Jerryd Bayless and Your Dreams of Him Being a Great Point Guard

I'd like to start off with a statement that I imagine many of you "Team Jay-Bay" (ugh , by the way) people will undoubtedly ignore when you comment on this post: I do not think Bayless sucks.

I, like you, see the talent he possesses. In the right situation he could build quite a reputation for himself. That should be enough. But we are dreamers, so I shouldn't be surprised that more than a few Portland fans reject the existence of a Bayless ceiling. This is not Jerryd hating, this is a reality check.

Bayless is listed at 6'3", at the draft combine he measured 6'1" and three quarters . His wingspan is 6'3". In today's League his wingspan earns him the "alligator arms" label but his size is reasonable for a point guard, especially when you consider his strength. Dimensions wise he is a little bit bigger than Derrick Rose, who is a pretty good point guard.

The problem is that Bayless is not a point guard. At all. This is the quintessence of his limitation.

I suppose I should devote a paragraph or so to debunking the Bayless-point guard myth.

Fine.

I know that there are times when you see him dish it off to an open shooter for the assist. I know he has some games with reasonable assist totals. Those things happen less than you think. As of this post, Bayless is averaging 1.9 assists per game on the season. Spare me the "because he doesn't get minutes" argument. The guy is 80th in the League in assists per 48 minutes.