If I were Jaric Man

odensque drops Jaric, bayless, picks up Dixon, smith

Odensque has clearly been reading the blog! Our Weekly Recaps have assailed the choice to keep this dead weight on the bench, and the Hosen's FAP post mentioned both Dixon and Smith as possible pickups. Perhaps odensque (aka 'cleanjeans') will grace us with his unique perspective on the game in future comments and posts.

Marko Jaric once oozed with multi-cat potential as the Clippers very tall PG of the future - he was going to be a Slavic Scotty Pippen. In '04-05, he averaged 10/3/6 with 1.7 SPG and a 3PG. But he's slow, and never really learned to shoot, and he got hurt a lot, and it just never happened. Now he's buried behind Mayo, Lowry, Conley, and probably Quinton Ross, and isn't likely to make an impact. Even in 30 MPG last year, he averaged a paltry 8/3/4 (which was his best season since '04-05). On the bright side, his fetching mustache led to an engagement to Victoria's Secret model Adriana Lima.

Jarryd Bayless was Portland's first round draft pick this year (actually acquired in a draft-day trade), but was surprisingly raw in the summer league, and has barely gotten off the pine thus far. With Blake and B-Roy playing well, and Sergio more than capable off the bench, it's hard to see him, especially as a shooter rather than a ballhandling PG-type, getting much PT on a team struggling to apportion minutes to their talent (a problem which will be exacerbated by Oden's impending, and Martell's eventual, return to the court).

Juan Dixon was really good in college (University of Maryland); in the pros, he's always been a bit undersized as an SG, and too 'shoot-first' to be much of a PG (1.7 APG in his career). He's sporadically excelled as an 'instant-offense' type 7th man, or filling in for injured folks. Even at his best, he's just points and 3's, though as the Hosen noted, his 11 AST the other day were eye-opening. He is starting right now in WAS, as A-Daniels is banged up, D-Steve is not very good, and G-Aren is a ways away from returning.

Joe Smith was even better in college (University of Maryland as well), and was a famously bust-y #1 overall pick (though his 18/8 type numbers from his early years don't look too bad). Nowadays, he's pretty solid - 10/8 seems reasonable if he's getting 25 MPG (which he has been with Wilcox hurting and SweetNickyC in constant foul trouble). He doesn't hurt from the line as much as other low-tier big men (Melvin Ely, or the like). There's no reason he won't quietly produce for OKC, and for odensque.

Judgment: Dead weight has been dropped, and that can only benefit odensque.  The players picked up are solid, and, for the moment, have an opportunity to produce. Nice work, O! And go Terps!