As a probable high lottery pick, Jerryd Bayless is likely to begin his NBA career with a lousy team.
Thanks to a trying freshman season with the Arizona Wildcats, Bayless says he's ready for it.
"I think to overcome everything that happened this year at my college, I don't think it will be that big of a challenge to overcome things at the next level,"
Bayless said Thursday at an interview session for nine top NBA draft prospects. "We went through a strenuous year. I think I've seen everything. Going to the next level, I'll be able to overcome it."
The Wildcats' turbulent 19-15 season was marked by UA coach Lute Olson's season-long leave of absence and the radically different on-court philosophy and personality of interim head coach Kevin O'Neill, among other things.
Bayless said it helped to learn O'Neill's more deliberate offensive style, though he noted that "a lot of (NBA) teams don't run exactly what we ran at Arizona, three sets of staggers (screens) in one possession."
He also indicated that the obstacles — and UA's one-and-done NCAA tournament appearance — didn't help his draft status.
"It was tough. It definitely was tough,"
Bayless said, when asked if he received less exposure than his peers because of the Wildcats' season. "I signed up for one thing and got another going to Arizona this year. It was definitely a learning experience and I learned a lot from it, but everything still worked out pretty well."
It's going well because Bayless is projected to land somewhere between the third and ninth picks of the draft, which will earn him a guaranteed two-year deal worth between $2 million and $4 million a season.
"Jerryd's going to be fine,"
said Memphis GM Chris Wallace, whose Grizzlies hold the No. 5 pick. "He's going to go somewhere in the Top 10. It's a possibility with Seattle (at No. 4) all the way down."
Ryan Blake, the NBA's assistant director of scouting, said Bayless is in a crowded group of multiskilled guards who are projected to be picked after top prospects Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose. Among those in Bayless' peer group: USC's O.J. Mayo and Indiana's Eric Gordon. Texas' D.J. Augustin and UCLA's Russell Westbrook do not trail far behind.
But DraftExpress president Jonathon Givony, whose Web site has Bayless projected as the No. 4 pick to Seattle, said the former UA star has the most athleticism and the most upside among the trio of Bayless, Mayo and Gordon. According to Blake, Bayless stood out by the way he handled pressure early in his career, too.
"He learned and adapted well,"
Blake said. "There are a lot of things he did well, like the pick-and-roll, giving up the ball at times."
But, to Bayless, his Arizona production could have been better. When asked about how well his 45.8 percent shooting might translate into the NBA game, Bayless noted that it would have been even better had he not slumped to what was a 36.5 percent rate in his final five games.
"My shooting percentages started dropping at the end of the season,"
Bayless said. "There was a lot of stress with the team."
Then, when the season was over, Bayless and his high-profile agent, Jeff Schwartz, found themselves criticized by Olson. The UA coach told ESPN.com that "it wasn't very intelligent on Jerryd's part"
to sign with an agent, adding that he was miffed that Schwartz never was in contact with him and did not tell the UA office that he would be signing Bayless. Olson also said he would make sure no other UA players sign with Schwartz.
The remarks still do not sit well with Bayless.
"Coach O, I thought we had a better relationship,"
Bayless said. "Coach O wasn't our coach this year. So in retrospect, I don't think those comments should have been made about Jeff."
If Olson had been his coach, and if UA's 2007-08 season had played out the way Bayless envisioned it, would Bayless have stayed with the Wildcats?
"I don't know,"
Bayless said. "I really don't know. It might have been different but I really don't know."
What Bayless does know is that he entered the UA without any definite notion that he would only be around as a freshman despite speculation that he would be a one-year-only player — no matter what.
"That's the farthest thing from the truth,"
Bayless said. "I came to college for an experience that I definitely didn't receive. With the whole situation that happened down there, it was really unfortunate. But in a way, I did get to fulfill my dream and it's coming true."
