The Meyers Leonard Thread

Basketball reference projects him to be a 12/8 player this season if the coach plays him, with excellent %'s in all shooting categories.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/leoname01.html

 

But people will still be pissed about his poor defensive rating and lack of physical play.... you can't make a square peg fit in a round hole. The guy isn't Joel Przybilla.

 

I did take that into account. But the aggressiveness of those players were much stronger. Also, last season, Leonard couldn't even stay on the court because of his "deer in the headlights" defense.

I want someone to be a better 2nd rotation player. Sorry if that makes people upset; but Leonard is at least 3 years from being a good rotation player, IMO.

 

with only half a 3 per game!

 

Define "better 2nd rotation player"....

 

I think we were all expecting the big sophomore jump. We may not get it. But Meyers wasn't even as bad as people were complaining last year. Guy is more advanced then 70% of the Centers that come out of the draft offensively. Problem is he might be in the bottom 30% defensively.

 

Trying to search online, I couldn't find anything about this. Could you describe more please?

 

He's not a defensive player. That's just not him. Maybe he'll develop into one, but I can't think of a guy developing defensive instincts. Meyers is vastly ahead, offensively, compared to other centers at his age, but his defensive numbers are definitely low and when you compare him to guys like Prz or Tyson Chandler, you could already see that those guys had defensive chops.

 

Good post. Agree with pretty much everything you said. What I find funny is that some of the people wanting Portland to tank are the ones who are clamoring to replace Leonard with a more productive player.

 

Meh, it was a non-event. Guy drove to the hole, a foul was called, and Leonard sort of slapped at the ball a little more aggressively than the guy liked. They got into it a bit and a tech was called on Myle.

 

Someone that the team can trust to anchor down the defense and play 20-25 minutes at center in spurts without the team concerned that this player won't be a detriment on D.

Even a Mark Bryant or old Cliff Robinson type (Not the starter Robinson).

I don't want to be like "Oh God" if Lopez goes down or gets into foul trouble.

 

And those defensive anchors are usually so bad on offense that the other team can completely ignore them and use their man to double. Joel Przybilla, as much as I loved the guy, was horrriiiiible on offense. He couldn't catch a pass to save his life. He was a terrible free throw shooter. He had no mid-range game to speak of. He could dunk and that was it. Meyers already has a lot of the tools to be a very good offensive center, he just needs some work on his defense. He's only 21. Give the guy some time for pete's sake.

 

I would rather have someone worse on D than O as the bench rotation player. I don't know if you remember, but our team was dead last in Points in the Paint Defense. I would much rather have a player that at least can box out, set good picks, rotate and protect the rim; than one that can hit the outside shot and set awful picks.

If we had a younger "Joel Pryzbilla"; I would 1,000 times trade that in for a Meyers Leonard.

 

That was the whole point of acquiring Lopez. He's the guy who boxes out, sets good picks, rotates, and protects the rim. You can't say, "well if he gets hurt we're screwed..."

Yeah, the same could be said for Wes. Are you excited at the prospect of either Barton or Crabbe getting more minutes?

 

I would be more comfortable if Wes gets injured and we have CJ, Crabbe and Barton as the rotation players; than if Lopez goes down and we have Leonard and Freeland as the rotation players.

 

people already have their mind made up, they are going to see what they want to see at this point

 

Maybe you aren't paying attention... Barton is ridiculously bad. He makes Leonard look like a ten year vet. Crabbe could actually be a very good rotation player, but we don't know yet. He reminds me of Batum during summer league. He hasn't found a rhythm. If Wes got hurt and CJ slid into the starting lineup to replace him, our bench would look pretty fucking bad again, so I don't think you understand how important Wes is to our current roster.

Your hatred of Leonard is seriously blinding your ability to objectively judge his talents.

 

I have been paying attention; which is why I put Barton third on the rotation; but there is a good chance that CJ, Crabbe, Wright, Barton and even Claver could put in decent numbers by committee at SG. AT center, we have only Leonard and Freeland (and he's a PF). If Lopez goes down; we are seriously fucked. I don't care how you try and convince me otherwise. Leonard is hardly a player I would be comfortable starting. Freeland is even worse.

LMAO that you think I'm a Leonard hater. I really don't want to be. I wish the dude would shut my ass up, but he hasn't done anything to make be feel otherwise. I also think it's funny that you call me a hater, yet get pissed that people call you a hater for wanting Aldridge traded. (BTW, I never called you an Aldridge hater)

 

Frankly I'd prefer to unload Freeland, probably have to use the new CBA stretch provision and just cut him, and then see if we can pickup a better backup PF/C

 

I'm down with that too. If we could give around 4-5 mil (adding another 800-1M) to a free agent offer; I think that would be enough money to find a decent rotation center.