Posted by Allanfan20:

OK, I've never seen this guy play, and from everything I am hearing, he's a combo guard. So why does everyone want him and why's he a projected top 5?

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by crzymdups:

i am extremely iffy on Bayless. i could see him being an offensive wonder. i would prefer Westbrook over Bayless though. though Bayless is probably much more offensively advanced.

i know Walsh believes that you can turn a combo guard into a PG. who knows if D'Antoni believes the same, but if he does, he's probably one of the better teachers for the position.

d'antoni will know right away if a guy can play pg or not. he knew with marbury right away and with barbosa right away. so if they draft westbrook/bayless then d'antoni probably thinks they can run the point.

Posted by nixluva:

D'Antoni knows the kid and Bayless has an inside knowledge of the D'Antoni system. He's practiced with Nash. I think people are getting too caught up in his offensive prowess. Look at Nash and you'll see a great shooter and ball handler as well as a great distributor. If you have the offensive skills to go with being able to run a team, it's the perfect combination.

I don't believe that Bayless has the Steph disease. All the talent to be a great PG but not enough desire to be one. Not every combo guard is so selfish or stubborn. I think he can be coached.

Posted by fishmike:

nix and dj... fair points. If they draft him I will have very high expectations.

Do they run Marbury at SG or just make him go away? You think if Waltoni drafts a PG he will be able to start?

Posted by Ira:

Posted by nixluva:

D'Antoni knows the kid and Bayless has an inside knowledge of the D'Antoni system. He's practiced with Nash. I think people are getting too caught up in his offensive prowess. Look at Nash and you'll see a great shooter and ball handler as well as a great distributor. If you have the offensive skills to go with being able to run a team, it's the perfect combination.

I don't believe that Bayless has the Steph disease. All the talent to be a great PG but not enough desire to be one. Not every combo guard is so selfish or stubborn. I think he can be coached.

Good points. Bayless has the desire to develop his passing skills and he's not bad in that respect already. I think he's better than either Gordon or Mayo in that respect. Bayless is very good from the outside, has a quick first step and is good at drawing fouls on his way to the hoop. He's a talented kid with a good head on his shoulders.

I agree with this. He continues to be my guy. He's a tremendous offensive weapon already (NBA-ready in this respect) who has the desire to get better as a playmaker. He's familiar with D'Antoni's system having worked out with Steve Nash and D'Antoni's familiar with him. You trade up to either 3 or 4 and get this kid and consider yourself lucky...

Posted by Ira:

Posted by Finestrg:

Posted by Ira:

Posted by nixluva:

D'Antoni knows the kid and Bayless has an inside knowledge of the D'Antoni system. He's practiced with Nash. I think people are getting too caught up in his offensive prowess. Look at Nash and you'll see a great shooter and ball handler as well as a great distributor. If you have the offensive skills to go with being able to run a team, it's the perfect combination.

I don't believe that Bayless has the Steph disease. All the talent to be a great PG but not enough desire to be one. Not every combo guard is so selfish or stubborn. I think he can be coached.

Good points. Bayless has the desire to develop his passing skills and he's not bad in that respect already. I think he's better than either Gordon or Mayo in that respect. Bayless is very good from the outside, has a quick first step and is good at drawing fouls on his way to the hoop. He's a talented kid with a good head on his shoulders.

I agree with this. He continues to be my guy. He's a tremendous offensive weapon already (NBA-ready in this respect) who has the desire to get better as a playmaker. He's familiar with D'Antoni's system having worked out with Steve Nash and D'Antoni's familiar with him. You trade up to either 3 or 4 and get this kid and consider yourself lucky...

What do you think we'd have to give up to get it done?

I still think a good package that makes sense for both teams would be Eddy Curry and #6 to Minnesota for Antoine Walker and #3. Not overly complicated, just good value for both clubs.

WOLVES: Minnesota is in need of a center and Curry, however flawed, is still fairly young and was very productive only 2 seasons ago: 19.5 ppg, 7 rbg, 57% FG. And imagine what McHale, one of the best post players I've ever seen, might be able to show him if he got the chance to work with him. If McHale chose to invest the time, I could see a lot of Curry's mistakes being corrected... Out of Curry and Walker, the two vets in the deal, Curry clearly has more value at this stage in their careers - Walker's merely a throw in for the Knicks to make the deal work money-wise - the Knicks would have no use for him. And the Wolves only move down 3 slots in the draft where they add an impact player such as Kevin Love (a player McHale supposedly wants anyway) OR Anthony Randolph, Joe Alexander or Gallinari (they could use a SF and they'd have their pick of the best SFs in the draft at #6) OR Eric Gordon (a nice SG talent in case they're not sold on McCants).

Eddy Curry
Al Jefferson
Anthony Randolph or Joe Alexander
Rashad McCants
Randy Foye

If I'm Kevin McHale I'm thinking that's good bang for my buck, certainly better overall value than just drafting an iffy prospect like Brook Lopez at #3 just because I need a center. That's not bad at all.

KNICKS: We unload Curry and his contract. If nothing else you reup Randolph Morris to man the position for the time being until we find a solution (that's where flipping Lee in a deal might come in - if we did this deal, I immediately flip Lee/filler to Sacramento for Shelden Williams and #12 - turn #12 into JaVale McGee, Roy Hibbert or Kosta Koufos. Walker's not nearly the same player he once was but his contract is basically an expiring deal - he's got this coming year then a team option that we simply don't pick up. And we move up to #3 and grab Jerryd Bayless before Seattle takes him at #4.

[Edited by - finestrg on 06-20-2008 4:29 PM]