The Ace Bailey era hasn't lasted long with the Utah Jazz, but he has given pretty strong indications that the Jazz have every reason to be excited about what he can do. Bailey's ceiling is so high that if he reaches his peak, he could be a superstar. One superstar he's been compared to recently was Carmelo Anthony, which is very exciting, but a little scary too, and not in a good way for Utah.
Dwyane Wade recently compared Bailey to Anthony on his podcast "The Timeout," where he explained why he sees similarities between the two.
"He is one of those guys that just walk in the gym, and he can get you 30. He is just one of those Melo-type of scorer type of players, so (you) had to get him. I thought Danny and the staff did an amazing job of grabbing a young fella," Wade said.
Knowing the player Anthony was when he was in the NBA, it would be fantastic if Bailey turns into the modern version of him. Regardless of how his career turned out, Anthony was one of the hardest players to stop in the NBA when he was at his peak.
Indeed, Anthony's teams didn't win much, but one could argue that was simply because his teams failed to build a good team around him. It was also a bigger problem during his days with the New York Knicks than it was with the Denver Nuggets.
If becoming the next Carmelo Anthony is Ace Bailey's peak, that's a basketball grand slam for the Jazz. He may not necessarily be a star right away, but the Jazz won't pressure him to be. Two games into the Summer League, fans saw the vision for what Bailey could be.
In short, Carmelo Anthony 2.0 is the young cornerstone Utah would want to build around. It would take more than just him, of course, but the Jazz would be on the right track to building their next playoff team with him.
Why this could also be a problem
Whenever players receive certain comparisons, it's only fair to consider everything about that player, and that includes how they conduct themselves. There was evidence to suggest that Anthony was a diva during his playing days, and people can come to their own conclusions on that. What's not debatable is that he shamelessly forced his way out of Denver when he had the chance.
Anthony saw his greatest success as a player when he played in Denver, as they reached their first Western Conference Finals since 1985 in 2009. When the Nuggets began to falter two years later, he decided that he had had enough and did everything in his power to force his way to the Knicks (and apparently could have been a Jazzman).
Like Denver, Utah is a small-market team, so it has the disadvantage that if things start to go wrong, its stars could want out. It's happened to the Jazz before. If Bailey embodies the new Anthony, wanting out when things start to go wrong is definitely a risk.
It's why these next few years may have to go as perfectly for the Jazz as possible. No one should worry about Bailey's future with Utah for some time. However, if he proves himself to be the next Carmelo Anthony, they may have to worry about whether that's also in regards to conduct as well.