|0fficial|Meyers The Terrible

I think blaming Terry might be unfounded. Every player has said he is easy to play for and instills confidence and enables them to grow into their roles. We've all been clamoring for Terry to actually rein back the freedom he gives some of his players.

 

If I understand it correctly, he only played one year of college; his Freshman year, before announcing for the Draft. I could be wrong though...

But if I'm right, it makes it even more astonishing that he was drafted at all.

 

This.
In college, Meyers was the big fish in a little pond. It was easy for him to have his way.
Meyers entered the NBA very cocky. Not sure when and how, but somewhere it was knocked out of him, and his confidence never returned. He is now a slowly sinking ship lost in the fog.

Which reminds me of the "success" in college for many of the kids in this draft class. And how well they might do in the NBA.

 

Season School Conf G MP FG FGA FG% 2P 2PA 2P% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
2010-11 Illinois Big Ten 33 8.2 0.8 1.8 .483 0.8 1.7 .491 0.0 0.0 .000 0.4 0.5 .706 1.2 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.8 1.5 2.1
2011-12 Illinois Big Ten 32 31.8 5.3 9.1 .584 5.3 8.8 .604 0.0 0.3 .091 2.9 4.0 .732 8.2 1.3 0.5 1.9 2.1 2.9 13.6
Career Illinois 65 19.8 3.0 5.4 .567 3.0 5.2 .585 0.0 0.2 .083 1.6 2.2 .729 4.7 0.7 0.3 1.1 1.4 2.2 7.7

Terrible formatting, sorry. But appears Meyers played for 2 years at Illinois. Decent numbers his Sophomore year, 13pts & 8 rebs.

 

From draftexpress.com in the lead up to the 2012 draft:

It's like he got stuck and never moved past his stumbling blocks.

 

That is astonishing to me just how accurate and spot on that assessment is. Even more astonishing to me that our GM failed to recognize just how much work he needed, and valued him an 11th pick in the draft.

I want to see what other prospects we passed up in that draft who made it.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_NBA_draft

Not a lot (besides Draymond who everybody missed on).

 

Why? Is it really crazy to expect a 20 year old (or however old Meyers was) to eventually mature mentally? He was a kid. The talent wasn't hard to spot, and it was definitely lottery worthy. It's easy to say it wasn't in hindsight.

 

I think the most important thing to remember about Meyers is that it's not his fault.
It's not his fault that Neil over-payed for what he brings to the table and it's not his fault that Stotts gets wet from big guys shooting threes.

Leonard showcased his abilities and inconsistencies for a few years and Neil decided he wants more of it.
What was Meyers suppose to do? not take the money? become a different player?

 

I don't blame Oshey for drafting Leonard. I blame Olshey for not recognizing by the middle of his second year that he would wind up like he did, and not trading him when he could still get a 1st-round pick for him.

By the middle of his second year, I was posting that we should trade him before his value diminished further. There were already posters here arguing with me that we could no longer get a 1st for him. (Of course, there were the usual sleepy homers like eBlazer and Shilly who always oppose change and said, give him another 8 years.)

That's how far ahead of Olshey this board is. Like Pritchard, Olshey moves as fast as molasses. This is why I liked Trader Bob. He was always ahead of the curve, not behind it.

 

Henson is about the only other big worth anything (again besides Draymond) that was picked behind him. A few other guards/forwards that still play in the league and are decent, but not bigs. So the pick was probably right, just hasn't worked out.

 

His pre-draft tapes showed obvious flaws that needed LOTS of work; even on the most basic level. Just like DraftExpress noted, very accurately I might add.

I mean fuck: he can't even set a goddamn screen properly, and gets confused when he sees the painted area on the court. I still maintain that he was drafted WAY too high. Low first to high 2nd round is where he belongs.

But okay....fair enough: all things being in hindsight. In hindsight, he should have stayed in college for 2 more years and worked on his game. I think that would have benefitted him greatly.

In hindsight, what about Miles Plumlee? I haven't followed his career at all, so I have no idea how he turned out.

 

Miles is a big bucket of "feh"

 

You like Whitsitt? We hadn't noticed.

 

It seemed like he was getting a little bit better working with Kim Hughes a few years ago, but since he got fired Myers has gotten progressively worse. It's probably too late for Meyers but they really need to bring in a dedicated big man coach, especially if they draft a couple.

 

I wonder if Walton would be up for the job?

 

Sinobas, I did listen to the entire New Contract video and there are notable points. Meyers impresses me as a sincere team player who is humble, not overconfident, and quick to praise other team members. He is grateful to be a Blazer and eager to contribute. Meyers' highly positive comments about Dame, CJ, and Allen show great respect and camaraderie that would be welcome on any team.

Listening carefully, you can hear that negative thoughts about the Blazers do in fact bother Meyers. The unfortunate confounding of his potential as a big Center assigned to primarily forward duties has been a factor. With the obvious success of Nurkic in running the paint after screens as the model, Meyers has the opportunity to further develop the high percentage close shot talents--dunk, layup, hook, and rebound--that are nascent from his college days and first year as a Blazer. This is where Meyers can contribute as I visualize these last 4 regular season games.

Remembering Meyers at his best in defending against Cousins, Adams, and other bigs, and giving him the assignment to shoot at least 8 shots per game, I think that Meyers can contribute to the Blazers making the playoffs.

If we choose to emphasize what is possible, and to optimize the probability for success for the Blazers, let's try being positive!

 

Well when will you guys finally join me and demand Whitsitt's return? It's lonely under this bridge.