leeway to be horrible until he gets it out of his system or whatever. Nate seems to always have to have a guy on the team who reminds him of himself when he was younger, and he has special rules for that guy, and it's a serious flaw in his coaching as it kills his credibility with the players.

We wasted an entire year of PG development last year on JJ when if used properly to develop Sergio we would now be discussing if Bayless could beat out Blake for the backup spot. We'd have a devastating offense by now. We'd be ahead of the pack and pulling away.
 
MARIS61 said:
In defense of all three PG's, Nate says he wants fire and scrappiness, but as Roy pointed out anyone taking a risk gets benched. So there's no way to please the guy with your play. Can't be done.

I've no doubt Blake's and Sergio's worth to the team's success has been compromised by Nate's tight leash.

Bayless's poor shooting, fouls and TO's are the only thing that has limited his time so far, but it's clear Nate is trying to do a Jarrett Jack on him, give him special leeway to be horrible until he gets it out of his system or whatever. Nate seems to always have to have a guy on the team who reminds him of himself when he was younger, and he has special rules for that guy, and it's a serious flaw in his coaching as it kills his credibility with the players.

We wasted an entire year of PG development last year on JJ when if used properly to develop Sergio we would now be discussing if Bayless could beat out Blake for the backup spot. We'd have a devastating offense by now. We'd be ahead of the pack and pulling away.
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Good points Maris.

I understand your thinking, but I'm not sure if Sergio would have become what you wanted, but EITHER way we'd know for sure by now.

It seems a decision has been made about Sergio and the coach is wanting to see what he has or doesn't have in Bayless.
 
I figure a couple more games should make it obvious.
 
I'd really like to see Nate play everybody about 24 minutes a game, every game, the rest of the way this season.

Come playoff time our starters would be the healthiest and freshest in the league, and our bench would be the most confident bench by far.

A solid formula to win the Title.
 
MARIS61 said:
I'd really like to see Nate play everybody about 24 minutes a game, every game, the rest of the way this season.
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Wouldn't that involve having 6 men on the floor at times?

Not that we are above that.

barfo
 
ucatchtrout said:
Go Bayless. It was time to make a choice which horse to ride. Splitting backup time and jerking those guys in and out of the lineup wasn't working.
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Couldn't agree more ... and despite my current avatar (it's supposed to be 'ironical') and a belief that Bayless is probably a long term solution at the position (just not for this year) I would have been just as happy to see Nate go with Sergio and let Bayless rack up the DNPs for the rest of the year.

Definitely a case of it being better to be hot or cold, but not lukewarm.
 
handclap problematic said:
I want Bayless to succeed. But, I aam kind of with Maris a bit on this. Aside from a couple of games when Blake was out, Bayless hasn't looked good at all. I watched the Memphis game and everytime he was in the game, I got scared. He looked pretty bad. Can he get better? Yes. But now is not really the time for him in my opinion. But, if not wants to experiment, that is his choice and not mine. He does know a little more about the game than I do.
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Like Sergio has been good? I can only remember one good game from Sergio all year long. The rest have been a complete nightmare. Shooting 36% or something like that. That is completely horrible beyond belief an NBA level player (perimeter player at that) can shoot that bad.
 
Thank goodness. I can't stand to watch Sergio anymore. Makes me eyes bleed, and no one makes me bleed my own blood.
 
hasoos said:
Like Sergio has been good? I can only remember one good game from Sergio all year long. The rest have been a complete nightmare. Shooting 36% or something like that. That is completely horrible beyond belief an NBA level player (perimeter player at that) can shoot that bad.
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In my post, I never mentioned Sergio. He has not been "good" at all. But, in my opinion he does a much better job of running the team and preventing simple mistakes. That said, neither has been good this year.
So, if Sergio's shooting is so bad, let's look at Bayless':

FG - 0.365
3pt - 0.259

And that is even worse, to me, knowing that Jerryd scores mostly on lay ups and other shots closer to the rim.


But, I am not bashing Jerryd at all. I want him to succeed, and think he will definately grow. My only concern is that he scares the shit out of me when he is in the game. I have no confidence in him.

This isn't exactly a competition either. I would like Sergio and Bayless to grow.

Sergio's shooting numbers (terrible as well)
FG - 0.371
3pt - 0.316

But, I feel less afraid when he enters the game than Bayless.
The team runs way smoother, IN MY OPINION.

Hopefully by this time next season, it isn't even a question. I am rooting to J.B. I just don't think he is ready yet.
 
Now Bayless will play without looking over his shoulder. He needs to quit thinking out there and trying to be passive..just go out there and play like he did when Blake was out and attack, attack, attack. He may not score on some nights, but his defensive effort and aggressiveness is always there.
 
handclap problematic said:
And that is even worse, to me, knowing that Jerryd scores mostly on lay ups and other shots closer to the rim.
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But what that also means is that Bayless draws more free throws, and those free throws are productive. If we look at TS% (which is a measure of scoring efficiency...simply points-per-shot / 2), we find this.

Bayless: .498
Rodriguez: .476

.520 is decent. .500 is about the borderline on awful. So both players have been awful in scoring efficiency, but Rodriguez quite a bit more so.

Rodriguez is the better distributor at this point, but Bayless seems a significantly better defender to me. I don't think either player is a significant upgrade on the other to winning today. But developing Bayless will be a benefit down the line. So a gain for the future with no cost to the present makes Bayless the best option, IMO.
 
hasoos said:
Like Sergio has been good? I can only remember one good game from Sergio all year long. The rest have been a complete nightmare. Shooting 36% or something like that. That is completely horrible beyond belief an NBA level player (perimeter player at that) can shoot that bad.
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Sergio (and Jerryd) both had one really good month ... this month just happened to coincide with Steve Blake out of the lineup with his shoulder injury.

Here's the splits for each guy during Blake's absence:
Sergio:
Code: 
DATE 	OPP 	RESULT 	        MIN	FG	PCT	3P	PCT	FT	PCT	STL	BLK	TO	PF	OFF	DEF	TOT	AST	PTS
1/15	@Njn	W 105-99 	23	2-6	.333	0-2	.000	0-0	--	1	0	2	2	1	1	2	4	4
1/17	@Cha	L 102-97 	21	4-7	.571	0-1	.000	2-3	.667	0	1	0	1	0	2	2	5	10
1/19	Mil	W 102-85 	34	2-9	.222	1-3	.333	0-0	--	0	0	2	4	3	4	7	7	5
1/21	Cle	L 104-98 	27	3-5	.600	1-2	.500	0-0	--	0	0	0	2	0	1	1	5	7
1/24	Was	W 100-87 	33	5-9	.556	2-3	.667	0-2	.000	1	0	3	2	0	2	2	8	12
1/26	@Lac	W 113-88 	17	1-3	.333	0-2	.000	5-5	1.000	1	0	1	1	1	0	1	5	7
1/28	Cha	W 88-74 	24	0-5	.000	0-2	.000	0-0	--	1	0	5	3	1	2	3	7	0
1/31	Uth	W 122-108 	19	4-6	.667	1-1	1.000	0-0	--	2	0	1	5	0	2	2	7	9
2/2	@Nor	W 97-89 	19	3-6	.500	0-1	.000	0-0	--	0	0	2	2	0	1	1	1	6
2/4	@Dal	L 104-99 	14	2-5	.400	1-2	.500	0-0	--	1	0	1	2	0	0	0	1	5
2/6	@Okc	L 102-93 	22	3-6	.500	1-2	.500	1-2	.500	0	0	2	3	0	6	6	1	8
2/8	Nyk	W 109-108 	37	5-11	.455	4-5	.800	2-2	1.000	2	0	2	3	0	3	3	6	16
2/11	Okc	W 106-92 	20	1-2	.500	1-1	1.000	0-0	--	0	0	4	3	1	1	2	4	3
2/12	@Gsw	L 105-98 	31	5-11	.455	0-1	.000	0-0	--	3	0	4	4	0	4	4	7	10

MPG:23.4 FG%:43.9 3PT%:42.8 FTA:14 FT%:71.4 TO:2.2 REB:2.6 AST:4.8 PTS:7.5

Jerryd:
Code: 
DATE 	OPP 	RESULT 	        MIN	FG	PCT	3P	PCT	FT	PCT	STL	BLK	TO	PF	OFF	DEF	TOT	AST	PTS
1/15	@Njn	W 105-99 	25	6-9	.667	0-0	--	11-11	1.000	0	0	1	2	0	3	3	3	23
1/17	@Cha	L 102-97 	32	6-9	.667	0-0	--	2-3	.667	0	0	1	2	0	4	4	0	14
1/19	Mil	W 102-85 	14	1-4	.250	1-1	1.000	4-6	.667	0	0	1	4	0	2	2	1	7
1/21	Cle	L 104-98 	18	2-3	.667	0-1	.000	6-6	1.000	0	0	1	6	0	1	1	1	10
1/24	Was	W 100-87 	15	0-3	.000	0-0	--	3-4	.750	1	0	2	0	0	1	1	1	3
1/26	@Lac	W 113-88 	22	2-6	.333	1-3	.333	0-0	--	1	0	1	4	0	0	0	6	5
1/28	Cha	W 88-74 	24	3-8	.375	1-1	1.000	4-4	1.000	0	1	1	2	0	3	3	2	11
1/31	Uth	W 122-108 	24	1-4	.250	0-3	.000	2-2	1.000	1	0	0	3	0	1	1	4	4
2/2	@Nor	W 97-89 	24	7-9	.778	0-1	.000	5-7	.714	2	0	1	4	0	2	2	6	19
2/4	@Dal	L 104-99 	34	6-9	.667	0-0	--	2-2	1.000	0	0	4	5	1	3	4	4	14
2/6	@Okc	L 102-93 	26	0-3	.000	0-1	.000	3-4	.750	0	0	2	3	1	0	1	2	3
2/8	Nyk	W 109-108 	10	1-2	.500	1-1	1.000	2-2	1.000	1	0	3	2	0	1	1	1	5
2/11	Okc	W 106-92 	28	5-11	.455	0-0	--	2-2	1.000	1	0	1	1	1	0	1	8	12
2/12	@Gsw    L 105-98 	16	1-5	.200	1-1	1.000	1-2	.500	0	0	2	2	1	1	2	0	4
MPG: 22.3 FG%:48.2 3PT%: 38.4 FTA:55 FT%:85.4 TO:1.5 REB:1.9 AST:2.7 PTS:9.6

Given the time both players were productive, and it doesn't take a genius to infer that there is a serious correlation with both player's nose-diving since they have been juggled into and out of the lineup without rhyme or reason. In some ways I wonder if this team wouldn't have been better off in the long run if Steve was out for the year -- not wishing a serious injury on him of course.
 
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barfo said:
Wouldn't that involve having 6 men on the floor at times?

Not that we are above that.

barfo
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Ha Ha. Good one.

I support this notion. I really want to see what 24MPG from Raef would give us.
 
bigbailes said:
give the kid some run but i can tell you how this is going to end....bayless not being effective as a point guard. i've seen it in college, in the summer league and in his minutes so far this season. forget about picking up a SF this offseason, this team needs a decent PG and a banger at b/u PF.
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Stop your bullshit and hate of Bayless. I have watched almost of Bayless's college and SL games and he is going to be a great PG playing with Roy. He is sure as hell better then Sergio and will be better then Blake by next year. Give it a rest!:crazy:
 
Sounds more like a change to see what Bayless can do rather than a "demotion" for Sergio. Bayless hasn't proven anything yet to earn a "promotion". That said, I think it's a good move.
 
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