With Markelle Fultz dealing with a shoulder injury, it’s time to evaluate Jerryd Bayless’ performance through the Philadelphia 76ers’ first four games.
"“When it comes to Bayless’ fit with the Sixers, expect to see the ideal point guard for a team built around pass first small/power forward Simmons and a dominant if healthy center in Joel Embiid, at least offensively. Bayless’ ability to catch-and-shoot would work better with Simmons and Embiid than a tradition point guard’s ability to shoot-off-the-dribble, because there will be many possessions on offense where Simmons is driving to the basket and needs someone that can be trusted to hit an open three when more than one player on the opposing team commits to stopping him, or Embiid is quickly doubled near the basket and needs a good shooter to help him out.”"
The above quote is from an article I wrote explaining why it was a good decision for to sign Jerryd Bayless to a three year contract during the 2016 offseason that will pay the 29-year old $9 million this season and $9.38 million next season.
Through four games Bayless is averaging 13.3 points, 1.5 assists, 2.5 rebounds, one steal, and two turnovers per game while playing 29.2 minutes per game. On offense Bayless has been good with playing with Simmons. Bayless is currently making 52 percent of his 3-pointers and 58 percent of all the shot he has taken this season has been from behind the 3-point line. With 16 of the 19 shots that he made coming from an assist and averaging 4.7 more points per game than his 8.6 career average, Bayless appears to be living up to expectations from a scoring stand point.
Philadelphia 76ers
But watching Bayless play, there are several occasions where I wish Fultz was healthy. Anytime I see Bayless with ball in his hands and he isn’t taking a wide open 3-pointer, I get a little nervous. Before during research for this article I suspected that Bayless might have more turnovers than assists and anyone reading this probably wasn’t surprised to see that was the case through four games.
Bayless did have two assists and no turnovers in the Sixers’ most recent game against the Houston Rockets giving him 8 assists and 8 turnovers for the season, because he seems to always be looking to score and isn’t effective driving to the basket.
Bayless is currently making 33 percent of his shots taken from 5-14 feet away from the basket and averages an assist only 8.7 percent of the time he’s on court. To understand how low Bayless’ 8.7 percent is, through the same four game period T.J. McConnell gets an assist 26.8 percent time he’s on court, Markelle Fultz 14.5 percent, and Dario Saric 10.5 percent.
Defense is Bayless’ biggest weakness. While the Sixers have struggled on defense until their win over the Detroit Pistons, Bayless has been one of the reasons why their defense is so bad. The Sixers give up 10.5 more points in 100 possessions when Bayless is on court which is only better than the 19.7 points Jahlil Okafor gave up during the one game he played.
Almost every starting point guard that went against the Sixers scored more points than their season average and Bayless was guarding them for the majority of the game. John Wall is averaging 24.3 points per game and scored 28 points against the Sixers, Kyrie Irving is averaging 20 points and scored 21 against the Sixers, and Kyle Lowry is averaging 12.3 points and scored 17 points against the Sixers. Only Piston’s point guard Reggie Jackson scored less points than his season average and that was only a half of a point difference.
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While Sixers’ coach Brett Brown should replace Bayless with McConnell when the Sixers have to make a defense stand like the one they blew against the Rockets, Bayless’ shooting adds enough to the offense that he should remain in the starting lineup until Fultz is 100 percent healthy.