i'd have to say that I agree with thought of others in here that says you can see that he has the desire to get better and hopefully the work ethic. I believe that his athleticism alone can make him an average defender.
All y'all haters are crazy. Writing him off at this point is like declaring the season over after five games. Oh wait -- we have people who do that too...
This. I completely understand posters saying he looks lost, especially on the defensive end and that he may or may not have the necessary instincts to become a top defensive center. But to call him a "big stiff with no offensive game" and comparing him to Joel is just completely ridiculous. This is basically the opposite of where Meyers is currently.
Myrs Lynyrd is exactly the inverse of Joel: soft touch offensively, no defensive presence. That's cool and fine; even Joel learned to dunk well.
You can't teach instinct, but you can teach court awareness. They aren't the same thing. You can teach defensive positioning and rotations. Right now Meyers looks lost because he has no idea where he's supposed to be on the court on defense. Coaching and experience can help him learn where he needs to be. Assuming, as you say, he lacks instincts, he may never be a great shot blocker, but there is more to defense than blocking shots. Theo Ratliffe was a great shot blocker, but a very poor man-to-man defender. And, I already pointed out JaVale McGee blocks a ton of shots, but his instincts work against him and actually make him a horrible defender and defensive rebounder. I'll probably get killed for this comparison, but I think Meyers has the POTENTIAL to be a Sheed-like defender. Of course, Sheed was a more polished, more experienced player when he came into the league, but early in his career, he was much more advanced offensively than defensively. Like Meyers, he had great length and athleticism, but he was never much of a shot blocker, and was a poor rebounder for his size. He didn't really become known as a good defender until later in his career - and again, it wasn't about shot blocking, it was about good positioning. I remember how hard Sheed used to make Tim Duncan work to get his points. He was constantly keeping Duncan from getting deep post position and forcing him outside of his comfort zone. If Meyers can just do that, get stronger, take up space and keep his opponent from establishing deep post position, it would go a long way toward making him a decent defender. Those things can be taught and the added strength will come as he grows into his body. He already works hard in the weight room and has the frame to easily support another 15 pounds of muscle. BNM
meyers leonard has played more than 20 minutes in 20 games this season his stats in those games 9.7 ppg 6 rpg 1 apg .65 bpg on 59% fg shooting (81/138) 76% ft shooting in 27.4 mpg here are the 6 players putting up those numbers this year (9.7/6/1/27.4 mpg) http://www.basketball-reference.com...comp=gt&c6mult=1.0&c6stat=&order_by=ws_per_48 heres a list of centers getting 8/4/1 in 20 mpg or more http://www.basketball-reference.com...&c5comp=gt&c6mult=1.0&c6stat=&order_by=fg_pct hes not good yet, i agree, but to write him off is foolish imo
No one scouts him, no one doubles him I haven't, but look at Kwame Brown's rookie numbers when playing 20+ minutes. I bet they are similar. or Eddy Curry or Joe freaking Klein or Chris Mihm
What does that have to do with anything? Plus, Kwame's Brown's career PER is lower than Myrs', and was lower his rookie season, and only Eddy Curry's was higher. Curry then got a near-max contract after his rookie deal. The amazing thing is that of Brown/Mihm/Curry/Lynyrd, only Myrs has a net positive in Ortg/Drtg as a rookie. Brown -9 Curry -4 Mihm -8 Lynyrd +6 I'm not sure what happens on this board at times, but really, it does get a bit embarrassing when the same people are shown the same stats over and over, yet they continue to ignore them, and even double-down on their clearly biased opinion.
I am squarely in the 'Leonard will be very good' camp, but my girlfriend keeps saying that he looks stupid. She works with autistic kids, so it's even funnier in context. She walked in the room and asked "how's the **** tonight?"
Well, that's not very comforting in terms of the care of our autistic/developmentally disabled kids. You're joking, right?
She is very caring and has devoted herself to helping children with challenges. But, she has a dark sense of humor. She would never say such a thing when anyone was around who could be offended, I too have a dark sense of humor, so it's a good match. Never actual bad feelings, just evil phrasings o make each other laugh. It's a way to release also, she is so emotionally involved with her kids.
No, I get it, and you have to have an outlet when you deal with that sort of thing each day. I'm just not sure you should have shared that here. Myrs comes across as a pretty bright guy when he's interviewed.
I think I will not speak of her again, she would be pissed if she knew I repeated her joke that was meant for just me.
It came about from a missed defensive assignment, he hung his head a made a face very similar to a particular boy.
