Meyers is absolutely a center to me, at least defensively. Maker would be a project so his position shouldn't really matter. As for plumlee, I can't see Portland paying him so might as well trade him now when his value is at it's highest. Trading him before another big is signed is pretty risky however.
Huh - totally disagree with you here. Meyers is nothing BUT a C. And Ed Davis is better suited to PF, than C - he's way too undersized, despite the fight he puts up.
Ed Davis is best suited to be a center in the current NBA. A good backup center that matches up against the opposing backups. His lack of range hurts him on offense and he's not best suited to be chasing guys off the perimeter on defense.
Offensively I can only see Davis at center, he does not have the range but he's quite good nearer the post. Leonard is completely opposite - I don't trust him much near the post but he has a very good range. It's a different story defensively but I generally don't like Meyers defensively anywhere. I think we won't keep Meyers anyway though. Someone is going to seriously overpay for him in current climate and I don't want Blazers to match anything near $10m.
I think what confuses people is that the injured guy is better suited on offense as a 4 because he gets a rash when he gets below the free throw line. He sucks defensively, but sucks less guarding bigger slower centers. So because of his offense, people say "he's a stretch 4"
I agree with this; Meyers is at his best when he's defending a big beefy center and when the big beefy center has to defend him, precisely because he has C size and SF shooting. Ed Davisis Brian Grant; yeah you can play him at center, but he's too undersized to fight big beefy centers.
Oh oh, Paul Allen found a player he wants to draft. Get ready for some draft night fireworks combined with Olshey’s world famous smoke and mirrors magic moves. Last season, the Blazers basically got out of the draft. They traded pick #23 Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, (& Steve Blake), for Mason and Pat. Then Olshey stashed his second round pick in the Euro league. Wonder which player in this draft PA & NO have targeted?
I agree. Thon is rated at about #40 in mock drafts; it definitely won't take that much to get him. Not even the future 1st, I hope. A future second (or two) and cash hopefully.
Also on Thon, he is so raw that I wouldn't expect any kind of significant contribution until his third year in the league. They might also be thinking about Prince Ibeh, a physical beast who might be more ready, but does he have the motor? (props to RR7 for taking note of him). These guys both slated for the 40's in the draft.
One new thing I got from this article; Olshey seems to think Leonard's only problem is his lack of confidence. To me, this means he will probably try to keep him.
I feel that position in the front-court is defined by your defensive assignment (if you guard the post/paint you're a C even if you play the perimeter on offense), and position in the back-court is defined by what you do on offense (if you are the primary ball-handler you're a PG even though you may guard the opposition's SG). Offensively it doesn't matter whether the PF or C plays in the paint or mid-range/perimeter, as long as their range compliments their counterpart. Meyers can't guard PFs, therefore he's a C.
I think that it's pretty much a forgone conclusion that we're keeping Meyers. I think his injury AND restricted status will keep teams from throwing big offers at him. And letting an asset - especially one with his skills - walk for nothing would be bad asset management. Also, I agree that confidence - along with over-thinking - is/are Meyers' only problem/s. As he gets more and more experience he'll improve on those issues. And even with those issues, the team often performed better with him on the floor.
