Perhaps on offense, but on defense position matters - Meyers CANNOT defend PFs. Also, by starting with Davis I think there's a decent chance that Meyers' offense comes back to him. Playing with Dame/CJ, rather than bench guys who don't draw any special defensive attention, may help him get back into the groove.
He actually does have leaping ability, he just has paint-phobia. When guys come at him, he's like "eeewww, don't touch me, here, let me throw up this dainty little shot".
He's been in a funk especially since he was hurt and has been out. People have been hypercritical of him since he was drafted. The reality of it is he at worst is a capable reserve. Hes not a defensive dynamo, got over it.
And thats why he would suck at center. Position does matter when the other team is zeroing in on youre weaknessess. For example, put markeef Morris and Anthony Davis on the floor. Who is Meyers going to defend?> Regardless of position he would be stuck in the paint sucking.
People want more out of a lottery pick. He really regressed his 2nd year in the league. He always had this "oh oh, what's happening? People are driving at me, what do I do?" His 3rd year, his defense was respectable and his shooting percentages were off the charts. But that was in fairly limited time, and the guy would only shoot it when he was wide open. And teams didn't know he was a good shooter, because he was dared to shoot it quite often. Now it's no surprise and he can't take the pressure.
Using one example out of 29 teams does not make a strong argument. There are always going to be teams that don't match up well. But Meyers is far more able to guard Cs than PFs. We have tangible evidence of this. If you can play a guy in a position where he's going to be bad, or another position where he's going to be terrible, wouldn't you at least play him where he's going to be bad rather than terrible?
I don't either....for that reason. But my point is he was so bad last year for a couple of months that he was a huge liability because he lost all confidence in his shot, And now he is going to get maxed out? Confidence is a tricky thing in sports. IMO Meyers will never be a star, but he will get his shot back and will be a solid role player off the bench, for someone.
It's not just 1 out of 29 teams, though. Look at the last 5 games we've played, and the centers we faced. Horford? Maybe in the post, but Horford can dribble around him. Whiteside? Not in the P&R. Vucevic? Nah Steven Adams? Sure. Davis? No. So he could possibly guard 1 out of 5 guys on D. As I said earlier, there aren't that many Cs that he COULD guard even if he played there.
He tried to speed up his jumper, that's why he's shooting so poorly. He lost the rythym in his jumper.
It sure seems that way. Meyers seems to be both forcing and overthinking his shot. That spells disaster. Shooters need confidence and rhythm. Right now Meyers has neither. But it's clear he is in fact a good shooter, from pretty much anywhere on the court. He's just chumping it in games right now. Except when he gets a mid-range catch and shoot, when he catches in rhythm and doesn't have time to think about it. He's smooth and money for a big guy.
A long time ago there was a debate on here: who should be playing - Leonard or TRob? For all his mental errors, I was firmly in the TRob camp. No matter what, TRob played hard. Neither he nor Leonard really knew how to play basketball, but when you hustle, good things happen. To put it another way, Leonard doesn't have the skills to have an average motor.
I'm wondering if he's on some sort of pain meds for his shoulder? Or if he was on them for a while, and now he's off them? Not suggesting he's snorting oxy or anything, but any type of medication beyond simple NSAIDs not only impact the level of pain, they impact the flow of all feed back to the brain in one way or another...
I just think it's worth a try to see if he can reinvent himself again. I have seen some nice little hook shots in there sometimes. And his defense is really bad on the perimeter, seems he might be better where he doesn't have to move as much.
Slow feet and slow shot hurt his effectiveness. Combine that with what's happening between the ears equals lots of bench time. If he would focus on rebounds and defensive spacing the offense would come from extra effort. I hope he gets it together so we can root for him but I fear he is playing himself into another jersey by the deadline.
