ESPN is reporting that the Raptors are close to trading Jarrett Jack, David Andersen and Marcus Banks for Peja Stojakovic and Jerryd Bayless. Funny part about this deal is that the reason Stojakovic is on the block is because of Marco Belinelli, who has usurped him as the starting shooting guard. ESPN is reporting that the deal would have been done on Friday night hadn’t it been for the Raptors asking for more money from the Hornets.
Stojakovic is in the last year of his contract earning $14.25 million. The Stojakovic for Banks and Jack deal works with “125% + 100K” plus a $2.35M TPE. Note that Bayless can’t be moved with another player until December 2nd so this might have to be done as part of two deals, in this case Bayless would be moved for Anderson alone.
Stein is also saying that Jarrett Jack is one of Chris Paul’s best friends so that should also help move this thing along.
Here is Bayless’ scouting report as per John Hollinger:
+ Shooting guard in a point guard’s body. Aggressive driver with scorer’s mindset.
+ Average spot-up shooter and subpar passer. Draws fouls and makes free throws.
+ Likes to pressure ball but takes bad fouls doing so. Undersized to guard 2s.
A good way to turn the game into a free throw match is to put Bayless in the game. He’s becoming the Leon Powe of point guards, a player who both fouls and draws fouls in huge quantities. Bayless averaged a free throw attempt for every two field goal attempts, the third-best rate among point guards, but he gave it all back by averaging a foul every 8.6 minutes — the second-highest rate at his position and one more commonly seen from backup centers. (In fact, Portland’s backup center, Juwan Howard, nearly exactly matched him.)
Despite all the fouls, Bayless was horrible at coming away with the ball — only three point guards had a lower rate of steals per minute. His other big shortcoming is running the point. He was 63rd out of 71 point guards in pure point rating, and while that’s partly excusable because much of his playing time came at the 2, his instincts are clearly as a scorer. For Bayless, passing is what happens after his scoring options are cut off.
Nevertheless, Bayless has value because he averaged nearly a point every two minutes, and he could get better still. In particular, developing his 3-point shot would do him wonders since he made only 31.5 percent last season. Bayless shoots long 2s and free throws well enough to think he could make in the high 30s on 3s. If so, he’d provide enough value as a scorer to play a major role as a combo guard off the bench.
Andersen will be missed but with Davis returning from injury soon, the void left by his departure would be somewhat filled.
