The New Orleans Hornets have acquired point guard Jerryd Bayless from the Portland Trail Blazers for a conditional future first-round pick.The Breakdown
The Hornets didn't have a reliable back up to Chris Paul following the trade of Darren Collison, until now. Bayless has shown flashes of talent in Portland, but never got a chance to play regularly due to the crowded back court situation. In New Orleans, he'll have a defined role in the rotation and would be in line for major minutes if Chris Paul were to suffer another long term injury as he did last season.
For Portland, this trade merely frees up roster space as they try to cut down to the league maximum of 15 players by Monday night. It'll be interesting to see what the guard rotation looks like following this deal. Bayless was expected to back up Andre Miller this season. Now, they only have inexperienced point guards on the bench such as Aussie Pattie Mills. The Blazers will likely have Brandon Roy at point guard when Andre Miller sits and employ Rudy Fernandez and/or Wesley Matthews at shooting guard. We'll have to wait until the first few regular season games to find out if another guard cracks the rotation.
