I think with the draft and if we keep Napier like we should, we got better in the back court, no more just Dame and CJ. Now the challenge is Forwards, small and Power. But I also think Power Forward could be just giving Leonard and Caleb a chance. Discuss
I think the Blazer will be fine at PF. The development of Zach Collins, and hopefully re-signing of Ed Davis takes care of that. If Chief could find consistency, SF would be fine as well, but that is the big question. I think as long as the Blazers re-sign Nurk & Phys. Ed, and the young guys continue to work hard this offseason, the future is bright. This is a young team. Dame will be only 28. If the Blazers could add a dead eye shooter off the bench, that would be huge IMO. I like Pat and Shabazz, but don't see both making the final roster. The deal is, they both are way too inconsistent on their shooting. Blazers have to get that FA who can come in and hit shots. A MUST.
Meyers and Caleb are the missing piece, then stick all the players we don't really want at Small Forward
Ok, I am not a Meyers hater, I’m really not, but he got “a lot” better this year and he just doesn’t belong, he’s a liability on defense and his only real nba skill (shooting), he isn’t aggressive with it, has an incredibly slow wind up and shot, he’s not quick and his natural instincts on a basketball court is just awful. I’ve posted the numbers a few times and Zach averaged like 4 and 2 with a horrible 3point percentage and efg%, he showed flashes but he’s still a long ways away from being a solid nba pf/c. Now his bbiq is much higher than even current day Meyers so with work he can get there. Nurk / Collins improvement is where the Blazers will get better, and maybe the rookies can provide some bench scoring. It still seems like GS / Houston and wherever Lebron plays will be quite a ways ahead.
Meyers played closer to the rim last season in the few minutes he played and he rebounded better than ever...I can't complain about his improvement in that area at all.....I hope he builds trade value before the mid season deadline....as to the roster...we're still in audition mode..I expect a few changes before training camp...I think Big Ed will find a bigger paycheck and starting role somewhere else next season. I'd love to have him back but he's going to cost a lot more than we've been paying him.
We don't need "Re-thinking", we need one of the following: 1) Serious Luck - Like Rudy Gay taking less $$ to play for the Blazers, or Neil getting another backup who breaks out with us a la Rolo (SuperMario?). 2) PRAYER!!!!! Pray that Mo --> Good Mo all season long Pray that 11 PER Collins --> 18 PER Collins Pray that Trent doesn't completely suck ass at defense, and become the spacer that Dame and CJ need to operate. If we get very lucky, or all of these prayers are answered, we will be a very, very good team - maybe even 3rd seed, again, but this time by a wide margin. Notes: No amount of prayer is going to help Simons become Vin Diesel, but there is hope he can help in spurts. As for Leonard, sigh, exhale. He is below the Biggie on the depth chart, so he won't be playing for us. You can have Alex Len and Gortat for nothing right now, and they are much better than Leonard, so he won't get traded, either.
My position on Meyers is that the Blazers ruined whatever chance Meyers had at a decent career by playing him exclusively at the three point line instead of making him play primarily around the basket and then taking advantage of his shooting range second. Unless Stotts pulls his head out of his ass Meyers needs to go play for a different coach so he can try to salvage his career.
I apologize to all posters for bringing this up, but the Blazers didn't ruin anything on this front: Comfortably ahead at the End of the game at the end of the season, and we put in Leonard. We ran several screens which resulted in Biebs in the low post against a player nearly a foot shorter than him. Here was Biebs chance to destroy! What happened over the next series of Blazers possessions was one of the worst things I've seen. Biebs crouched down, couldn't back him in, and ended with a FADE AWAY brick. He literally could have palmed the ball holding as high as he could, dipped, and shot the ball right over the defender. This is a situation all of us on this board dream about, being in the low post against someone a foot shorter. Biebs actions were, frankly, not one of a basketball player. So, what was the result of this? If I have my timeline right, we immediately drafted 2 bigs, and Biebs moved below both of them on the depth chart - appropriately so.
Great example. Meyers was better in that situation as a fuzzy faced rookie than he is today. He's been rooned I tell you. Rooned.
Meyers is what he is, took him years to stop being totally useless on defense but he can score inside and out and gives us one of the best offensive players we have in his position
Well he played about 40 minutes (I know that's exaggeration) last season....Stotts loves 3pt shooters and didn't play him so I'm guessing he wasn't beasting in practice. When he did play he played closer to the rim and rebounded...he was better than the previous 5 seasons in short samples but really, the guy didn't break a sweat....Blazers have 52 million in the kid....he's smiling all the way to the bank even with that 3 minute shot release
Hahaha Sometime what makes a joke hilarious and priceless is not the joke itself, but the joke in the context of the one telling it. Lol
