can we stop the myth about Bayless being a good defender?

[craigehlo]

Wow. You and everyone else is way overreacting. Summer league is like playing at the park compared to the NBA, it's all one on one flashy stuff that has nothing to do with team defense.

Bayless doesn't look good in either environment is the main problem. He doesn't have the instincts of a PG and he looks worse than last year when he goes into slashing/scoring mode. His lack of progress should set off alarms for the Blazers staff.

 

[Kaydow]

I actualy saw Batum doing some very good things last year in SL. Much more than I see in Bayless this year at his assigned position.

Bayless just does not have the instincts to be a good passer. Almost all the passes he made last night were to the wing or to advance the ball up the court. He never made a pass from one of his drives that I recall to a big inside.

He can score but he will never be a good passing PG in my mind. Just my opinion.

I agree. I've seen Bayless drive and dish a FEW times this summer, and he did throw a nice lob in Game 1. But all in all he just doesn't get the ball to guys in scoring position very well. Granted, if his teammates were knocking down perimeter shots than he'd have a few more assists. Still, how impressive is 7-8 assists if half of them are just passes out on the wing where a guy drains a jumper? I'll say this - Bayless hasn't had many "cheap assists" this summer. When I watch him, I'm thinking that he's decided what he's going to do before he does it. Some possessions I just know he's going to go to the basket and get a shot up no matter what. Other times I can tell he's going to shoot a jumper. And yet other times I can tell when he wants to pass. Almost everything he does seems premeditated rather than reactionary to what the defense is giving him.

To those who want to give the guy time to "acclimate" to being a true PG . . . I get that. He's always had a scorers mentality and that is hard to change. I'd be more willing to give him time to work through this if we weren't coming off a 54 win season. I hope he improves by October, although I'm certain he's going to be majorly up/down next season.

 

[Ed O]

He's not having a good summer league but he's still very young and while I wish he were dominating as he did last summer, except as a distributor rather than a scorer, I'm not concerned that he's not.

I don't think that it's very easy to determine how effective a defender guys are in the best of circumstances, and this summer league environment is far from that... I don't know that Bayless is a GOOD defender, but I won't take SL as an indication that he's less than average.

Ed O.

 

[BBert]

I'm not going to judge Bayless based on this year's summer league, period. His team is simply atrocious. Having said that, I am still waiting for Bayless to show me ANYTHING, and that includes his stints last year when Blake was out. I remain a bit skeptical, but hopeful, he can be productive for us as a backup PG. He appears to me to be a short shooting guard, and his defense last season was, imo, overrated.

 

[julius]

We should come up with some "myths" we Blazer fans have.

I'll start!

1. Blake is a crappy PG
2. Blake is a good PG
3. We can't win a title with Blake.
4. Hedo is a great signing! WTG KP!
5. Hedo is a bitch! FUCK YOU KP!
6. We didn't go to the moon!
7. There's silver and gold at the bottom of the tra...oops, wrong thread.
8. This team needed to make changes!
9. This team didn't improve!
10. Every other team improved in the western conference!

anymore?

 

[Peaceman]

Why does Bayless need to be this great passing PG? Aren't they giving him Sergio's minutes. Many teams have point guards who have a scoring first way of playing. I think the point that Batum looked bad last summer and ended up starting most of the year tells you all you need to know. The team wants him to improve his passing and assist numbers. It takes more then one player to get a assist and this team isn't full of players who can hit a open shot.

 

[donkiez]

You guys are right, Travis Outlaw is almost out the door so we need someone else to turn on.

 

[Masbee]

We should come up with some "myths" we Blazer fans have.

I'll start!

1. Blake is a crappy PG
2. Blake is a good PG
3. We can't win a title with Blake.
4. Hedo is a great signing! WTG KP!
5. Hedo is a bitch! FUCK YOU KP!
6. We didn't go to the moon!
7. There's silver and gold at the bottom of the tra...oops, wrong thread.
8. This team needed to make changes!
9. This team didn't improve!
10. Every other team improved in the western conference!

anymore?

It's ok to pass final judgement on a player that cannot yet legally gamble or drink after these summer league games.

 

[illmatic99]

1. Blake is a crappy PG
2. Blake is a good PG
3. We can't win a title with Blake.
4. Hedo is a great signing! WTG KP!
5. Hedo is a bitch! FUCK YOU KP!
6. We didn't go to the moon!
7. There's silver and gold at the bottom of the tra...oops, wrong thread.
8. This team needed to make changes!
9. This team didn't improve!
10. Every other team improved in the western conference!

The ones bolded are not myths.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Name one PG or SG who can get to the rim and finish/get to the line who isn't a valuable player. Bayless has an 18.2% fouls drawn rate. He gets to the line more frequently than Wade or Roy and very nearly as much as LeBron James.

I stand by my description of Bayless as a pint-sized Corey Maggette.

Re: the Batum comments. There are players who ONLY look good in Summer League. Anthony Morrow, for example. These are the guys that hog the ball and can dominate the crappy competition, but do not play in a team concept and wouldn't work with good teammates. Then there are players who look worse in Summer League than they would in the real games, because they are excellent complementary players but are expected to do more against the crappy competition. Or they're playing with one of the first kinds of players and never get the ball. Batum was one of these. I'm not too worried about Pendergraph's so-so numbers because I believe he is also one of these. I'm hoping that Cunningham is not one of the former, and I'm pretty sure he isn't because he isn't a "ball-stopper" and he plays defense and moves without the ball.

Which kind of player is Bayless? This year was his chance to prove he wasn't the first kind.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Re: Bayless's defense. He's always struck me as more Sasha Vujacic than Eric Snow. Lots of aggression and movement, but not much strategy.

 

[LOTBfan]

The ones bolded are not myths.

Really? Just how much better is Houston's starting five than it was last year...

Utah is looking stellar

I am afraid of the big men down in Phoenix

 

[illmatic99]

Really? Just how much better is Houston's starting five than it was last year...

Utah is looking stellar

I am afraid of the big men down in Phoenix

Ok. You got me there.

I was thinking of the team on par or above us last year. LA (if they retain Odom), SA, DEN, DAL all got better when I read that.

 

[PapaG]

Ok. You got me there.

I was thinking of the team on par or above us last year. LA (if they retain Odom), SA, DEN, DAL all got better when I read that.

How did Denver get better?

 

[illmatic99]

Aflalo >= Jones. Lawson is a better backup PG than Carter.

 

[PapaG]

Aflalo >= Jones. Lawson is a better backup PG than Carter.

I disagree, and it's really not an improvement worth saying improves a team. Both Jones and Afflalo are borderline NBA players.

Lawson has yet to play a second on NBA basketball.

 

[MARIS61]

Bayless is the poster boy for why some players should stay in college for 4 years.

He's too small for the NBA game, doesn't understand the NBA game, and simply is not up to performing at an NBA level.

Never mind the D league, send him back to school.

 

[STOMP]

There are players who ONLY look good in Summer League. Anthony Morrow, for example.

huh? I recall him looking pretty good in an early season game vs Portland I attended last year. As an undrafted rookie he had a decent season posting a 14.7 PER highlighted by this little ray of sunshine

I really don't get your line of criticism here

STOMP

 

[LittleAlex]

It would only make sense for someone who would waive Outlaw to jump to conclusions about Bayless' defensive abilities.

The difference is about 5 years of experience in the NBA. Should Bayless get to year 3 and still be a project, then it would be time to consider pulling the plug.

If Bayless gets to year six and still sucks as bad as Travis, I hope he is playing somewhere else.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

huh? I recall him looking pretty good in an early season game vs Portland I attended last year. As an undrafted rookie he had a decent season posting a 14.7 PER highlighted by this little ray of sunshine

So where'd he go late in the season? He wasn't injured, but he just dropped out of the rotation entirely. And why is he back at Summer League?

I agree, he didn't just do it in Summer League. He's a Von Wafer (who actually held the scoring record until Randolph broke it). Von Wafer's available again, by the way...

 

[julius]

Ok. You got me there.

I was thinking of the team on par or above us last year. LA (if they retain Odom), SA, DEN, DAL all got better when I read that.

How'd Denver get better?

 

[B-Roy]

So where'd he go late in the season? He wasn't injured, but he just dropped out of the rotation entirely. And why is he back at Summer League?

I agree, he didn't just do it in Summer League. He's a Von Wafer (who actually held the scoring record until Randolph broke it). Von Wafer's available again, by the way...

Nellie uses random rotations.

 

[Pontius]

So where'd he go late in the season? He wasn't injured, but he just dropped out of the rotation entirely. And why is he back at Summer League?

I agree, he didn't just do it in Summer League. He's a Von Wafer (who actually held the scoring record until Randolph broke it). Von Wafer's available again, by the way...

McMillan consolidated backup PG minutes to Sergio for the playoff drive. Teams don't often use three PGs in the playoffs as a general rule. Why Sergio? Because he had more experience running the offense.


He's back in Summer League because he's 20 and entering his second year in the league.


Von Wafer was not a lottery pick. He's a random player you picked out of thin air in order to make a baseless comparison.

 

[Ed O]

Von Wafer was not a lottery pick. He's a random player you picked out of thin air in order to make a baseless comparison.

Actually they were talking about Anthony Morrow when Wafer's name came up, so lottery pick is irrelevant.

Ed O.

 

[STOMP]

So where'd he go late in the season? He wasn't injured, but he just dropped out of the rotation entirely. And why is he back at Summer League?

I agree, he didn't just do it in Summer League. He's a Von Wafer (who actually held the scoring record until Randolph broke it). Von Wafer's available again, by the way...

Von Wafer Their games aren't much alike but I guess you could make a comparison. Morrow lead the league in 3 point % as an undrafted rookie (which is a season long stat). He's not the athlete or finisher that Wafer is, but he's a fantastic threat from deep. On a team as rich in 2 guard types as the W's were last year, he did pretty well for a rook IMO... both made contributions off the bench I guess.

I think a more apt comparison would be fellow 23 year old rookie 2 guard Rudy Fernandez.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/morroan01.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/f/fernaru01.html

STOMP

 

[esperanzafleet6969]

maybe u dont realize this but summer league means nothing... bayless is also playing out of position too.. playin the point... last year in summer league he wasnt handling the ball the majority of the time.. anyways, he realizes what the purpose of summer league is and i think he will get a better hang of point gaurd play in the summer league..

 

[STOMP]

maybe u dont realize this but summer league means nothing... bayless is also playing out of position too.. playin the point... last year in summer league he wasnt handling the ball the majority of the time.. anyways, he realizes what the purpose of summer league is and i think he will get a better hang of point gaurd play in the summer league..

didn't they have Koponen sit out a couple games last summer so that JB could have a turn at it?

STOMP

 

[hasoos]

Lawson killed him tonight. Before tonight Lawson had been a joke.

Lawson was probably due after going 1 for 15 the first couple of games. Team defense is horrible in summer league. Fast guards can buzz by anybody, and Lawson is as fast as they come.