The last word on Bayless

One final word about Jerryd Bayless
July 20th, 2009 by Dwight Jaynes | No Comments | Filed in NBA, Trail Blazers

I talked to three people last night not connected to the Trail Blazer organization who were on hand in Las Vegas for the summer league. After promising anonymity I got some very frank observations. Everyone seemed to see him the same way:

“He’s a pretty good player. He can get to the basket and he can score. But he’s not a point guard. He can bring the ball up, I think. But he doesn’t see other people. He doesn’t seem to know how to create for other people or when to get them the ball. He’s not a playmaker.”

“He’s got a scorer’s mentality. He will score. He needs to get better from the outside. If he can hit a jump shot he’s going to be tough to defend. But I didn’t seen him hit many.”

“He could be a point guard, just not in the traditional sense. He’s not going to set a lot of people up. He’s a scorer and a tough kid. I’m not sure how well he’ll defend 2s, though. He might be better off with a team that can just let him be what he is — a guy who wants to go to the basket. But he needs to learn how to get the ball to people if he’s stopped.”

People have accused me in the comments of being down on Bayless and that’s not the case. I’m just trying to objectively speak about him as this team’s point guard of the future. I’ve thought since last season he just doesn’t have that point guard mentality and it’s something that’s pretty difficult to instill at this point of a player’s career.

There is no question in my mind a deal will be made for another point guard before the season opens.