Oct 12 2009
Player Preview: Jerryd Bayless
WHY WON’T YOU LET ME BE GREAT!!!
I’d be lying to you if this quote wasn’t one of the biggest reasons for the Kanye motif in the previews. Nothing describes the tribulations of Jerryd Bayless quite so well as Kanye’s blast from his blog after Rolling Stone printed that he wouldn’t mind doing porn, and even wouldn’t mind doing porn with another man. Most of the world accepted this story as an obvious truth.
The world thinking you’d love to do gay porn is a pretty good equivalent to being a lottery pick stuck behind Steve Blake. Sad part is, he is meant to be behind Blake. He isn’t that great of a defender, he’s still not a great passer, doesn’t have much of a jumpshot (as of last year, although I heard he’s improved that aspect) and he turns the ball over a lot. Only remedy to his problems, and one that was easily administered over the last decade, was lots of playing time to figure out his mistakes. Unfortunately for him, the Blazers are now one of the best teams in the league. No baby steps for Bayless. A simple case of the right team two years too late.
Still, there are ways for him to get time, but none of them are good. We all know the point guard situation, and if Andre Miller or Steve Blake were to get injured, he would be right back on the floor getting playing time like he did midway through last season. The other: at shooting guard. If Rudy Fernandez gets injured (I won’t even think about bad things happening to Brandon), who else would step into his spot? We would slide Martell Webster over to the 2 for a bit of his time, but Jerryd Bayless would get a good shot, and even better, in what may be his best position. Still, you have to be a little deluded to root for injuries so a player buried on the bench can play.
So Jerryd, our hearts go out to you. Keep on practicing, because despite what’s happening right now with the collective health of the team, something will go wrong; we won’t hope that it will, but it will. And we will be damn lucky to have you there to pick up the slack.
