I think in reality Leonard is our third string center. I think in practice, our second string center is LA playing alongside Robinson.
Finesse big men need to be *really* good - or frustration will define their career. (eg Frye) IMHO, you want your second string big men to be blue collar/high energy types. That type of player may bring a limited contribution - but they do it EVERY night. Let's hope TRob can be that guy, so that he and LMA can be on the floor together for extended minutes.
Leonard, Barton, Claver, and Freeland have been coached for the last month. Leonard has regressed from last year's SL, when he had the court awareness and toughness of a 12th-grader. He now has the court awareness and toughness of a 9th-grader. My theory for his blindness is bad contact lenses. He makes horrible 5-foot passes to a teammate next to him. He fouls if he gets physical, so he doesn't. Freeland has slightly improved from a year ago. I pencil in Freeland as the 2nd-string center and Leonard as 3rd. Trouble is, Olshey wants his pick, not Pritchard's, to be 2nd. That's why he didn't sign Jermaine O'Neal with the $2.5M he still has left. With his regression from stupidly bad to worst in the league, Leonard looks like he'll take years to come up to adequate. We don't have that luxury. His ceiling in 5 years might be a Channing Frye. If we trade a center, we can get more for Leonard (a very late 1st-round pick?) than Freeland, yet Freeland helps us more. Stop bashing Freeland. We will need him desperately when Lopez gets into foul trouble.
Wow, so much drama over our back-up center position. I suppose that's a good thing. If back-up center is suddenly our major topic of concern, it means Olshey has done a great job filling the rest of the holes in our roster. Remember, just 3 weeks ago, STARTING center was our biggest concern. After that, it was back-up PG and then, bench depth (especially scoring) in general. With all the focus now turned to back-up center, it seems the general board consensus is that Olshey did a good job addressing all those other, more glaring, higher priority needs. Just for grins, without looking, how many people here can even name who our back-up center was in 1990. Most will say rookie Cliff Robinson, as he started the first 6 games of the San Antonio series after Duckworth broke his hand, but that's not the correct answer. Those 6 games were the only time Cliff played center that season. We had another back-up center for all of the regular season - who also backed up Uncle Cliffy when Duck as out. Anybody remember who that was? I think there is also this perception that Uncle Cliffy did a good job against David Robinson, who was also a rookie that year, but I think that's just sentimental nostalgia. Other than game 2, the Admiral dominated Uncle Cliffy (who had a playoff PER = 9.1 that year). It was a good thing the rest of our starters were so much better than the Spurs other starters. If that series would have come down to the match-up at center, we would have been swept. What about the 1977 championship team. Anyone remember who our back-up center was then? Hint, he was a rookie. BNM
There will always be guys like Jason Collins out there that you can pick up on a couple 10 day contracts if you have an injury. Guys who are a big body and six fouls that can help you get by if you have an injury. Hell, if it's just a temporary thing, LaMarcus can play a few extra minutes at center. Not his favorite thing, but given that he's going into the season a legitimate starting center at his side, he should be fresher and less worn down if he only occasionally has to go head to head with the other team's biggest, strongest player. Plus, you can't predict injuries (generally). If Lopez goes down, are we fucked? A little bit, but we'd be a lot more fucked if Aldridge or Lillard were injured as they are the two most important players on this roster and the team's success rides squarely on their shoulders. BNM
I think it is more about LMA not enjoying playing center and Robin Lopez averaging about 18 mins a game over his career. If Lopez can play 82 games again and play 30 mins a game (hopefully given last year), Leonard doesn't become such an issue. Also I think most posters get excited about rookies and it's nice, for me, to see the board follows up on all that rookie excitement to see if the players are going to reach that level that got posters initially so excited. Leonard in particular, there was a lot of excitement and debate about him last summer . . . a year later seems like a good time to revisit and reevaluate those expectations.
1977 championship team center, Robin Jones, all 6'9" of him. Was he not known as "The rubberband man", as he liked the song?
You sir, are correct! 6'9" rookie Robin Jones was our back-up center in 1977. He actually had a pretty solid rookie year, played 12 games for Houston the next season and then was out of the league. Anybody know what happened to him? Injuries, flash in the pan, ??? The Leonard haters are going to love this, Jones had a better rookie year than Meyers Leonard and then only played 12 more games in the NBA. Let's hope Meyers can at least top that. BNM
Had to look. However, do you realize that every year that said veteran center was in Portland, we were a title contender, and once he retired, we immediately reverted back to 1st-round fodder? Perhaps he was more important than anyone realized...
That'd be him... taking the Ponce De Leon pills, as Schonz put it. Seriously, though... who *couldn't* name him?!
Mags, but he would love to have someone like him now as our back-up center. Coop was never a great offensive player (a face-up mid-range jumper was his goto "move"), but he was an above average (but not great) rebounder and GREAT shot blocker. His shot blocking was deceptive. He wasn't quick or athletic, but he was long and had GREAT timing. BNM
