Rookie Review: Jake Layman’s First Year Flashes Potential

The former Maryland forward was brought to Portland via a draft night trade with Orlando. His season showed potential for a possible gem prospect.

Jake Layman showed flashes of being a stud for Portland.

Minutes were a little more open for Layman, who earned them over the course of the season.

He played 37+ minutes against the Pelicans, and had seven other games above 10 minutes. That means almost a fourth of Layman’s games played (35) came with legit playing time.

Lay-mania caught wind in November. As the Warriors and Blazers squared off in one of Portland’s eight losses to them this season, Layman rose up against one of the league’s best.

The former Terp went 6-8 on field goals with a scorching 5-7 from three-point range. He dropped his career-best 17 points in his first eight minutes of NBA play:

Don’t forget this dunk just eight days later:

Layman is a smaller, more competent Meyers Leonard basically. They both have majestic hair and a nice three-point stroke (when Meyers is confident, that is). Layman also has the athleticism on his side, as on display in his dunk above.

The one disappointing aspect of his season was on April 4^th when Layman got his second-most minutes of the season — 29:15 — and laid an egg.

He went 2-15 from the field while going 0-4 from three. It was against the Spurs, but that’s a game Layman needed to capitalize off of with ample playing time.

I would love to see the forward back on the team next year, as he has proved to be a real asset. With extended minutes next season, we could see Layman show off more of his potential. He had averages of 2.2 PPG, 0.3 APG and 0.7 RPG in only 7.1 MPG.

It wasn’t until Blazer guard C.J. McCollum got a minutes spike did we see the true star within —   the same could be the case with Layman.

Portland Trail Blazers