Batum Bayless and Diogu

Well... Let's start with the least heralded of the bunch...

Diogu:
First off, the injuries. I for one think it is not a good sign that Diogu pulled out of the Summer league because of knee issues. Not the best of omens. He has a big upside I think though, if only because he can fill the role of the rebounder inside (provided he stays healthy , so this maybe is asking too much) however even without him, the Blazer's still have great balance.

Blake/Bayless/Rodriguez
Roy/Rudy/(Webster)
Outlaw/Webster/Batum
Aldridge/Frye/Diogu
Oden/Pryzbilla/LaFrentz

Batum:
A lot of ESPNers on draft night said that Batum had the biggest upside of any player in the draft. One one of them compared him to Travis Outlaw, even before the trade. I disagree. He has a thicker body than Outlaw. When Travis first came into the league he looked like a tornado of matchsticks compared to the other small forwards in the league, while Batum looks like he could hold his own in the post eventually "once he gets over being so French," according to Pritchard... well at least he won't have to go up against any Nazis.

Bayless:
Think about this, all you haters. Last year, in a conference that was largely deemed the toughest in the nation, Jerryd Bayless was #3 in scoring. He lost the Freshman scoring title to OJ Mayo by a single point, with significantly fewer field goals:

...................................G....FG...3s...FT...Pts...Avg
2.Mayo, O.J.-USC...........FR 33..237...88..122..684..20.7
3.Bayless, Jerryd-ARIZ.....FR 30..173...59..187..592..19.7

Even though Mayo made 29 more three pointers and over SIXTY more shots, he still was only one point better than Bayless, because Jerryd made sixty more free throws. Getting to the line sixty times in a season isn't easy, and he tripled it. He can drive, and defend and shoot. Who could ask for anything more? Take it easy on the kid, he's only 19 and was asked to play a position where he was outsized almost every night. Give him Jack's role from last year (Bench scoring, plus a little extra pressure on the opposing Point) Just be patient.