Jake Douglas Layman was born on March 7th, 1994 in Norwood Massachusetts. And though he was six foot nine inches tall in high school he still preferred to hang out with the gaurds on the team. So when he was on the court he’d spend a lot of his time around the perimeter. Why you ask? Simply put, he was in love with the three point shot at that time of his life. Not to say that he didn’t do some other things well too. During his senior year he averaged 26 points, 4 assists, and 5 blocks a game earning him the honor of be considered by ESPN the seventeenth best small forward in the nation, and the third best high school player in Massachusetts.

When Jake got to College Park and settled into his dorm at Maryland things were much different than when he was a hometown hero back in Norwood though, and he only averaged 5.5 points per game for the seventeen he started his freshman year. Trying to hang onto the reputation he had back home he continued to promote himself as a guard and stroke the three pointer. And on top of that, for reasons only he could explain, that year he decided to grow his hair out to become a hippy. So any way you look at it, Jake played basketball and lived life to the beat of his own drum set.

As a sophomore things seem to come together for him a little better as his scoring average pretty much doubled to 11.7 points and 5 rebounds a game. As far as that three point shot that even today he’s known for goes, well that particular year he sunk 61 of them. And if you have been wondering how in the world a player pushing almost seven feet tall could get away with not spending any time in the paint, well the fact that he also had 27 blocks that year tellls you his coach recognized he had a special player that could be effective both inside and out.

厕所在马里兰会告诉你,他的队友didn’t say much, but get him on a basketball court and he’s going to lead by example. How much of a leader you may ask? Well, he led the Terrapins to the NCAA tournament for the first time in five years, and while there Jake finished third in scoring with 12.5 points per game and led the team in rebounding with 5.8 per game too. He also proved that he could be a very efficient scorer that year by shooting 47 present from the field despite going into a shooting funk towards the end of it.

Though he felt that he was talented enough to be drafted into the NBA, after talking to an advisory committee he decided to go ahead and play one more year for Maryland. But after graduating with a Bachelors degree in American Studies Jake Layman was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers on June 23rd, 2016. He then made his NBA debut on November 1st. And just because Jake tends to want to make a big impression in a quiet kind of way, he stepped onto the court and casually scored 17 points coming off the bench. Unsurprisingly that night he hit five three pointers, being the first Trail Blazer ever to score five three pointers in his first game with the ball club.

So, here we are with Jake Layman in and out of the starting lineup like a yo-yo depending on when Stotts needs his unique services. For some on here Jake has just been a player to throw in as filler in a trade they concocted in their minds to get a bigger and better shooting guard to run in the back court with Damian. Yet now we realize this whole time weve had on our team a quiet leader that when called on will make highlight dunks one game and wave that ol’ towel in street clothes the next if asked to.

And let’s not forget this one fact. Jake Layman is just one player on this team out of many that does nothing but follow the face of this great basketball teams excellent example in staying the course no matter what. And it’s because everybody with this group humbly knows their role on this team that there’s a good chance they are going to go far into the playoffs this year.

One last thing for anybody who thinks maybe I got Jake confused with Patty Connaughton. For as long as this storied franchise exists nobody, and I mean nobody will ever wave a towel from the bench like Pat did when he was with the Trail Blazers.