Milwaukee Bucks: What Should Jerryd Bayless' Role Be?

In this Milwaukee Bucks offseason, a lot of attention has been given to the Bucks’ young core. And that makes sense. The Bucks’ future depends mostly on the starting five, in particular. As fun as it is to look into the future and get excited about the 2016-17 season with a developed young core, we still have a season in 2015 to play as well.

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And we also still have players besides the Young Bucks who are going to get some minutes. Jerryd Bayless is one of those players. Although we tend to get on Bayless for his nonexistent shot selection here at BTBP and there are several point guards on the Bucks’ roster at the moment, you have to expect he will have some playing time.

But should he play? It seems obvious that Michael Carter-Williams will start for Milwaukee, and highly likely that Greivis Vasquez will be the first point guard off of the bench considering the Bucks gave up a first round pick for him. So what does that leave Bayless? Does he deserve the 22 minutes per game he got last season?

Rk	Player	Age	G	MP	FGA	FG%	3PA	3P%	FTA	FT%	TRB	AST	STL	TOV	PF	PTS
1	Jerryd Bayless	26	77	1717	10.8	.426	2.5	.308	2.9	.883	4.4	4.9	1.2	2.8	3.4	12.5
2	Michael Carter-Williams	23	66	2149	15.4	.396	2.6	.235	4.9	.694	5.9	7.4	1.9	4.2	2.8	16.2
3	Tyler Ennis	20	33	411	12.6	.361	3.8	.279	0.6	.714	3.1	6.4	1.6	3.7	3.2	10.6
4	Greivis Vasquez	28	82	1991	13.1	.408	6.3	.379	1.2	.758	3.9	5.5	0.8	2.2	3.2	14.0

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/23/2015.

Here are the per 36 minutes from the four point guards the Bucks have on the roster. It seems easy to throw Tyler Ennis out of the rotation straight away based on his weak shooting and scoring numbers, but I don’t think that’s wise. Ennis had a rough rookie season that included getting traded halfway through, and had some positives despite his shooting struggles.

Despite the impression several people (including myself) have of Bayless as a chucker that takes too many bad shots, he actually took less per 36 minutes than MCW, Ennis or Vasquez. He also made more of his shots than any of the other point guards.

So he is a pretty gifted scorer. But he was the least willing passer among the group, and he fouled more than any of the other guards. I’m not sure that his field goal percentage is enough to justify giving him minutes over even Tyler Ennis, much less taking time away from Greivis Vasquez.

I would much rather have the gifted passer Ennis get the third point guard minutes than Bayless. I feel like a lot of people really sleep on Ennis’ potential–if the 23-year-old Carter-Williams can be expected to develop a jumper, then 20-year-old Ennis should be expected to improve as well.

He has already shown he can move the ball well, although his defense is rough right now he’s still very young. He’s worth a shot at development–Ennis is a part of the Young Bucks core, as often as people forget it. Bayless is not. He’s 26, and doesn’t really have a chance to become anything more than a bench guard.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Milwaukee deals him for a second round pick like they did with Zaza Pachulia and Jared Dudley, because there’s just no room for him in this rotation. There’s no place for him at shooting guard either, considering that spot is already going to be strained for time between Khris Middleton, O.J. Mayo and Rashad Vaughn.

I would want any of those guys to get minutes over Bayless too, although Mayo is my least favorite in that group. If Mayo or Bayless were dealt it would free the other one to share shooting guard minutes with young Vaughn and also be able to rotate around with the other combo guards the Bucks have, which would make a pretty ideal situation.

Right now, the situation is not ideal. I think a guard must be dealt to make this roster really make sense, or a talented young player like Vaughn or Ennis will lose minutes for no good reason. Whether it is Jerryd Bayless or O.J. Mayo I’m not sure, but I don’t think there’s enough room in Milwaukee for them both.

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What Should Jerryd Bayless’ Role Be?

By Ti Windisch | Jul 24, 2015

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