The Knicks continued searching for their point guard of the future yesterday when Jerryd Bayless and Eric Gordon worked out at the team’s practice facility in Greenburgh, N.Y.
Bayless and Gordon, who left Arizona and Indiana, respectively, after the requisite one year are prolific scorers but must answer questions about their ability to run an offense from the point guard position as they prepare for the June 26 draft.
Bayless, 19, seems well-suited for Mike D’Antoni’s high-octane offense and said he knows the Knicks’ new coach from his days as an assistant under Frank Johnson, a Bayless family friend, in Phoenix.
“The run-and-gun system really lets the players flourish and I love to play that style of basketball,” Bayless, 6-3, 200, said after his workout. “I think [my skills] will translate very well [as a point guard in the NBA]. Playing with great players around me like I will be in the [NBA], I have to get them the ball, make them happy. I don’t have a problem doing that.”
Bayless had dinner with D’Antoni Monday. Their conversation seemed to indicate D’Antoni is gunning for Bayless, though many experts expect him to be off the board when the Knicks pick at six.
“He said he has all the tools, he just needs an engine to run it, like Steve Nash,” Bayless said. “So hopefully if the situation works out I can be the engine or the steering wheel to get it going.”
Bayless averaged 19.7 points and just over four assists per game at Arizona. Scouts love his competitiveness and by all accounts he has a good head on his shoulders. Bayless said doubts surrounding his ability to distribute are based on circumstantial evidence.
“I played a combo [of point guard and shooting guard] at Arizona,” he said. “I started off the year playing mostly point, but a couple of guys went down [with injuries] so we had to play the five best guys. Our other point guard was Nic Wise and he was one of the five better players on our team and we needed him to play.”
The media was not permitted to observe the workouts, but Bayless was confident that he exhibited the explosiveness and shooting skills that have him rated as an early lottery pick.
“I shot the ball really well,” he said. “Showed them a little bit of everything I can do.”
He hopes Knick officials, who were unavailable for comment, were impressed.
“My brothers live here right now so I’m always around New York,” Bayless said. “I love the whole city, the atmosphere. [The Knicks] play in the biggest arena, biggest stage that there is in Madison Square Garden. That’s a dream come true.”
Gordon, 19, is believed to be a mid- to late-lottery pick. He revealed that he played the final couple weeks of the season with a fractured left wrist.
He averaged 20.9 points and 2.3 assists per game, numbers which indicate the 6-3, 215 pounder is more inclined to look for his shot than to set up his teammates.
Gordon, an aggressive scorer who can beat defenders off the dribble and knock down the three, acknowledged that’s an area in which he needs to improve.
“I never really showed it in college,” Gordon said of his point-guard skills. “I never really got the chance to. I think I can play point guard because of my strength and dribbling ability.”