Future Hall of Famer Jake Layman Puts Up 24 in His First Game Back
Jake Layman shot a perfect 6-6 and outscored the Suns 15-9 all by himself in the first qtr 🔥 pic.twitter.com/kcvzLPmvnM
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) December 7, 2018
Former King Phillip High School legend Jake Layman has had a shaky start with the Trail Blazers this season. After starting the first 19 games of the season, Layman was benched for the last five games until last night. The Blazers went 1-4 in the games in which he sat out, and they brought him back as sixth man last night against the Suns. Layman had been averaging 5 points on 50% shooting this season, but has shown promise both on the wing and as a stretch 4.
Last night, Jake The Snake exploded in the first quarter shooting 6-6 including 3-3 from 3 point to outscore the Suns singlehandedly 15-9. Layman finished the game with 24 points in 26 minutes shooting 77%. Is it a stretch to throw him in the early running for MVP? surely not. I mean, if we’re going by the value of a player here, the Blazers are 13-7 with Layman and 1-4 without him. Seems like a lot of value. Some may call it the most value.
Layman’s game is a valuable one for almost any team in the NBA. He’s proven himself to be a solid knockdown shooter, hitting 40% of his threes this season. What sets him apart from some of the other great knockdown shooters is his athleticism, a word that is harder to spell than it looks. Layman is a freak athlete (by white metrics) who can throw down lobs and get to the basket. Along with his size at around 6’9, Layman is solid playing the three but also adds value at the stretch four spot, a position becoming ever more important in the NBA.
A lot of people are going to say that this game shouldn’t mean much because the Suns are already tanking to epic proportions. Now it is true that the Suns are an abomination, but when Jake Layman is up at that podium in Springfield, Massachusetts, the state he grew up in, being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, no one is going to be thinking about a Thursday night game in December.
-Riley Banks (@Rileybanks10)
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