Okay, so I have a question: why is Caleb looking so much worse this SL than last (when he made the all-tournament top five)? Suggestion: after Zach and Pat C. went down in the first SL game (that we lost, right?), the team was re-constructed with Swanigan as the focal point. Add to that the fact that he had a veteran PG who was ready to feed him the ball (Gutierrez) and everything was set up for him to look good. But he still had the same flaws, it was just that (a) he got lots of touches, and (b) he was playing the 5, which he is only slightly too slow for rather than the 4, which he is totally slug-like for. ALSO: he got a lot of jump shots, which he is pretty good at, rather than all post ups, which he lacks the lift for. THAT SAID: he actually isn't hurting us as much as you'd think, given the complaints. He's part of the starting line up and that's been dominant. He hustles, gets rebounds, passes unselfishly. When he sets a pick, it's a fucking PICK. It's just that he can't score and he's a turnover machine. What does this mean for him? I think he'll be kept (he's got a guaranteed contract) and told: look, you have the Summer to lose a bunch more weight (hey, we know you can do it because you've done it before) and work on moving your feet, or you're a training camp cut. He's not going to replace Ed Davis. So who is? Presumably the idea is Zach Collins. Well, but he seems a bit fragile, and that leaves us with 2 useable bigs (given that Stotts has just given up on Leonard, probably for good reason). I had a thought that maybe it could be Tristan Thompson, in a switch of terrible contracts for Evan Turner. But (a) Stotts and Olshey are certainly talking up a big role for Turner this year, and (b) Thompson doesn't just have the whole Kardashian thing, he also regressed horribly last year, the suggestion being he has recurring leg injuries and has lost his lift. If so, we want no part of him. So... who? Who's a mobile big who can switch on guards and set picks and rebound?
Swanigans offensiv IQ is horrible, he tries to do to much dribbling and trying to create his own shot when the Team need him to run a simple Pick and roll or pop. He can rebound but that's it. Otherwise he has no nba skills to me
He would have to undergo some really massive transformations to ever be playable. His defense is pretty horrible and he seems like 4 steps too slow on offense too (both literally and BBIQ wise). Right now, he could have a 40% 3 and probably not be worth playing. Maybe if he loses a ton of weight these things get better, but I feel like he's gonna be a liability on defense either way.
I was checking through the DRPM rankings to see if there were any diamonds in the rough we could target and I noticed this (DRPM is the bold #) Goes to show something (probably that DRPM is not a very good measure).
Swanigan hasn’t been in shape since last summer, nor have I seen any improvements. He doesn’t deserve to play, but probably will because he was a first round pick. I think Collins is Davis’ replacement. Ideally we’d sign Beasley or someone with a similar profile to play next to him.
i think it is leonard. fits the criteria of spacing and opening up the post for collins. if this is the case, i hope they have talked kaman into returning as a coach. he was a kim hughes protege, and seemed to be able to keep myers out of his own head and be semi productive.
meyer's two most productive seasons (14-15, 15-16) coinsided with chris's two years here in portland.
Yep. Swanigan won't get much playing time. Meyers 6.0 will get a chance at redemption. Maybe. We will see nurk and collins mostly at the 5...collins sonetimes at the 4...Aminu at the 4 and Hark will have minutes at the 4 too...blazers will use some small lineups to make up for lack of depth in the front court.
If you listen to Olshey, you know what's going to happen to Biggie... Pat did it, Shabazz did it, Crabbe did it, now Olshey is giving Layman a chance... at the "3rd year leap." They'll keep Biggie on the roster until the end of the 3rd year. If he hasn't "made the leap", he'll be released. Until then, he'll be here unless he is needed to make salaries match in a trade. From his SL performance, it's hard to belief Biebs hasn't passed him back in the rotation.
what we could also do is just give Zach 30 minutes a night. So let him play next to Nurkic as well as behind him. It’d limit the amount of minutes we’d have to give to undeserving players like Meyers and Biggie. And as mentioned before, we can give Harkless minutes at the four, or even Turner
I'm terrified, but I could see it. The only reason I think no, is that Stotts seems to dislike Meyers as much as the fans in the Moda... I went to a game in the 100s and some fan kept yelling, "You can do better, Meyers!" Over and over he does this, in this booming, sort of vowel-elongated shout. Until finally, from the court, Meyers shouts back, "Shut the hell up!" and everyone laughs. I don't much like the guy as a player or a person even, but I felt bad for him....although the shouting guy was right.
I agree with this and Jake has more potential than any of the other three you mentioned imo, plus he plays a position of need.
The light just might come on for Meyers? If he's still playing summer in LA and getting more comfortable down low against bigs, who know? I remember it took Illgoskus (?) at least 5 years to develop any inside game.
Swanigan is a 3rd string project on a rookie deal...towel waiver for the most part...see some garbage time in blowouts..he may make the leap next season and become a Kurt Thomas type player
