rove wrote:It's based on the fact [by fact you mean opinion of scouting sites] that Bayless was always more highly touted and at the very least just as touted as Westbrook up until draft night [was more/evenly touted by scouts]. Bayless was projected[again, projection by scouts] to be better than Westbrook
Your idea is based on opinion/projection. There are a million players that are projected to be great. Oden was projected to be one of the top centers of all-time. Adam Morrison was projected to be a poor man's Larry Bird. They are not - THIS is fact. A player only gets so many chances. If Lin didn't bust out those couple of games, the Knicks planned to waive him and he would've most likely be gone from the NBA.
Are there outliers? Sure. But most of times these "projected great players" either toil around the league or just fall out of the NBA. Just look at Kwame, Darko and a million other high draft picks. And if by 4th or 5th team it hasn't happened, then too bad, there are other guys to fill their spot.
I'm not defending BC (I wanted him gone LOOONG ago) but to say BayBay will become a superstar if we played him is wishful thinking at best.
Oden you can chalk up to injuries, AMMO was a bust, etc. You just helped reinforced my point with the statement you made about Lin. But of course I see what your point is here with projections, and I agree with that but I'm talking about Bayless solely in this case.
My point isn't just that Bayless was touted as an elite prospect with all star potential by every single scout, it's that, combined with the evidence that he hasn't got a legitimate, consistent opportunity, and when he has gotten the opportunity he has shown what everyone thought he could become.
Bayless was never utilized correctly in my opinion. The guy is clearly as talented and as (more imo) athletic as Monta Ellis, and has the exact same mental deficiencies and drawbacks as Westbrook on offense (lack of court vision, bad passing, poor decision maker, "chucker"). Now I'm saying that he still has superstar potential, the same potential that he's always had that he's never gotten opportunity to fulfill and develop. That doesn't mean he'd become a star if he stayed here, but I do think with 30+ minutes a game he'd average 18+ PPG easily.
I'm going by what I've seen for years and what I still see in him. I still follow him now and watch Memphis games, it's unbelievable how unguardable this guy is in isolation when he has the ball. He can create his own shot or blow by his defender at will, he's explosive as hell and gets very high on his jumpshot.
I've also watched Monta Ellis since his high school days and Russell Westbrook a ton when he was at UCLA. I also watched Bayless a ton at Arizona. I'm not some Bayless homer that jumped on him because he became a raptor.
I've watched all 3 guys through all of their developmental stages and had no bias towards any. From what I've seen assessing all 3 there's no reason Bayless can't be as good as either if he had the same opportunity.