What is a bit confusing about Vonleh is he was starting to play better and the two best stretches the Blazers have had in the past two seasons were when Vonleh was starting and matched up with Nurkic.
I feel like Vonleh is being held out on purpose. Like they’re hoping to diminish his value and then sign him to a cheaper contract. It just doesn’t make sense to me that his playing time dropped so significantly. Either that or he’s still hurt.
I agree it doesn't make sense, but it would make less sense to not even play a guy, just so you can resign him and then play him in the future. It has to be that he is still hurt, or Stotts doesn't think he is playing well, or trying to trade him - which is my guess.
Why would we need to showcase a rookie? His value should be the same as it was in June. If they’re holding Vonleh out to drive his value down, that’d be pretty unethical, maybe even illegal? Imagine being in Noah’s shoes. Why would you want to stay with someone that’s fucking with your money like that? I don’t agree with this, but I think he’s trade bait. He’s one of our few secondary players that still has some value.
Meyers, Mo and Noah are definitely being shopped in my view.....not worth risking an injury before the deadline...if they don't get moved, Noah might crack the rotation again after the break.
I don't think it's likely, but I'm hoping Olshey will be able to ship out any combination of ET / Meyers / Moe and get a decent return.
After not playing against DEN, Meyers Leonard's PER is once again at 20.0. Thank you rest of the league. Way to make our guy look good! Quick Neil, trade him before Terry fucks up and plays him again! BNM
before he was benched altogether Meyers had a butterfingers game and lost the ball out of bounds on 3 back to back possessions....since then he's logged about 2 minutes in garbage time once...they weren't risking that again
Sad for this great dedicated fan base to be strapped with mediocrity for so long. Paul Allen has to break this cycle as to not be labeled like the Bengals Mike Brown. Is it Olshey? Don't be so quick as he can only deal with players that are here or want to come here. Which doesnt include Superstars that want the piece of the Big market for more money. Still Olshey has made horrendous decisions and should have traded for draft picks where we might find a Superstar.
When Meyers actually plays he tends to contribute positively. He's actually been better this year than in years past. That's what makes him being glued to the bench kind of embarrassing.
Who’s he going to play over? The guys ahead of him are still better players, even with Leonards improvement. Our only hope is some other team sees it that way as well.
This is why I'm sure he's asked for a trade....just a guess but I think he's wanting a new landscape...Portland fans have been pretty brutal to the young man. He got booed for literally no reason at home....the world saw that and that had to be last straw for him
You don't need conspiracy theories about trades to explain why Vonleh, or Leonard aren't playing. They're just simply behind other players in the rotation. Vonleh is behind Aminu, and Collins at the 4, and Leonard is behind Nurkic, and Davis at the 5. Additionally we don't blow out teams often enough for either of them to get junk time minutes.
I agree. Dude can contribute. Blazers are stuffed at the 4 and 5. He should be playing at the 4 with Collins. I think he is gone.
People who seriously believe a coach would hold out a player he thought could help him win (i.e keep his fucking job) just to help at the negotiating table must be high. Now, is it possible Stotts is making a mistake? Absolutely. But these guys in the locker room know who should be out there, and with their middling record you can bet your ass you'd hear some grumbling that would make it to the press that they weren't committed to winning if the perception was that guys were being held out for salary negotiations in the summer. I like Vonleh well enough (Meyers not so much) but I'm guessing there's been ample discussions between the assorted coaches about lineups and who should be out there and they're probably just not good enough.
