A Surprising Jerryd Bayless Stat

[Lark Benson]

Was just browsing Hollinger's Bucks profiles over at ESPN and came across a table of the league's worst finishers at the rim last season. Sixth last? Jerryd Bayless, at 54.3%.

Just thought I'd mention it because it took me by surprise.

[Nilanka]

Now that you mention it, he never had a problem getting to the hoop. But once there, he'd throw up circus shot after circus shot.

[Edgar]

Does that count Fouls as misses I wonder? Since he always is trying to get to the line (and flopping somewhat) it would make more sense... Even if it didn't I would guess that 75% of his attempts in the paint were where he drew a foul, which would make that sample size pretty small...

[NoPropsneeded]

its a stupid stat. I'd ignore it i were you, Jerryd never had the ball much until the end of the season where we was lighting it up.

[Lark Benson]

I don't think it's a stupid stat at all. A little more digging reveals that Bayless took a pretty solid 5.1 FTAs per 36 minutes as a Raptor, but missed shots on which you get fouled aren't recorded as misses, so when he does get to the bucket and isn't fouled he only converts about 50% of the time. Kinda surprising, and really helps explain his poor FG%.

Be interesting to see if he can improve on that with more playing time this year, since his scoring is more of a strength than his passing. And if he can't score efficiently, that'll go a long way in determining whether he's worth having around long-term.

[white men can't jump]

yeah it's things like that that make me wonder about Bayless' potential as a good starter. Yeah he gets to the rim. He also gets to the line. But how many of those circus shots are essentially turnovers? How many times does he fail to kick to an open shooter? These are the kinds of things he needs to fix if he's expected to ever be a full time starter. It is kind of a stupid stat, but I think anyone who's watched Bayless play enough can see such problems in his penetration game and that they are among the biggest things holding him back, along with committing undisciplined fouls far from the basket.