No reason to cut Freeland yet. Still have to pay him even if we do and we have an open spot (basically) for a Center if you want one as we are going to cut the non-guaranteed contract of T. Harris. We don't need to pay a Center (that we may or may not bring in) more then the 2.6 MIL we have to spend.
How do you explain these Bigs in SL then? Olynyk Plumli Zelli Drummond Henson Jones Morri Nicholson Valanciunas
I think he was referring to a release. You can spread out the payback to 4 years; which would save us around 1 mil in cap space this summer.
His offense isn't really the issue. It's his (complete lack of) awareness on the defensive end. Zero (positive) impact at that end so far.
I know what he was referring to. But we are still paying him and we don't need the cap space now. You can decide that for next summer if you want.
That said, I'm stilling willing to wait it out and see where he is at the end of this year before passing judgment. I'd say the odds are kind of against him if history is any indicator, but he's still got a chance to make strides.
Jeez people, again? Same people on both sides, same arguments. Oh well, I guess it's best to keep all the repetition in one place. Personally, I'm fine with Leonard. He's young, big and on a reasonable contract ($2.22 million). His trade value is as low as it will ever be. So, might as well suck it up and see what he can do. Seriously, it's not like he's THE key to our playoff run. A lot of people here seem to think LaMarcus Aldridge refuses to play center under any circumstances. He's never said that. After playing an entire season next to 6'9" J.J. Hickson, Aldridge (quite reasonably) requested a solid, big body, a legitimate NBA starting center, that could go head-to-head with the other team's starting center for 20 - 25 minutes a night so Aldridge wouldn't be subjected to all that wear and tear. And Olshey got him that. I seriously think Lopez will average at least 28 MPG, possibly as much as 30 MPG. Give Meyers 6 - 8 minutes in the second quarter. If the game is close down the stretch, Stotts will have the option to go big, with Lopez, or small with Aldridge at the center. Again, Aldridge doesn't mind sliding to center occasionally, especially if the other team goes with a small line-up. If the game isn't close, give Meyers some more minutes in the second half to help him continue to develop. No point in cutting him at this point. If he doesn't pan out, we can always not pick up his 3rd year team option, but right now we pay him and he counts against the cap whether he's on the roster, or not. Might as well see what another year of development can do for him. I also think adding Lopez to the roster will help Meyers develop. Last season, he went against Hickson in practice. Now, he will have a legitimate 7' starting NBA center to bang with in training camp and practice to teach him a thing or two. That will help him develop much more than going against the undersized, no defense Hickson. Worst case, if Lopez goes down to injury and we're in the playoff hunt, pick up a cheap veteran big man or D League call up. I'm not sure why there is so much emotion surrounding Leonard. In his current role, at his current state of development, he's just not that critical to the team's short term success. BNM
How about T-Rob? While its obvious Meyers Defensive awareness is atrocious, he is not a terrible on ball defender. He did a fine job bodying up big men last year in the regular season.
http://www.nba.com/rookie-ladder/ for the entire group Olynyk - 18 PPG, 7.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.4 blocks. Drummond got 15.7 points, 15 rebounds, 2.7 blocks, 2.7 steals
I guess it wouldn't be the end of the world, moving Aldridge to center and having TRob as the PF, then using Claver to back up at PF.
so we are talking about sample sizes of 1-4 summer league games, and disregarding shot attempts very enlightening
im pretty sure drummond is better than leonard, but its nice to have 3 summer league games to prove it
We could look at last season too I guess. And you're right Drummond is hands down much better than Lillard both offensively and defensively.
Shows you how over rated centers are in protecting the rim. Drummond had great stats for summer league yet neither he nor his teammates had a clue on how to stop Reggie fucking Jackson as he went off for 21 points in the 4th quarter. Most of which were at the rim.
