LOL! You take the cake, MM. I'll give you credit for not giving up easily on your opinions. But, yeah, I'd say young guys who show significant improvement within the space of a couple of months of regular season probably still have more improvement to their games ahead of them.
Good call. Of course, the three guys I was referring to in my post were Freeland, Leonard, and Robinson, but you're right, I doubt CJ is going to be worth a damn as a big man.
Who has shown significant improvement? Leonar_ regressed from last year Robinson lost his job to Leonar_ McCollum hasn't played a second in the league
Which is why they have the potential to get better. Nothing is guaranteed. I'm not saying they WILL get better. I'm saying they have the potential to get better. I know you have a bias against white American born centers, but how many of them have Leonard's combination of size, athleticism and shooting touch? What if he's not a enter after all, what if he's a stretch 4 that rebounds well? What if he's the next David Lee? He was white, American, played center in college and played center for the Knicks. He now plays power forward and continues to be an excellent rebounder. Not saying Leonard will be the next David Lee, just pointing out that not all white American born big men end up being busts, even if they don't evolve into traditional NBA centers. Everyone has potential but not everyone fully realizes it. Still, these guys all had enough potential to make them lottery picks. Given that all three have very little, or no, NBA experience, and are still very young I do believe they all have a chance to get much better. Time will tell, but at least Leonard's recent progress is encouraging and I'm excited to see what C.J. can do. BNM
Regressed in what way? I thought you we all about the eye test. For all his size and athleticism, Leonard looked lost last year at all times on defense and did not rebound well. It was clear he had a good shooting touch, but that was about all he showed last year. I agree that if you base your evaluation on his summer league and preseason performances, there was some regression. He looked like he'd lost his confidence on offense and still was constantly out of position on defense and not boxing out and rebounding well. But, that has changed. He has shown significant progress in his defensive positioning and awareness and is boxing out and rebounding at an elite level. He looks to be regaining confidence in his shot and that will come with his increased PT. There's a reason his TRB% has gone from 12.3 to 20.6. That's a HUGE improvement, not regression. You've always bashed the guy for his poor defense (still are with your childish refusal to spell his name correctly) and lack of rebounding. He's shown significant improvement in both areas and you stubbornly call that regression. BNM
Another note about Meyers. I haven't looked at the numbers, but last season he seemed to try and block every shot, which meant he was constantly out of rotation and scampering to get back to where he needed to be. He was a gambler, but this season he seems to be trying to just play within the defense, and so may end up with fewer blocks or steals, but a much improved defense since his teammates can now count on him rotating as planned. This leaves him in position to do another thing that has shown up on the stats, rebound like a freak. This in my opinion is proof of two things. 1) The coaches are really concentrating on fundamentals and control, and 2) Meyers is listening to the coaches. This is a great recipe for continued improvement on all fronts. Great news.
This was my biggest complaint about him also. Trying to block shots he had no chance of even bothering. He still does it from time to time but he definitely improved.
One of the reason's for this is I think last season Meyer's felt he had to be THE guy rebounding the ball, whereas this season he is ONE of the guys. In other words, he doesn't feel pressure to secure every rebound and feel bad if he doesn't get one because he has Lopez and Freeland out there with him.
I suspect bringing in Fropez might be the best thing that could have happened for Meyers. Watching Fropez he seems like such a smart, tough, even tempered, mentoring type of leader. I am so glad we got that guy.
For those who said Meyers Leonard would never be a good rebounder, who said rebounding could not be taught, you either have it or you don't, please note: Meyer Leonard's TRB% is now up to 21.3. Yes the sample size is still small, but as the sample size is growing his TRB% keeps going up. That's an unsustainable trend, but his current TRB% would put him second in the entire league, if he had enough rebounds to qualify, trailing only Andre Drummond (TRB% = 21.4). Leonard is also averaging 14.2 REB/36. Is Meyers Leonard an elite level rebounder? Not yet, he needs to sustain this level of production over a much larger sample size to earn that distinction, but he is currently rebounding at an elite level in limited minutes, and that's a HUGE improvement. I'm very happy with his progress and glad to see his hard work is paying off in tangible results on the court. BNM
