Develop Bayless and Batum

[bigbailes]

If Bayless had made shots that he SHOULD make (wide open three pointers) he would have been a markedly better player than he was. He does a good job of beating his man off the dribble and of getting to the line... both critical components of a dominant offensive player.

I don't feel like I've seen enough to comment on his team defense, but he appears to be reasonably good on the ball, and presumably he can learn team defense as he gets older.

Factor in his age (he turns 21 in August) and his nearly universally hailed work ethic and I am surprised that any Blazers fans question that he's still a pretty high-level prospect. I guess it might just be a case of "what have you done for me lately".

Ed O.

therein lies the problem. this is what most people were saying about sergio after his rookie season. i guess he could be a decent player but he's always had the ball in his hands creating and that just isn't going to happen with broy here. i hope he does pick it up and shows in SL he has learned a little about how to run the point instead of finding his own. he does drive but most of the time it is a wildly out of control drive and teams started to figure that out. i think he will obviously improve but not sure how high considering how much some of you sweat his jock around here.

 

[adrenalize74]

That's because that's all Webster can do. I doubt the team was telling him to avoid using an ability to break the defense down and finish at the hoop or set up a teammate. Webster was a high draft pick...there's no question that the team would have piled as much offensive responsibility/duty on him as his game would support. No team purposely marginalizes a top-ten draft pick. McMillan uses him as a set shooter because, so far, that's the only ability Webster has shown.

Isnt Rudy a top pick also? Didnt he show in Europe that he is capable of doing a lot more that spot up shooting? And what was his role at SF with the Blazers?? Pretty much the exact same leash Martell has had the first 3 years.

Fact is, Nate controls his players....especially the younger developing ones.

 

[Ed O]

therein lies the problem. this is what most people were saying about sergio after his rookie season.

The difference, of course, is that Bayless has demonstrated in the past that he's a good shooter. He shot over 40% from three pointers as a college freshman... clearly the line is closer, but he dropped to below 26% as a rookie, and I think that can come up dramatically with some adjustments and a higher comfort level.

Sergio, on the other hand, has had to create a perimeter shooting game from nothing. He's never really been a good outside shooter.

i guess he could be a decent player but he's always had the ball in his hands creating and that just isn't going to happen with broy here. i hope he does pick it up and shows in SL he has learned a little about how to run the point instead of finding his own.

I agree that he can learn how to get others more involved... I'm never confident that a player is going to "get it", but Bayless seems to me like the guy who has a good chance.

he does drive but most of the time it is a wildly out of control drive and teams started to figure that out.

I don't think that there's evidence of this. I don't think that he's out of control, let alone "wildly"... you're being hyperbolic. And while I haven't researched it, my impression is that players who draw fouls tend to do so at a pretty similar clip throughout their careers.

i think he will obviously improve but not sure how high considering how much some of you sweat his jock around here.

I don't know how our opinions of him have any bearing on how hard he will work to get better.

Ed O.

 

[Minstrel]

Isnt Rudy a top pick also?

Nope, he was a late first round pick.

Didnt he show in Europe that he is capable of doing a lot more that spot up shooting? And what was his role at SF with the Blazers?? Pretty much the exact same leash Martell has had the first 3 years.

Rudy was on a far more talented team that Webster joined, so Rudy having a lesser role makes a lot more sense than Webster having a lesser role...unless Webster didn't have the ability to do more, which seems pretty apparent to me, having watched his first three seasons. And Rudy wasn't purely a spot-up shooter. He was given the opportunity to dribble and pass. In the first half of the season, he looked very good (better than Webster ever has for any significant stretch of games) and then he faded in the second half.

 

[bigbailes]

The difference, of course, is that Bayless has demonstrated in the past that he's a good shooter. He shot over 40% from three pointers as a college freshman... clearly the line is closer, but he dropped to below 26% as a rookie, and I think that can come up dramatically with some adjustments and a higher comfort level..

where he was the man and got a ton of shots. it was quite a bit closer and he hasn't shown any real ability to hit a mid range or pull up shot.

Sergio, on the other hand, has had to create a perimeter shooting game from nothing. He's never really been a good outside shooter.

much like bayless is going to have to create his passing skills from nothing. he's never really been a great passer and struggles to get others involved.

I agree that he can learn how to get others more involved... I'm never confident that a player is going to "get it", but Bayless seems to me like the guy who has a good chance.

I agree that sergio could develop his outside shot more and he was actually finishing around the basket at a good rate in the second half of the season.

I don't think that there's evidence of this. I don't think that he's out of control, let alone "wildly"... you're being hyperbolic. And while I haven't researched it, my impression is that players who draw fouls tend to do so at a pretty similar clip throughout their careers .

his production seemed to dip during the middle of the season, when he was getting anywhere from 6-13 minutes a game on a regular basis. the scouting on bayless was pretty simple, dare him to shoot from the outside, he'll try and drive, just go up and contest the shot because he was struggling to finish if he wasn't fouled.

 

[Blaze01]

where he was the man and got a ton of shots. it was quite a bit closer and he hasn't shown any real ability to hit a mid range or pull up shot.

What does "being the man" and volume of shots have to do with the percentage (40%) that he shot?

....very little....IF anything it makes that percentage look better, not worse....

40%...even froma college 3pt line is encouraging, but I agree it is one aspect of his game that needs to seriously improve if he is going to be a successful PG in the NBA....He needs to finish better at the rim as well IMO....

 

[Ed O]

where he was the man and got a ton of shots. it was quite a bit closer and he hasn't shown any real ability to hit a mid range or pull up shot.

Are you talking about the 189 shots that he took as a Blazer during the regular season, or are you talking about his college career, too?

I don't think that you're at all correct in saying that Bayless can't shoot. He didn't shoot well as a 20 year-old rooking playing sporadic minutes, but that doesn't mean he can't shoot.

much like bayless is going to have to create his passing skills from nothing. he's never really been a great passer and struggles to get others involved.

You're changing the subject here. And I don't think a player needs to be a "great" passer if he can score like I think Bayless will be able to.

I agree that sergio could develop his outside shot more and he was actually finishing around the basket at a good rate in the second half of the season.

I like Sergio. I don't really see it as an anti-Rodgriguez thing to like Bayless, too.

his production seemed to dip during the middle of the season, when he was getting anywhere from 6-13 minutes a game on a regular basis. the scouting on bayless was pretty simple, dare him to shoot from the outside, he'll try and drive, just go up and contest the shot because he was struggling to finish if he wasn't fouled.

Yeah. I'm not sure I agree. Let's look at his minutes by month:

October: 15
November: 28
December: 42
January: 259
February: 171
March: 117
April: 23

I don't know how his production could have dipped in the middle of the season, since he didn't play at the BEGINNING of the year. And he actually shot the ball significantly better in February than he did in January. It wasn't until March that he shot the ball poorly again and got fewer minutes.

Ed O.

 

[hasoos]

You know most college players have to retool their outside shot when they hit the NBA due to the fact they have too long of release time. Even Roy retooled his shot over the summer. They go from an environment where the guys aren't as fast, to one where everybody is fast. Then you add in the fact the 3 point line is a little further back, and a lot of them have to adjust from that. The difference is big enough that some players never get over that difference in range. You know the players who have to take a step or 2 inside the line to make a shot. Those types.

Now that being said, Bayless does have to improve his game. What he showed during the regular season was, he played much better if he got more time on the court. If he only got sporatic minutes, most of the time he never caught up with the speed of the game before he was back on the bench. That is why he didn't play down the stretch. Nate knew there were only sporadic minutes available, and Bayless performed badly when he only got a few minutes at a time. How he determined that was somehow worse than Sergio, who is awful all the time, I will never know. But somehow he did.

 

[Nikolokolus]

his production seemed to dip during the middle of the season, when he was getting anywhere from 6-13 minutes a game on a regular basis. the scouting on bayless was pretty simple, dare him to shoot from the outside, he'll try and drive, just go up and contest the shot because he was struggling to finish if he wasn't fouled.

Sergio honks kill me sometimes (yes I admit I'm not a Sergio fan, but I at least give him some credit where it is due http://sportstwo.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1728789&postcount=1) This isn't about "my guy" or "your guy", They're all Blazers aren't they?

Bayless' production peaked in the middle of the season when he was given the minutes and could get in a rhythm. And it wasn't just per game stats, but percentages and efficiency coincidentally when Blake went out for fifteen or so games.

As for struggling to finish when he wasn't fouled, you do realize that his draw-foul-rate of 18.2% is off the charts for a rookie right (for comparison's sake Dwayne Wade had a DFR of 16.6%, Lebron had a rate of 18.6%)? You don't have to be a tremendous finisher when you get to the foul line on 1 of 5 drives and can hit 80% of your foul shots. Once his mid-range jumper comes back around or his perimeter shot starts falling at even 35% of the time, the lane is going to open up (for the drive and finish or the drive and dish).

I think everyone agrees that Bayless has tons of growth needed before he'll be a regular rotation player, but in terms of raw tools he has a great blueprint for a backcourt mate for Brandon ... hopefully he lives up to his potential, because that will go a long ways toward helping this team realize its goal of a championship.