By definition, a fan would be someone who says below average players are better than what they really are. A true fan would want that player replaced with someone better
That's true, but a fan wants his team to succeed. They may, or may not actually succeed, but it foes against the definition of being a fan to root for your team to fail. Which is one reason I hate tanking, or any system that potentially rewards losing on purpose. BNM
Not liking a player and wishing they weren't on the team is not the same thing. We both want the team to succeed, but maybe I tend to think in longer time horizons than a lot of people do I guess? I want the team to win a championship at any cost, even if that means sucking for 4-5 years in a row in the hopes of drafting the next Lebron or Kevin Durant (and maybe a couple of other studs too). What I get down about is a team overpaying its roleplayers just to tread water as a second tier team. At this point the only hope I see for the Blazers to contend any time soon is some miracle consolidation trade with CJ as the centerpiece. Frankly, I admired the hell out of Sam Hinkie's plan in Philly and thought it takes some real pain tolerance to try and pull something off that audacious. Ironically enough, he might have even set them up with Simmons, but won't get to reap the reward.
Depends on how you determine "average". Problem is, in spite of many attempts to do so, there isn't a single stat that accurately captures that. In some ways Meyers is better than average in some ways, he's worse. The good news is he's still young, has shown improvement and exceeded your expectations. He still has more room to improve, and thus further exceed your expectations, and is not ridiculously overpaid given his skill set and role on the team. Given the salary cap and other restrictions on player movement, it's not always as simple as replacing someone with a "better" player. After signing Turner and Crabbe to their huge contracts, and also adding Ezeli, we had to use Leonard's Bird rights to go over the cap and sign him to his new contract. I don't remember the exact number, but I think we were down to about $3 million in cap space, maybe less. We couldn't just go out and sign someone else to a comparable contract. We also couldn't trade Meyers, because he wasn't under contract. Maybe eventually, Neil trades Meyers for someone "better", or maybe Meyers continues to improve and becomes a "better" player and outperforms his contract. In either case, Neil, Paul and Terry all thought Meyers was worth retaining at $41 million over the next four years. In his time in Portland, Neil has yet to sign anyone to a ridiculously bad contract. He let Wes, Lopez and Afflalo all walk when other teams overpaid them. He seems to have a good handle on what players are worth in the current market and manages his roster accordingly. Right now, Leonard's contract looks about right, given the current market. He didn't get close to Turner or Crabbe, who were both bench players last year, money. He basically got 8th or 9th man money, and when your 8th or 9th man is an average, or nearly average NBA player, that's a decent value. Time will tell if it was an exceptional value, either exceptionally good, or exceptionally bad. I'm hoping Meyers continues to improve and we look back on this signing three or four years from now and all agree that Neil knew what he was doing. BNM
We have a different perspective. I want the team to win every game, or at least as many as possible. Losing sucks, and deliberately losing for YEARS does not guarantee winning a title. How many teams have actually won a championship by being one of the 4 worst teams in the league year after year, after year? Did the Clippers do it? They sucked for decades, and while they are better now, that fan base suffered through 20+ years of 2o-win teams and they still haven't won a title, or even advanced past the second round, and it took a trade by a desperate, bankrupt team to get them where they are now. LeBron just became the first player taken in the top three in the last 19 years (first since Duncan) to win a championship for the team that drafted him and that took 13 years and him leaving and sucking for four more years so the team could get 3 more #1 overall picks in four years. Even in Duncan's case, it took more than just winning the lottery at the right time to grab an all-time great. It took an injury to David Robinson, at just the right time, so they could add Duncan to what was already a 60-win team. Short of a superfriends hookup (not happening in Portland), the consolidation trade you mention, along with internal improvement of our young players, is our best shot at winning a title. And, we don't have to suck for years to do it. Accumulating young assets on reasonable contracts is the key to a consolidation trade. So, if that's what your goal is, you should be happy about the Leonard signing. He's a young 7-footer on a decent contract locked up for four years. That's a tradeable asset. Definitely better than letting him walk for nothing and signing a scrub on a minimum contract to fill out our roster. BNM
I want the team to win every game, and try to win every game, and try to field a team that's capable of winning every game. The time to worry about next season starts with the trade deadline and is what we deal with in the offseason. I'd take Leonard over anyone we could reasonably replace him with at the contract amount. Plus he and I are both Illini alums.
We're all fans on this board. The beauty of this forum is that we all see the game and players a bit differently. That's what makes it interesting to me. End result is that we all want what is best for the team (that may be I the short or long term). No player is 'above average' in every category. Meyers certainly does some things very well, and others things he does pretty poorly. After watching him his rookie year, I would have traded him for a bag of peanuts. And I really don't care for peanuts. Although he's not one of my favorite players, I thing he's a stand up guy trying his best. He seems to like Oregon, and represents our team well. At the rate we signed him to, I'm happy to have him on the roster.
This. Not once in my entire time of being a fan have I ever rooted for the team to lose. Not even during the Kevin Pritchard or Kaleb Canales coached tankathons. It's just not in my nature. I can't cheer for my team to lose, even if it means an extra ping pong ball or two in some random drawing a few months in the future. I want them to win always, every single time they set foot on the court, even during preseason and summer league. Practical? Oh, hell no. Since when does being a sports fan have to be practical? BNM
I did wish for Raymond Felton to be benched or traded..there's nobody on the current roster I dislike...
Google search Meyers Leonard post moves, click videos. I only got the phrase mentioned once about how he worked on them prior to last season I think it was. NOT ONE FUCKING VIDEO OF HIM POSTING UP IN A GAME.
I think the Blazers have to share some of the blame here, but they gave him 40 million bucks so I can't feel too sorry for him.
Apparently, Beibs is going to grow go hair out long and watch a lot of film..... maybe he should check out the first Conan the Barbarian.
