| 13 July 2009
I really didn’t think Jerryd Bayless would ever come off the practice floor on Saturday afternoon. Really.
He’d just put in a three-hour practice, only to stay after with assistant coach Kaleb Canales and work on his pull-up jumper game.
So when Jerryd came off the floor, I was hoping to get a couple quick quotes for a featured story I was working on (“Vegas: Next Season Starts Now For Bayless"). After that I was planning to be ghost. But it didn’t go down like that.
It never goes down like that.
Instead, Bayless had to field repeated questions from one television reporter about Portland’s offer sheet to Paul Millsap, what other free agent targets the Blazers plan on shooting for soon, and then what the latest was with Brandon Roy’s contract.
I believe the exact last question was, “anything new you can update us about Brandon’s negotiations, no one around here is even saying anything?”
"Hey, I'm in the gym working," Bayless scoffed.
"I'm working on my game. I'm not worried about that."
Like Bayless is going to know anything. Like Bayless is going to say anything. He’s got other things to concern himself with. But one thing Jerryd doesn’t have to worry about is being a third-string point guard in Portland next season. Or dare I say even a back-up?
For as much chatter we’ve talked – and I’ve written about – the past six months when it comes to making a change at the point, I’m resigned to the fact that nothing is going to happen there. No Andre Miller. No Kirk Hinirch. If anything, they’ll toss their veterans minimum at a journeyman (read: Brevin Knight, Kevin Ollie, Jacque Vaughn) here in a couple months and call it good.
I really don’t see any other choice.
By the way, when the Blazes tip-off in Las Vegas against the Toronto Raptors tonight, here's an easy way to grade Bayless' performance:
More assists than points. That's the key to his success tonight and the rest of summer league.
pic via: alex mcdougall (see more from alex's flickr photostream here)
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