I was one who was wondering if Leonard could stay in the NBA. Fact that he has jumped T-Rob in the rotation for now gives me hope that there is something in his game that could bring value to this team. Good for Leonard for not getting his head down about Joel jumping him and instead took a page out of Joel's playbook and worked even harder in practice. Hope Leonard stays in Ptd this summer and devotes the entire summer to improving his NBA game. Can he transform like Joel . . . I think he's got a shot. then again I may change my mind again in a month . . .
I'm curious why you're so down on Lin. I can understand if you say "salary" or "I like CJ better", but the dude's been better than Mo at everything Mo does for 3 years now (aside from 3pt%, where he's caught him this year), and in greater roles. Yes, defensively, he's a sieve. He's not a #1 (or 2, or 3) option. But as a 6th man/1st guard off the bench?
I think TRob was starting to get away from what gets him minutes. Play decent defense and rebound the basketball. On that road trip he was so out of control on the offensive end, he really needs a better understanding of what will "butter his bread" so to speak. If he'd just be a physical presence and board like crazy he'd be getting 15 consistant minutes a night. My theory though on why he didn't play was the match-ups. Playing Ajinca and Anthony Davis together was a match-up nightmare for our bigs. Those guys are both so long, TRob wouldn't have been very effective I don't think.
He needs to be a Brian Grant type player. The points he gets mainly are from hustle plays, rebound and play intimidating defense. We've seen spurts of this, but nothing with consistency. I still think he's over thinking his game. All he needs to do is relax and let the game come to him. He definitely has the motor to play at that level every night.
Stotts has said Meyers will continue to play instead of TRob, that it was a role he earned earlier in the week, so it has to be more than a one game matchup.
Disappointing that we didn't see TRob in the Pelicans game. He was exactly what we needed, what with everyone missing rebounds and box-outs. I believe TRob could have cleaned up a lot of the boards that our team was missing.
That we did, despite not addressing needs on the floor. We are lucky that Lillard is coming out of his shooting slump.
Clearly Stotts was unimpressed with Robinson's lack of body slams this season. As Stotts is always open to trying new and unconventional tactics, Leonard's recent play intrigued him.
Here's one man's analysis; although I wouldn't give too much credence to the stats at the end, as they are based on so few minutes by Leonard. http://www.blazersedge.com/2013/12/23/5240496/playbook-thomas-robinson-benched-meyers-leonard
And here's some more stuff. Yes i know it's from Ben Golliver, but it's pretty much all statistics and quite interesting: http://www.blazersedge.com/2013/12/23/5239294/why-was-blazers-f-thomas-robinson-benched
Interesting numbers and video. Hopefully Meyers will get the brick hands softer because I'd really like to see him rebound and block.
All of the advanced team stats show TRob's unit as poor, but every one of his minutes is played without Aldridge. Freeland and every other player on the team plays with LaMarcus. If the team is worse without their best player is that a knock on TRob or a complement to Aldridge? I'm fine with the change as obviously the second unit is underperforming and it worth trying a different combination. I just find those stats very misleading.
It is simple IMO, Trob got his chance over almost 30 games and frankly has not improved and is playing mediocre Bball, I think now Leonard gets his chance. Overall for a team doing this well we have too many "projects", someone needs to go.
One thing I like about this move is it gives us a player who is deep on the bench with game experience. If there is an injury or something TRob has been part of the rotation and will be able to step back into his role. So now we have 10 players who've got rotational minutes and when CJ comes back that'll be 11. It could help if we need that depth later on in the season.
