Live With Who People Are

The point is, Jerryd’s main competition for minutes is not Steve Blake, it’s Roy and Miller. He has to catch up to one of them in order to increase his playing time significantly. In doing so he also has to overcome that star or veteran gap in the minds of the coaches. It’s not impossible, I guess, but you can see why the going is slow, especially since Bayless trails both handily in nearly every category listed.

In fact I will go out on a limb at this point in saying the chances of Roy, Miller, and Bayless existing long-term on the same team are small. Steve Blake’s presence in the equation changes it not a whit. You could cut Steve tomorrow and you’d still have the same issue. Eventually one of these guys has to be let go.

Does this mean Jerryd’s situation is hopeless until that happens? I’d say no, for a couple reasons.

First, I think it’s obvious that Jerryd was unsuccessfully typecast as a point guard during his early tenure. This is something we called from the beginning. You have to let players play to their strengths if you’re going to play them. You can teach them beyond those natural strengths, of course, but you can’t suppress the strengths in doing so and find success. Judging by the way Jerryd is playing and the time, position, and role he’s finding himself playing in, it seems the coaching staff is learning or has learned this about him. When he does play he’s driving, scoring, and providing a credible offensive threat. The removal of the burden of setting up plays has freed him. He looks more fluid, confident, and ironically is more in tune with what’s going on out on the floor than he used to be. They may trade him in favor of a pure point guard if that’s what they think they need but they won’t be putting him back in that box. That means his play should remain strong and has a chance to get stronger.

via The Bayless Quandary – Blazersedge.

Hey, look, the exact same stuff we’ve been saying for a year and a half. Neat.

This, in a nutshell, is what the Blazers did. They saw the best talent available was a young, devastatingly quick guard with a mean streak like no other. They recognized their ability to horde tremendous talent and cover for injury or a pick or two not working out (unless it was Greg Oden, of course), and selected him to fill their need at pure point, fully aware that he wasn’t a pure point. Not only that, but becoming a pure point ran contrary to everything that defined the young guard. Most teams draft a player and try and put him in the best position to succeed. The Blazers have never done that with Jerryd Bayless. Should they look at what’s best for the team first? Absolutely. But not if you’re banking on a scenario which you knew to be unlikely in the beginning.

They drafted Bayless and said at Summer League “We have a small guard, his name is Brandon Roy and he’s the future of this team. Jerryd will learn to play point or he won’t play at all. ” And when Bayless failed to make that transition, which isn’t something you learn, it’s something you are, or rather, it’s something you’re not in a lot of ways, they punished him. The Blazers punished Jerryd Bayless for being who he is.

When it became obvious that Jerryd wasn’t going to suddenly burst out of the telephone booth as Chris Paul, did they trade him, after letting him boost his stock? Did they work him into a second lineup as the instant offense that could provide the starting line a break? Did they do anything that would be not only in the best interest of the player but of the team? No, they stuffed him down and then brought in Andre Miller.

At least now they’re letting him raise his value. Because he has no future on this team. None. And if you want to blame Bayless for being too selfish to shift, that’s fine, but to do so is to undermine his considerable ability. There are very few cases where I can say that someone would be better off in Golden State. But Jerryd Bayless would be better off in Golden State.

Oster-Tags: Andre Miller, Brandon Roy, freebayless, Jerryd Bayless, Nate McMillan, natemcmillancouldntcoachiswayoutofacerealbox, Portland Trailblazers, Steve Blake