The Blazers need a player who is a scoring leader in the True Shooting % category, similar to Rudy Gobert or Kyle Korver. However, I notice that we had that Blazer in the 2015 playoffs with Meyers, who had a 63.1% TS%, good enough to place him between K Durant and R Gobert in those standings. The qualification is that Meyers had only 276 FGAs in the season, short of the 500 minimum required to be considered in the leader list. During that period, Meyers had a 42% swish3 performance and an amazing 10 of 13 (76.9%) 3PA success against MEM in the playoffs. Those are NBA leader statistics that should have led to a lot more FGA in 2015 and after. I view the decision not to develop that success as a missed opportunity. In contrast, after being out for the 2016 playoffs with shoulder surgery, Meyers has not been put back on track as a TS% threat >60% which he earlier showed possible, even under the pressure of the playoffs. It is often repeated here on RipCity2 that Meyers has had 5 years and thus his chance, but is that true? Since he has never in the 5 years had enough playing time to reach the 500 FGA that is the minimum Basketball Reference TS% criterion, the chance to rack up even more than 30 points from swish3s and use this remarkable talent to achieve Conference Championship or greater success remains untested. Now the situation has reached a low point with him only having 5 shots total in the 2017 playoffs, and that with loud Blazer fan disapproval that has severely shaken his confidence. What I think the Blazers should do is to focus on that essence of talent by restoring his confidence, hiring Chris Kaman as a Center coach, playing him the 20 min or more needed to shoot the 8 FGA that he should have per game, improve his pick and roll (instead of just pick and pop) moves, bring out his hands high (not just in the face) guarding and shot blocking, and see him score among NBA leaders. My point is that the Blazers have the essence of a successful scoring threat that Spencer Lund discussed in 2015 in comparison with Kyle Korver and Stephen Curry (UPROXX.com/Dime) who can be a major element that takes the Blazers to a championship. It just makes sense to optimize this asset!
I'd be interested in how many times Meyers had an opportunity to shoot initially, but whether due to his slow windup, his lack of confidence or indecision he doesn't get a shot off. There are some players on the JR Smith/Travis Outlaw end of the spectrum who don't have a conscience and never met a shot attempt they didn't like. There are others who, like Pryzbilla, aren't going to shoot unless wide open or within 3' of the hoop. Meyers is not solely to blame (you correctly point out coaching-up opportunities), but Meyers has had more than ample opportunity to a) earn more minutes and b) take shots within the flow in the minutes he does play. He was the only player on the entire active roster over 6'9 for the last month, we were getting blitzed by the likes of Javale McGee, and he still couldn't get burn. I'll say one thing...dude is not getting frozen out K*be-style. If he can't get a shot off in the NBA, that's a skill he must work on. If he's only going to utilize the slow-windup-trailing-3, then he's not going to get anything close to 8 FGA/g.
Meyers is the player he is going to be, there is no potential left to reach. He's a shit player stop bringing him up.
Thanks Brian. I agree that Meyers must shoot the open shot without hesitation, and find a way to get the swish3 off more quickly. These things can be coached. I see his shot as deliberate and, at this best, amazingly accurate. But his motion is reminiscent of a lion paw motion, and that draws strong criticism from some Blazer fans. Let's find a way to keep the accuracy, eliminate the slow windup and/or pumpfake, and ramp up towards more 3PA that can lead him to 15+ points per game contributions and TS% excellence again.
Here are the top 20 in True Shooting Percentage. Who, of the available players would really help us out immensely? 1 Tyson Chandler, PHX 47 27.6 .703 7.9 17.2 10.6 12.5 33.2 22.6 16.63 116.7 3.9 2 Lucas Nogueira, TOR 57 19.1 .682 15.4 16.8 9.2 8.5 16.8 12.7 15.51 79.7 2.7 3 Rudy Gobert, UTAH 81 33.9 .681 9.0 13.6 15.6 13.6 29.5 21.8 23.31 520.5 17.4 4 DeAndre Jordan, LAC 81 31.7 .673 9.8 11.8 14.3 13.3 34.6 24.2 21.84 431.2 14.4 5 Montrezl Harrell, HOU 58 18.3 .662 12.6 8.7 16.8 8.3 14.2 11.2 19.23 122.8 4.1 6 Kevin Durant, GS 62 33.4 .651 18.4 8.5 26.7 2.2 23.6 13.6 27.68 530.7 17.7 7 Salah Mejri, DAL 73 12.4 .650 6.4 18.4 9.7 11.9 28.4 19.8 14.86 57.5 1.9 Brandon Bass, LAC 52 11.1 .650 7.6 10.6 18.2 8.6 16.2 12.5 19.71 70.7 2.4 9 Dewayne Dedmon, SA 76 17.5 .645 10.9 15.1 11.6 11.2 30.6 21.1 16.00 107.1 3.6 10 JaVale McGee, GS 77 9.6 .642 4.0 9.4 21.6 15.9 20.1 18.1 25.26 161.7 5.4 11 Nikola Jokic, DEN 73 27.9 .640 24.2 11.5 24.0 11.6 27.2 19.5 26.40 453.3 15.1 12 Clint Capela, HOU 65 23.9 .638 8.0 11.0 18.6 12.5 24.5 18.5 21.48 251.8 8.4 13 Kyle Korver, ATL/CLE 67 26.2 .635 15.4 9.7 14.3 0.5 11.0 5.8 12.17 43.7 1.5 14 Nene , HOU 67 17.9 .630 10.5 11.7 18.6 8.6 17.0 12.8 18.91 148.7 5.0 15 Otto Porter Jr., WSH 80 32.6 .628 11.9 4.3 14.3 5.1 17.1 11.1 17.35 266.3 8.9 Amir Johnson, BOS 80 20.1 .628 22.2 12.2 13.3 8.3 17.0 12.7 15.03 84.7 2.8 17 Dwight Howard, ATL 74 29.7 .627 9.7 15.8 18.1 15.0 31.7 23.5 20.89 337.8 11.3 18 Isaiah Thomas, BOS 76 33.8 .625 18.5 8.7 32.8 1.9 7.0 4.4 26.59 597.9 19.9 19 Andre Iguodala, GS 76 26.3 .624 33.5 7.4 11.7 3.0 13.1 8.3 14.37 115.3 3.8 Stephen Curry, GS 79 33.4 .624 22.2 10.1 29.5 2.7 11.4 7.3 24.74 541.1 1
That's a bit like saying, "let's find a way for McCollum to keep his scoring prowess, add great defensive ability and become a tremendous passer." Yes, that would be great, but it would also mean him becoming a very different and much better player. Coaching/developing isn't magic--the talent has to be there and talent is 95% of where a player is going to go. If Leonard shot faster and took contested shots, it's very likely his scoring efficiency would drop a lot. Because shooting faster is harder. Shooting with a hand in your face is harder. It's not a coincidence, IMO, that last year Leonard had a great scoring efficiency but also had a low number of shot attempts. It's far easier to run high efficiency if you avoid taking any difficult shots. I'd love for Leonard to "figure it out," but it's unlikely that there's some eureka moment for him to go through. It appears to me that Leonard doesn't have the wiring to process and react quickly enough in NBA games to put his various tools to good use. "Deliberate" describes everything he does, not just his shooting motion, and that's too slow.
The opportunity cost of Meyers playing 20 minutes a night is less Nurkic and Vonleh not getting the burn he's earned. Yeah, fuck that.
The reward of shooting over 63% TS, the highest of any Blazer in that season, and 77% of swish3s, is worth the opportunity cost, IMO.
Let's not pretend Meyers is the greatest shooter in the history in the NBA. No one is going to shoot even close to 77% from 3 when given more then a couple handful of attempts. If you think so then you are setting yourself up for disappointment.
