Bucks player profile: Jerryd Bayless

By foxsports
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This is the second profile in a 16-part series running Wednesdays and Fridays profiling each Milwaukee Bucks player leading up to the start of the NBA season.

Jerryd Bayless has been an NBA nomad, playing for five different teams and having been traded four times in his six years in the league.

The Milwaukee Bucks will be the 25-year-old's sixth team, as Bayless inked a two-year, $6 million contract in July. He's only spent two full seasons with the same team once, his first two years in the league with Portland.

Bayless is not that old age-wise, but he's experienced quite a bit already in the NBA. From playing in the Western Conference finals to suffering through a 60-loss season, Bayless has seen the highs and lows the league has to offer.

The Bucks are hoping Bayless can bring those experiences to a young locker room while providing versatility to their backcourt.

2013-14 stats: 9.3 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 2.7 APG, 40.2 FG %, 35.8 3-point FG %, 79.7 FT % over 23.4 MPG in 72 games with Memphis and Boston

2014-15 salary: $3,000,000

Last year: After playing a key bench role in Memphis' run to the Western Conference Finals in 2012-13, Bayless began last season with the Grizzlies but he didn't finish there.

Bayless averaged 21 minutes in 31 games with Memphis, scoring 8.1 points per game. His shooting percentage fell to 37.7 percent while he hit 30.1 percent of his 3-point attempts.

With the Grizzlies looking to improve in early January, they shipped Bayless to Boston in a three-team trade that sent Courtney Lee to and a second-round pick to Memphis. While Bayless went from a playoff contender to a team bound for the lottery, his playing time increased with the Celtics.

Bayless averaged 10.1 points and 3.1 assists in 25.3 minutes for Boston, increasing his shooting percentages to 41.8 percent from the field and 39.5 percent from beyond the arc. A sprained right knee caused Bayless to miss the final three games of the 2013-14 season.

This year: Bayless saw the writing on the wall in Boston when the Celtics took Marcus Smart with the sixth pick in June's draft.

It was time to move on, and the idea of playing for coach Jason Kidd drew Bayless to sign with the Bucks. Bayless will provide Milwaukee with a versatile guard proven to be capable of playing both point guard and shooting guard.

Bayless' versatility will allow Kidd to mix and match with some of the pieces he has in the backcourt. Brandon Knight and Bayless can both play on or off the ball, while Kendall Marshall and Nate Wolters are closer to true point guards. How much Bayless and Knight play off the ball will rely heavily on how O.J. Mayo bounces back from a difficult season.

A streaky shooter, Bayless can provide instant offense off the bench when he's feeling it but has also shown an ability to go ice cold with his shot in stretches. Nonetheless, the Bucks brought in a useful player on a very reasonable contract.

Now Milwaukee must hope Bayless is a better fit both on and off the court than Gary Neal was a year ago. Neal said all the right things coming into the season and was expected to have a positive impact in the locker room while filling a reserve guard role. Instead, Neal became disgruntled when he lost playing time and the Bucks were forced to trade him.

Bayless is a better all-around player and athlete than Neal, but he may land in a similar situation as far as playing time. How he handles inconsistent minutes will be a true test to the success of the signing.

Quotable:

"I've been through a lot of situations. I've been through a lot of different coaches, and I feel like I've seen a lot that the league has to offer. Just bringing that information and trying to teach the younger guys things that should be done and the way they should conduct themselves is something I'm going to try to do any way I can.

"Whatever coach Kidd needs me to do is what I'm looking forward to doing." -- Bayless

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