Meyers and Jake have excellent scoring statistics at the 50 game point in the season, and can be the essence of Blazer bench scoring that makes the difference for the rest of the season and the playoffs. Stat . . . TS% eFG% ORtg Meyers 0.657 0.628 125 Jake 0.621 0.611 121 (from Basketball-Reference 25Jan2019) With these achievements, Meyers and Jake have emerged as factors that can make the difference in a greatly improved season (perhaps 54 wins) and going far in the playoffs, perhaps the NBA Championship. Meyers and Jake are the only Blazers with TS% and eFG% above 0.6 and ORtg above 120! Knowing these emerging offensive power improvements, the Blazers should design game plans that prioritize floor rotation plans and passes for catch and shoot swish3s and for dunks that result in each of them taking at least 6 swish3 attempts and 2+ lob dunks that will improve the probability of the higher bench scoring (35+ PPG) that will bring the 13+ above 0.500 finish and carry through the playoffs. This is the time to recognize and reward the notable success that Meyers and Jake have brought with additional min and plays that look to enhancing the scoring potential that both have demonstrated.
The update after the UTA Jazz win shows that Meyers and Jake continue to lead the Blazers in TS% and eFG% as shown below. Meyers PER is now up to 16.9 and his Points/FGA to 1.485. Meyers is not only leading the Blazers, but is ahead of Anthony Davis in Points/FGA, TS%, and eFG%. He could well be averaging 16+ PPG. Stat.......TS%......eFG%......ORtg.....Pts/FGA Meyers 68.2 65.4 129 1.485 Jake 61.2 60.1 119 1.286 Davis 59.5 53.2 124 1.422 (data from Baketball-Reference Feb 1, 2019) Meyers showed in the Jazz game Jan 30 that he deserves to alternate with Nurk showing a strong performance against a league top 5 defense Jazz and holding Rudy Gobert to 15 points, setting excellent screens, giving assists to CJ, Dame, Jake, and Seth for open swish3s, strong defense, helpful coordinating chatter, and 80% swish3 (and 85% FG) shooting that brings his 3P% average up to 46.7%, just 2 below Seth. Now that has at least reached the 5 3PA point, to win we need for him to step it up to at least 6 or more attempts/game. Run plays for Meyers! This Blazer team is capable of a deep playoff run, and possibly the NBA Championship without Anthony Davis if we recognize and optimally utilize our best talents.
