I think he will be at least a journeyman, with the potential to be a lot better. People keep comparing him to Joel (yeah, they're both white and tall). Meyers is already better offensively than Joel, and will probably never be as good defensively. But here's the thing, Joel was the definition of a journeyman. He was never close to being an all-star, never came close to making all-defense, only finished top 10 in blocked shots once, never finished in the top 10 in rebounds, was injury prone AND didn't even become a halfway decent NBA player until his 5th season at the age of 25. Before that, he was considered an injury prone bust. Joel's first four seasons in the NBA his PER was 5.9, 10.2, 7.9 and 6.7. He wasn't a good rebounder and he wasn't a good defender. I've always been a HUGE Joel fan, but even I have to admit he pretty much sucked big time his first four seasons. I can't believe those who think so highly of Joel are ready to give up on the 21-year old Meyers Leonard after a single season. Let's give him a chance to develop and see what happens. BNM
When I watch games this season Leonard frustrates me more than just about any other player. I find so many things he does wrong, over and over and over and over, it's painful. I remember playing ball in elementary school, and a lot of the kids had better instincts on defense than he does. Sometimes I just find myself staring open-mouthed at the TV completely speechless over something he just did or didn't do. But he's absolutely a project. Calling him a poor man's JP is a very poor comparison. He's already a better athlete, a better passer, and better shooter than Joel ever was or ever will be. Joel couldn't dunk alley-oops, he had to gather himself first. And Joel couldn't shoot 3-pointers. I think Leonard has really suffered by not having any veteran bigs on the team who actually know how to play defense. When you practice against JJ Hickson, or Freeland, or Jefferies every day, it's hard to see how anyone could improve their defensive instincts. Not impressed with our big-man coach either, if in fact we even have one. The team warned us it might be like this and he certainly hasn't exceeded expectations this year, but I'm still far from giving up on a young, athletic 7-footer who both works hard and has some offensive skills that can't be taught to most of the 7 footers in the NBA. When I hear him talk he also seems intelligent, so I think he's capable of learning and improving on the areas he flat-out sucks at right now.
meh, Meyers will be fine, he needs a few years. Dont you remember how we laughed at LA picking Bynum? Same story
before reading through this whole thread, I had a similar thought as well. Comparing Leonard's rookie year to Bynum's second--they're not all that different statistically, except that Leonard is more efficient offensively, and Bynum is a significantly better shot-blocker.
Perhaps I'm the only one who doesn't remember Tyson Chandler being hailed as a "tough guy" hard-nosed defender 12 years ago when he was drafted...
I remember when people thought Eddy Curry was the better center. I also have to laugh at those who are posting that the team needs a Howard or Chandler-type defender in the paint. Well no shit, every team in the league could use a Defensive Player of the Year who owns the paint. Expecting a rookie who didn't grow up in the paint to be that guy right now is simply ridiculous and reactionary. Which is pretty much this board always, so I'm fine with that reaction.
I have watched Myers play live several times and on TV many more. I am just totally unimpressed. Opposing offenses just drive the lane again and again and get to the rack unimpeded when he is out there. Sure he seems like a sweet kid, but he also seems to have zero basketball IQ. When I compared him to Pryzbillla what I meant was that, at best, he's a big stiff with no offensive game. Hid defense is laughable. A project has to have a glimmer of hope. I just don't see it. All of that said, the best analogy I have seen in this thread was Travis Outlaw. I hope that is the case.
You have no idea what you're talking about. Myrs Lynyrd may look lost on defense, and is lost quite often, but calling him a 'stiff' is laughable. He runs the floor and dunks, he dunks off of alley oops, and he actually has a decent offensive game from the mid-range. If anything, he thinks too much on defense instead of just using his athleticism and reacting. That's what I see. An experienced post defender who doesn't have the muscle memory yet to let his extremely athletic self be athletic on defense.
In 4 or 5 years he'll be an AS in the west. I loved the pick before we even made it and I love it even more now.
Meyers is fine. As others have said he just needs time. He's only 21 and his body is still developing. He has a nice shooting touch, he can shoot free throws, he runs the floor, and he has good athleticism. His problems are defensive positioning, footwork, lower body strength, and court awareness. All of these issues are fixable.
You can teach defensive principles, but you can't teach a desire to play defense. Look at JJ Hickson, for example. I'm not saying Meyers won't improve, but he probably won't ever be a "good defender"
You think he doesn't have a desire to defend? Because I don't really see that. Apathetic big men defenders don't average over 5 fouls per 36 minutes. Look at the stats for guys like Abdur-Rahim or Z-bo, and you see very little in the way of fouling. It's a lot easier to just get out of the way, let them score, and try to impress the coach with a flashy score on the other end. He has the desire, IMO. He likes hitting people. He likes blocking shots. He seemed perfectly fine with banging with Howard the other night. He just absolutely sucks at it. He's completely incompetent as a defender, and I think he knows it and hates it. Look at the way he hangs his head after every foul or blown assignment. Look at the way he's always talking to the coach. He doesn't look indifferent--he looks like an idiot, true, but not an indifferent idiot. He has none of the body language of a Zach Randolph or Damon Stoudamire. Those guys just shrugged when they got routinely abused and told themselves it didn't matter because they were too special for that shit to matter. Leonard exudes none of that.
I'd also add that I'm going to be glad to see Hickson gone. He's a lousy role model for Leonard (and, sadly, Aldridge, who also is kind of a follower). Hickson is definitely an indifferent defender in the Stoudamire/Randolph mold. He gets his headlines and his big minutes for his gaudy rebounding and his high percentage scoring, and it sets a tone on the team that I really don't like. You can point to his being an undersized center, but he's a great athlete and even when put up against other power forwards he still sucks. Leonard is a lousy defender because he just doesn't know how. Hickson is a shitty defender because he just doesn't care. Hickson wants to cash in on a big contract by putting up great rebounding stats. Dude will never be a starter on a second round team.
