Last summer he mentioned how he doesn't believe in recruiting players and how if they want to come to the blazers, they will come to the blazers. He pretty much said he's not going to blow smoke up anyone's ass.
This ain't the old NBA. Most of these guys play together at UCLA in summer (or wherever). It don't mean shit.
I watched last night's game against Utah at my parent's house, so I wasn't able to post on the forum. However, if I did, I would have said 3 things very simply... 1) Cut Meyers Leonard. Immediately. I have NEVER NEVER NEVER seen a more useless Big in this league since Greg Oden sat on the bench with no knees. Cut. Him. Now. 2) Use the remaining money to restructure Moe Harkless' contract and give him an extension/more money. 3) Use the remaining money to restructure Mason Plumlees' contract and give him an extension/more money. Those two guys play better on their single worst night, then Meyers does during his best week. Also, see what you can do about Vonleh. He's playing very well, and deserves a look for an extended contract and more money.
Geeze guys, he's not worthless. He's a situational guy. He plays tough D on the good big guys in the league. Remember how he got in Demarcus Cousins' head? He plays Gasol tough, he plays Dwight Howard tough. I like him on the team, he gives us depth and versatility, and he doesn't seem like a guy that's going to bitch about minutes. Of course we shouldn't over-pay him in the offseason, but I don't see any reason to hasten his departure.
Yes, he's got situational skills. But on THIS team; a fast paced team that demands that EVERYONE on the bench contribute, it's not enough to be situational. You HAVE to be consistent and play consistently on a nightly basis. Sorry, that's just the way it is. 4 years in this league, and he's still not mastered footwork or consistent defense. And basic ball/court awareness.
Harkless is awful on three point shooting and FT shooting. Everyone has their weaknesses. Meyers has had a ton of good games for us this year. He's one of the best big men off the bench in the NBA. Harkless 5.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 29% on 3s, 55% on FTs in 17.5 minutes. Leonard is only averaging 4.5 minutes than Harkless and is better in almost every category. And is a better passer. Look, I like them both but people are not giving Leonard his due.
If you look at the per 36, they compare like this: Harkless - 11.6 ppg on 9.4 FGA, 6.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.2 steals, 0.8 blocks and he's shooting 48.8% from the field. He has a higher PER as well at 13.1 Leonard - 13.7 on 11.9 FGA, 7.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.2 steals, 0.5 blocks and he's shooting 44.6% from the field. His PER is 11.2 The biggest difference though, is the 4.8 fouls that Meyers is committing per 36, while Mo is only committing 2.6 fouls.
The problem is they want Leonard's role to be an outside shooter, and very few outside shooters off the bench are consistent on a nightly basis. It's too hard to come off the bench and shoot well cold. Look I am not advocating for Leonard to get more minutes right now. I like our rotation as it is. But until they figure out if Leonard is a center or a stretch 4 and let him get reps every game at just the one position, then you can't expect much else from him. Just like Joel Freeland the last few years until he got consistent minutes. Hell even Harkless has said as much about his own play the last two years. No consistent minutes, no consistent performance for young players. Vets are a different story.
the problem is this the player we need MEyers to be is NOT the player MEyers wants to be. unfortunately (for him) he isn't good enough at the other skills his dream-meyers needs to have to support his desire to be that player. couple that with the fact most other people are playing harder in the frontcourt, hitting better from outside and letting far far less lapses on D happen.
That's more about players being disgruntled with minutes and wanting court time than a correlation. Meyers started a dozen games this year, got big minutes and was horrible. He had sporadic limited minutes last year and was more effective. Players want to play and young players latch on to excuses of why it's not their performance leading to fewer minutes. Effective bench vets have accepted their not going to be an Allstar and just do their role. Although some vets can complain about minutes too.
Meyers just doesn't have defensive reaction time to guard NBA players outside of slow centers. He's useful on offense. It's not about what he wants or needs. He has made consistent improvements during his time here; but has the same major limitations as a rookie and will always have those. We have two much superior centers on the roster so he's the third string option. If he is happy with that role long term then keep him. If he won't be then it'll be best to part ways.
I think, for me, the defining moment that I came to terms about Meyers Leonard was a tweet of his I read about a month ago while on Twitter. He said something about getting practice in with Dame....in SHOOTING drills. I was like "really?" REALLY?! Shooting drills? Not...oh, I don't know...Defense? Stopping the Pick-and-Roll? Working on your footwork? Or even trying a layup? That's when I decided Meyers needed to go. Great guy. But not what we NEED. Because, as I've said before: we don't need a 7-1 SG.
