Pay Up
Jerryd Bayless (Photo. Aaron Taylor)If David Stern never installed the age-limit requirement sending the nation’s top high school crop to college for at least a year before skipping off to the League, Jerryd “Pay Up” Bayless would probably be wearing an NBA uniform right now. But the stop-over in Tucson has been invaluable for the young guard, as he’s grown leaps and bounds since arriving on campus – especially on the defensive end of the floor. Hosting the No-6 Washington State Cougars last night, Bayless toasted Tony Bennett‘s stingy defense for 23 points, nine of which came from downtown. But he was most impressive on the other side of the ball, putting Wazzu’s most potent weapon Derrick Low in the ice box.
“If Jerryd had to play Low at the time we played Virginia (in the second game of the season), Low would have had 25 points,” said Wildcat coach Kevin O’Neill. Low, who bullies defenders around on the regular, was coming off of a 27 point drubbing of Oregon on 10-16 shooting. But Bayless locked the senior Hawaii-native down last night, holding him to 5 points on 2-9 shooting.
“Low, who averages 14.4 points, missed his first six shots,” writes Anthony Gimino. “He didn’t score until 2:39 left when WSU trailed by 19 points.”
You’ve got to think that part of Bayless’ motivation to absolutely crack the Cougs is in response to criticism that he and his Wildcats looked unmotivated during their 56-52 loss to Stanford on the 17th. Bayless shouldered the responsibility for the loss, blaming himself for complaining about his shoes – which he said were causing his ankles to go numb during the game.
“I know I took myself out of the game with the whole shoe thing,” Bayless said. “And then I started talking about it and I think I started taking my teammates out of the game because I kept complaining about it. Personally, I think a lot of (the loss) should be placed on my shoulders.”
How impressive is that? This freshman takes the entirety of a four-point loss to a Top 25 team and says it’s his fault. He wasn’t the one guarding Brook Lopez, who tee’d off on the ‘Cats interior D for 19 points. “Usually, the grieving period for an NBA player is about six beers,” said O’Neill. “For a lot of them; not all of them.” But Bayless didn’t hit the bottle; he swallowed a tough loss and came back more determined against an even better team.
After he started the Washington State game 1-5 from the field, Bayless didn’t open his mouth. He continued to live in Derrick Low’s jersey and patiently waited to find his rhythm on offense. From that point forward, he struck on five of his last seven tries and pushed Arizona over the top for the 76-64 upset win.
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January 25th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
GEE ...First the fat boys break up and now this?!?! says:
I am glad Sterny made that rule and I think they should be required to stay in 3 years at least, but at the same time I feel Universities and Colleges should find a way to give back to the players that bring them in so much money every year.
Anyway Stern probably gone come up with a facial hair rule and other things if NBA players start getting to outlandish with different styles and things. Don’t scoff it could happen, he already got the boys dressing up! Plus many jobs have stipulations about facial hair, hair styles and other things. Keep watch.
Bayless is just getting his pay up with making even more of a name for himself. Leaving early is always not the way, plus Bayless and others add so much to the college game.
January 25th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Honcho Villa says:
Gee,
I feel you but what about guys like Michael Beasley? He doesn’t belong to be in college right now. He could start on most NBA teams right now. And before him, Kevin Durant. I think the age limit is cool but there should be exceptions. Look at Lance Stephenson, the 6’5 220 lb. junior out of NY. The kid can play in the NBA right NOW…no doubt.
January 25th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Celts Fan says:
Ya, he can Honcho, but that opens the door to too many busts. It’s a slap in the face to a fanbase that you’re asking to shell out boatloads of $$$ to watch their team, that, after a bad year (assuming top of the draft here, where draft picks are vital to a team’s success) you pick a guy who’s a project and years away from the finished product he could be, and then raise prices (happens almost every year anyway.) It’s a tough thing for teams to have to wade through that crap and it’s even harder to sell to a fanbase that, “We lost 60 games this year, but hey, if this guy develops, three years from now, we should be on the rise! Next season, possibly the next 2 are a wash, but we’re still charging full price!” Then, after their rookie deal, they could still be scratching the surface, leading to deals like the one Darius Miles has, that are based entirely on potential. Also, the age limit forces guys to go to school and get some seasoning and coaching, which puts a better product on the floor, which is better for everyone.
“I feel Universities and Colleges should find a way to give back to the players that bring them in so much money every year.” -They do Gee, it’s called a scholarship.
January 25th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
doc says:
Fuck a 20 thousand dollar a year scholarship and im making the school millions. A fuckin tuba player gets a scholarship give them players MONEY.
January 25th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Bron42 aka global-4A-reason says:
“for every lebron theres 10 kwame browns”
People get too hyped about how guys play in college and overestimate how they’ll be in the pros. Is mike beasly good? hell ya hes a beast, but he wouldnt be doin that in the pros had he not gone to high school since he wont over power pros like that. Same with durant. He killed on both ends in college, but in the pros hes just a scorer who cant rebound or defend. Same with Lance. So what he bullies high school kids, in no way does that mean he’d be doin the same against pro guys right away. People seem to forget, you could be the best guy on a bad basketball team so you stand out, meanwhile in the nba EVERYONE on the team can play. B-easy has potential but stop makin it like if he went pro out of high school he’d be averagin 30-20 right now.
and celts, as a guy who played on scholarship, it helps but not as much as you think. you forget your practicin 24/7, with school, so most guys cant have a job without riskin their grades droppin. Also not every guy/girl is on scholarship. So what about the kids who just made the team but still have to pay their own way. plus tv ratings make wayyyyyyyyy more money than the scholarship the baller bringing the ratings in is worth. syracuse cost what, 35,000 a year? your tellin me melo ALONE didn’t bring in more revenue than that? let alone warrick or the guys there now?
January 25th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Celts Fan says:
first off, it’s $30K+ per year to go to college now. Second, if you pay them, they’re professionals, not amatures. they get a free education (which the smart ones take advantage of,) their pick of the women on campus, free team gear out the @$$, and the good ones become famous. What they can then do is take that free education (be it in the classroom or Basketball 101) and make money with that. paying college athletes is a slippery slope, because for every big money D1 program, there’s 20 that no one knows about. Same can be said for the superstar players who do earn colleges that big $$$. What do you do about the end of the bench guys and the bad D1 teams? That’s an idea that has scandal written all over it.
January 25th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
GEE ...First the fat boys break up and now this?!?! says:
Doc you said it all right there lol as far as scholarships are concerned.
Bron kudos to you too.
Even in smalls schools, around the board their sports programs bring in revenue enough to break student players off enough from the starters to the last person on the bench.
As far as calling them professionals or amatures that is neither here nor there because even if you call them pros., you have that at different levels and pay scales all over. If they are enrolled and take classes they are a student plain and simp. on that.
Many of these cats have families, bills and what not and as Bron said when you are steadily on the road and practicing and trying to study, you rarely have sufficient time to do much else that can sufficiently provide.
It’s a beautiful idea and again players should get something more than scholarship from any and every school. It may not be the same and may not be much but better than nothing.
What has happened is, much like the college bowl game system, we have went in so deep that it will be to hard to get out of and change the format without someone or something taking a sufficient loss.
This is not a if it ain’t broke don’t fix it situation. It’s clearly broke and I’m going to say even unfair, but we it’s broken so bad it will take a lot to fix and for some what they consider to much. Most people don’t care to share money. For players that is unfortunate.
January 25th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Taliban says:
Thad Young is a perfect example of the core question here. This is a business. It’s not about what’s best for the kids. It’s about what’s best for the League and its fans. Sorry, but that’s the truth.
Thad is a really talented kid who had a good year at Georgia Tech, was drafted in the lottery and isn’t seeing a lick of time. Let that set in. Go ten years back and look at what the lottery picks during their rookie year. Every single player saw burn and made worthwhile contributions.
Thad is going to be really good someday, but he isn’t there yet. He isn’t going to be there for another year or two. So why do NBA fans have to sit around and wait for their picks to mature into legit NBA stars instead of letting them continue getting an education and working on their games in college?
The NBA product will continue to suffer until Stern raises the age limit to 21/3 years of college.
January 25th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
T.M.P.B.W.O.T.P. says:
A math major can go to school on full scholarship and work a part-time job on campus, which gives him a paycheck issued by the school. Why can’t an athlete do the same? They put in just as much (if not more) time into practice and film sessions and everything else involved with playing a sport that other students put in with their part-time jobs.
January 25th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Celts Fan says:
right on Taliban. I don’t necessarily agree with adding more years to the age limit, but having one and forcing some college seasoning will improve the product on the court. Now imagine if Thad could have just come straight from HS…
Bron, Gee, and Doc, I don’t have a problem with paying athletes in theory, it’s just how to actually impliment it so everything is fair that’s the problem (if UNC is paying guys $1000 and Bowling Green’s paying guys $10, that’s not fair, but each school has different economic conditions that change what can reasonably be paid to athletes, so who determines and how is it determined what to pay them?) Also, I don’t give a crap either about pro versus amature, but the NCAA does. They hang their hat on the fascade that they show “amature athletics.” I was friends with plenty of the guys on my school’s team and know they get the shaft in terms of $$$, but then you see them on ESPN and pulling different hot sorority girls every night, and you don’t feel quite as bad for them! If there was a fair and transparent way to ensure people got paid the same amount, across the board, I’d be all for it, but you know how it is with these guys. Suddenly, you have boosters throwing $$$ at guys and you’ll absolutely have a dishonest coach/AD that pays their players dickloads of $$$ under the table too. Then it leads to the discussion of what sports to include and not include, and we’ve seen from all the Title 9 bullshit, that common sense doesn’t always prevail in those arguments (I have no problem with Title 9 for its intention, but schools losing popular mens teams – Northeastern losing football being a perfect example – to give women an equal amount of teams even though they USUALLY (not trying to be shovanistic at all, but it’s true) aren’t the ones making any money at all – excluding big time women’s basketball and I guess some PAC10 softball – is ridiculous.) Soon, the women’s swim team would be demanding the same $ as the football team, putting a huge stress on the budget, etc. It’s BS like this that people don’t always think of when you say, “College players should get paid.”
January 25th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Bron42 says:
ya i hear ya celts, i was just sayin…cuz i had to work nights, even though i had a scholarship just so i had money to do stuff. So schedule ends up 6am practice, class at 7-4, practice 5-6:30, work till 11 and anytime i had left went to hw. and that was all while i was on scholarship.
Not to mention, D2 schools cant give full scholarships and D3 can’t give any scholarships at all. just financial aid. so to me persoanlly, if anything I’d just count the athletes the same way you pay the kids who do work study, so at least your makin some money even if it is like 6.50 a hour.
January 26th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
'Zona99 says:
Why doesn’t Bayless get the media attention other freshman get? i mean the kid can flat out ball… and what ever happened to paying your dues? People these days think they can jump right in… i mean i thought you have to crawl before you walk?!?