Who should be our starting frontcourt?

Davis and Plums are fairly interchangeable on D and rebounding, but I like Plums' ability to create and pass a bit more than Davis'. Because of that, I'd rather he play more in lineups when Dame is not on the floor.

 

Davis should start; he's the best defensive big we have. Since we have a less than ideal defensive starting backcourt we need at least one good defensive big man. Vonleh is way too young; he might even have some DNP's. Plumlee can't be paired with Davis as a starter since neither can shoot. Out of the above choices Meyers is thus the PF by default.

The funny advantage to a Plumlee/Meyers duo is they look similar at a glance to defenders. Meyers gets a few open threes when opponents mistake him for Plumlee.

I do wonder if Aminu or Harkless would be best at PF. Meyers got burned multiple times last night on the perimeter. Guards and Pierce were draining open threes over him when he got switched. He is going to have a lot of problems guarding those players or mobile 4's this year.

 

Was physically getting sick watching Leonard get torched by Pierce on the perimeter. In the regular season, think Terry would move him to 5 and bring back Hark/Aminu to get after the stretch 4s.

 

Vonleh got abused by Pierce as well. I think in a lot of games we will at least close with Aminu or Harkless at the PF against smaller lineups. Nice to have that flexibility. I think they are a better option than using Wright like we did last year.

 

Not worried about Leonard or Vonleh getting torched by a future HoF'er playing the stretch '4'. If Aminu and/or Harkless is available, we match up small. Won't happen in the regular season so no biggie. There is a lot to like about the length of Plums/Legend and as they get more confidence and court time together, I expect a nice growth curve.

 

Davis for sure.

I like Vonleh. I think he has a higher upside than Leonard. I would go with a Davis/Vonleh front court.

 

Yeah it will be interesting if we do much small ball with Aminu/Harkless at PF. With both out obviously we were hurting for wings last night. If they do play PF it may be hard to keep our bigs happy with minutes.

 

The basic problem is that we have only one player, Lillard, who would start for any team. All others are faux starters. Olshey picked up other teams' solid 6th and 7th men in order to not pay much. They weren't starting for a reason...each has weaknesses to cover up. The Golden Future will solve that.

 

To start opening night? I'm interested in Vonleh but he needs to be a regular backup first. It can be horrible for a young players development if they're in too big of a role too soon and fail.

 

I read the question as who should start now. But, if you said by the end of the year or next year, Davis and Vonleh might be my choice too. They seem to play well together, but I'm not sure Vonleh is ready to start now, but he will be at some point.

 

If that's the case; then shouldn't we be very cautious of extending Meyers? Some fans seem to think he needs to be extended now for even $11 million a season for fear he could be offered the max next summer. I'd rather wait because I don't want us to be stuck with a backup earning eight figures per year.

I could certainly see it being possible Davis and Plumlee are best as a center duo and Aminu best as a starting PF this season. Then Meyers is playing 15mpg most of the year. Or maybe by the end of the season Vonleh had won the starting PF spot. So much is unknown. Yes Meyers shoots awesome percentages but it's always been on a tiny 15% usage rate so it has almost none of the positive effects a Dirk/Durant/Ray Allen player have had.

 

A first round pick, top11 protected?

 

Funny, I was just thinking the same thing as I wrote that. If Vonleh ends up progressing more quickly than Meyers, does that change the price you pay? I think it could.

If Meyers is aggressive and progresses quickly showing confident shooting, solid defensive rebounding and good paint defense, then he is a lock. But, if he is timid on his shot and still confused on post defense....and Vonleh become a more confident scorer and defender, then I could see the Blazers letting Leonard become a RFA and just matching. Blazers could end up in an Kanter squeeze where they have to pay Leonard more than they may want to.

In the end, if Vonleh progresses and applies pressure then it is all good upside. Likely they keep both because both can play 4/5 and you can always trade Plumlee or Davis if you really need to.

 

I'm not sure Davis is the long term solution. I think the team's hope is Leonard/Vonleh, which would be killer if both progress as both can hit the outside shot well and both can score at the rim. Leonard is the better defensive rebounder to go with Vonleh on the offensive boards. That would be the perfect storm.

 

Vonleh is our only frontcourt player who has the potential to learn to post up. He has the weight and the youth. Our coaches should immediately, before he becomes another midrange Aldridge, yell at him constantly to post up.

But I wouldn't start him now. I'd make this year his boot camp.

 

This is my long-term thinking, and it's why I think Meyers should start at C with Davis as our PF. Vonleh, from the little I've seen, is still quite a ways off from starting - I'll say that he won't earn it this season. Next season would be the soonest he could be ready. Bring Vonleh along slowly as our back-up PF, but it's time to put Meyers in the starting C position - sink or swim time for him.