The off-season is a time for exercising our comedic chops. There will be a better analysis-to-joke ratio once the season begins.
Understandable, and I am willing to accommodate the language difficulty. To translate @Strenuus' initial response to a non-humorous version, you naming Meyers as one of our best players in 15-16 before his injury seems unrealistic. Looking at the advanced stats, he was 8th on that team in VORP, 8th in BPM, 9th in WS/48, and 11th in PER--hardly numbers indicating that he was one of our best players. Taking the stats out of it, he did appear to be improving over the course of the season in terms of his offensive efficiency, but his rebounding remained typically sub-par for a player his size, his defensive awareness was consistently lacking, and his willingness to play offensively anywhere inside the perimeter was non-existent. On top of that, I seriously doubt your suggestion that the fans' support for him will have a significant impact on his play. To paraphrase Genesis 4:7 (surely you appreciate a good Torah reference!!), if he does well, will he not be accepted? If he is in fact so mentally fragile that the fans' opinions have any effect on his play, then even if he were supported by the fans, there would be plenty of other outside influences (media, opposing players) that could just as easily impact his mental state. He needs to develop internal confidence in his abilities, not have confidence come from external sources.
And if he does not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for him, but he must rule over it. So you are saying that Meyers is going to kill it (Gen 4:8) this year?
With "sin" being representative of "fan disdain", the metaphor is wholly applicable. I don’t know. Am I Meyers' keeper? (Gen 4:9)
Thanks everyone for joining us for this year's Verses, colloquially known as The Bible-Off. Drive safe!
This thread certainly took an interesting turn. Although, now that I think of it, I have seen Meyers at church, so there's a connection there.
It's funny, though, because Gen. 4:7 was my son's "verse of the day" just a few days ago, but (the first part) really does seem incredibly fitting to the notion that the fans' opinion of Meyers is somehow driving his play, when in reality it's (obviously) his play that is driving fans' opinion of him. Yeah, we pick on him. A lot. But beneath it all is a desire in all of us for him to prove us all wrong and play really well. As it stands, based on what he's owed and what he's produced, I want him traded. But if he stays and somehow adjusts/improves his game is such a way to be productive behind Nurkic, I will be undeniably thrilled and perfectly content to have him as a part of the rotation.
Yeah, honestly, I don't think athletes who can be violently thrown off their games by such trivial things as fan sentiment would make it through all the winnowing levels required to reach the NBA (a stratosphere that a vanishingly small percentage of hopefuls reach). I've said several times that the reason I believe Leonard is "bad" (by NBA standards) is that he just doesn't have the wiring to see NBA actions quickly enough. He has processing time, which is too slow. It's probably just a split-second too slow and faster than the vast, vast majority of college/high school players, but a beat too slow for the very cream of the cream.
All I got to say there no more excuses he had a whole off season to improve his game on both ends of the court.
If we start the season with him, then I want him 100% healthy so there is no excuses. He either plays the way we know he is capable of or we move him. Period. He has had chances to prove himself. This should be his last here. I personnely hope he succeeds here with us. We could use someone his size with a shooting touch.
sigh. Both of the Meyers replacements, Biggie and Collins, have excellent shooting touch. If Biebs isn't healthy, then our rooks will get minutes. To me, that's preferable to all 3 splitting minutes with Davis.
