Hell , I'd rather have Batum play PF for 10 minutes, play small ball if you just need someone to spread the floor at the PF position. Batum can defend bigger players.
He shoots too much, takes too many bad shots. 90% of the time when he gets the ball, he's gonna take a shot.
Notice that they're playing Leonard at POWER FORWARD, something I've been suggesting since last year. He's a shooting PF. So far the only thing Thomas Robinson has shown is that he's good at getting put backs, and has a decent shot but he's not the rebounder people here are claiming. Our bench as a whole is just atrocious at rebounding, we're constantly giving up ORs when they're in.
TRob has the third highest usage rate on the team behind Aldridge and Lillard. For a team priding themselves on unselfish ball movement and player movement that isn't what you want out of a player deep in the rotation.
He absolutely did not play PF. He played center. Mike and Mike even said that "it allows Joel to move to his natural position" when they were talking about Beiber being in the game. I also call bullshit on all this stretch 4 talk. It's like MFs don't know basketball when they suggest this. It is NOT what we drafted him for, and we also knew he was a project coming in. He's still a kid and this whole "he is what he is" bull crap is exactly that.
Robinson and Leonard are both projects. They provide different strengths, but very similar weaknesses. They're raw, they sometimes play out of control, and neither of them are very good defenders. The problem is that they both need playing time or they will never develop. I look at Robinson as having a better chance at being an impactful NBA player. He has a better motor, he is extremely athletic, and I think he's driven to be a good player in the NBA. I'm not so sure about Meyers.
If they're both in the game, Meyers is the PF and Joel is the C. I don't care what Mike and Mike, Stotts, or anyone else calls them. Freeland is MUCH more of a center than Leonard.
Oooh...we got a bitter McTightpanties here. Joel was playing center, he was playing the interior on both offense and defense. Why would Stotts move Joel out of the position he's been playing well at? Meyers replaced Robinson in the rotation, our backup PF. Also, the rest of your post is moronic. If you draft a guy and realize he's good at one thing and bad at another, why would you continue to try and force him to do what he's bad at? "What you drafted him for" is not relevant. Your logic there is like a poster for stupid.
Meyers played PF last night but him and Freeland have more freedom to switch the man they are guarding. Freeland is the anchor of our defense when he comes in for Lopez, regardless of who is playing alongside him.
Granted, the minutes are extremely limited, but Leonard has a PER of 15.8 with a USG rate of only 10.2. WS/48 or .232, Ortg of 151, Drtg of 105, Reb% of 16.4, and per/36 of 11/11/1.5 blocks. Anybody saying he flat-out sucks as an NBA player comes across as having an agenda more than actually studying the player. You want to know who sucks? Kelly Olynyk and his 9.7 PER on 21 USG, and he's a years older than Leonard and was supposedly "polished" after playing at Gonzaga.
12.1 PER on 13.7 USG last year in over 1200 minutes. Not great, but decent for a 20 year-old NBA center. per 36 of 11/8/1 bpg Why people kill the guy is something I just don't understand. People were wetting their pants over Alex Len, and he can't even get on the floor for an average PHX team. Anyhow, the template is set for Leonard in a few very vocal posters' minds, so anything he does is going to be ripped and mocked, because darn it, a person just can't be wrong on the internets! It took me over a year to appreciate Dre Miller, though, so that's an example of coming to terms with a players' weaknesses, while applauding his strengths.
It should also be pointed out that Leonard is an elite FT shooter for a big, and shot 55% from the field last season. I hope he gets more minutes during games when the floor needs to be spaced. Robinson is good at getting energy going, but he reminds me of a more clumsy and less-talented version of Ruben Patterson.
