Collins and Swanigan will get Davis' minutes, not Leonard. None of those 3 will be as good as Ed. Maybe Collins in a few more years, but this season, we needed Ed.
He's unable to effectively contest shots... I dont see how him being unable to contest shots even though he's in position to "shows improvement"... We do this exercise every year. He's always going to be a bad defender. He can't protect the rim at all. He's too slow of a jumper and doesn't know how to go straight up and down. He defends smaller than he is. He looks 6'6 when defending the rim.
Meyers was awful last year similar to prior years. Why are you splitting hairs comparing his awful play to even more awful play of his years prior? There are 14 other players on the roster and Meyers should not be playing meaningful minutes irrespective of Ed missed absence.
How is it "irrational" to dislike a player who is grossly over-paid, frequently clueless, and has a learning curve that is close to flat?
He frequently (OK, sometimes) had his shoes on the correct feet and generally didn't wear his shorts on his head. Sorry, that's all I got!
I really had not looked at his stats close. How do you even get on a basketball court as a 7 foot player and register 0.0 blocks per game for an entire season? Seriously.... I understand he played less minutes. But he was on a basketball court for 254 minutes last season. That is over 4 hours against mostly 2nd and 3rd string players. Usually mop up time or end of bench type situations. This is your Fan Fest MVP!
BTW, since the Oden-over-KD debacle, I am a firm believer in evaluating big men with the 6" rule. In other words, if this guy was 6'6" instead of 7' would he still be a basketball player? In Leonard's case, I think the answer is pretty obvious.
I don't do this every year. In fact this is the first year since he was drafted that I expect Nards to see the court for his play. Rather than expectations of his draft position. People can irrationally hate on Nards and believe he never impacts the game in a positive way. Frankly that was true until last year.(here we go someone, not Torey. Is going to bring up numbers again. While at the same time having the stance that the numbers were too small of a sample size) But at the end of the day that's not me. When he plays well I say so, when he plays like shit. I say so. Look at the game threads. That's not the irrational hatred I'm talking about. I suspect you know this as well, therefore I won't take the time to explain.
Each year, the Great Leonard rises out of the fan base that he thinks is the most sincere. He's gotta pick this one. He's got to. I don't see how a fan base can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there's not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see.
Yes, I think he'd actually be better as a 6'6" player. Its his long body that tends to get in his way. He'd still be athletic and a good shooter at the 6'6" height.
I've said over and over that I don't believe in Per36 and I don't BUT for those that do, note that Meyers averaged 1.1 blocks per36 during his rookie year.
