Exclusive Vote: How much should the Blazers pay Meyers Leonard

If you were the Blazers GM; how much would you be willing to resign Meyers Leonard for based off what you know today? Lets assume a 4 year fully guaranteed contract with no options. Vote for the most you would be willing to pay.

 

Channgin Frye signed a 4 year, $32 million deal. I think Leonard could be about as good as Frye, so I'm fine paying him 4 years, $40 million. Anymore than that and we're grossly overpaying him.

 

should be on a contract that fits his contribution, aka not more than aminu or davis 6m per or let him walk

 

yikes

 

Good thing your not the GM!

 

I would like to get him for 8 mil per. But with the new salary cap realities, I might be OK with 10 mil per based on potential.

I am sure a lot of you can make a strong case that he won't get much better, but I don't think he is close to reaching his ceiling. He just turned 24 and for a big....... that is still young.

 

I went for $6 million. 4 years $24 million.

 

He's older than Crabbe, Vonleh and Harkless.

He's a couple months younger than CJ and 18 months younger than Dame/Aminu.

He might have small improvements but at this point he's 90% developed.

 

Yes he is taking longer to develop than we would like and l would lose zero sleep if they do not resign him. But he is still better than I ever thought he would be. I think he is closer to 70% developed than 90%. He just needs to keep getting better defending centers and he will deserve his 8-10 mil salary. Those are crazy numbers but that is what back up centers will be getting.

 

I'm not totally clear - are we paying him to stay or paying him to go away?

Put me in the Not-A-Fan category. Doesn't bring enough or show enough growth, IQ, etc. to justify him taking away a spot from someone else who also has potential such as Cliff Alexander.

Yeah, Cliff is younger and more raw and hence, doesn't get the time but I just don't see any reason to keep Leonard other than for sentimental value (and after some of his plays my sentiments are less than complimentary). I see him as a perpetual mid-to-end-of-bench role player good for another 5-8 years in the league but nothing worth paying much for.

Thus, I guess that puts me in the "just don't sign him" group.

Gramps...

 

If I'm paying $10 million per year for a backup center he needs to be proven. If I'm paying $10 million per year for potential there needs to be legit starter upside.

 

I look at this as not just the cost of signing Meyers, but what is the lost-opportunity-cost of signing him. By signing him and having him take a spot on the roster, take playing time, etc. over someone else, what are we potentially giving up?

I was willing to give Meyers his rookie contract to show he deserved more. With all the change from last year to this year, I have viewed this year as his make-it-or-break-it opportunity. In my opinion, he has shown nothing that can't be had elsewhere for the same or less money and from someone with potentially more upside.

I'll go away now. Beat that horse - twice for good measure.

Gramps...

 

I couldn't vote in the poll because no options and 4 years doesn't work for me...3 years with a team option 3rd year....9 mill a year, take it or leave it and this is only if he doesn't improve drastically from here until free agency...

 

This notion is just silly to me. And believe me, I'm on the dump Meyers bandwagon. I'm just wondering what formula you're using to get to 90%. If it's just age then your formula is flawed.

 

Meyers has been an accurate 3 point shooter. He's had stretches of solid man to man defense against big centers. But he has major weaknesses. He's way to slow to defend PF's or mobile centers. His slow feet are a problem on help defense even in favorable matchups; a center needs to help when the opposition attacks the rim. His offensive skills aren't as beneficial as his percentages suggest because he takes so few attempts. He may increase his attempts over time but I think it's primarily his slow release and slow basketball IQ which won't drastically change.

This year Meyers has been a net negative contributor on the court. We could've signed and played an average 10 year veteran PF for the minimum and had better production. That wasn't the point of this season as we wanted to see what piece were a core long term fit with Dame. We now know CJ is major key piece, Crabbe has been effective at times, Plumlee has a role, and Meyers isn't a core piece.

Dame is scheduled to earn a max contract, supermax if he is All-NBA. CJ likely gets a max or near max extension, Plumlee will be eligible for an extension this summer. We have a lot of cap room in a few months but if we pursue an upgrade at a forward spot and keep one of Hendo/Crabbe that space will be allocated to players very quickly. We might be out of cap room in just over a year with these named players and one free agent.

Plumlee and Davis have been a highly effective center duo this season. Meyers isn't as effective as either. If there's an injury or trade it would be useful having Meyers on the roster so there is a spot for him as a third string option. If we had a large hole at center and backup center there would be more incentive to pay a couple million extra to keep Meyers. But since we have no clear role for him it doesn't make sense to pay him more than cautious prices. It will be more useful to have cap space flexibility for starting and backup forwards. So if its a cheap $4 million per year, 4 years $16 million deal keep him. Maybe he just signs his $4 million one year qualifying offer which is fine too. If it costs more to keep Meyers we should let him walk. The cap space can be better used for a forward with either starter upside or proven backup production.

 

No idea what Meyers is going to get next summer. The old adage that big gets paid will likely hold true for him, especially given the new salary cap. That said, I don't know of many guys his size who play less like a big man than he does. Good guy with a nice shooting stroke, but he's not an interior presence at all. He can hurt teams with big centers by drawing his man away from the hoop like he did in the Detroit game, but he frustrates you by passing on open looks and by not playing solid D around the hoop. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get the money that PtldPlatypus was talking about, but I wouldn't be crushed if it was another team paying it to him.

 

That is a valid question. Another question is do you want to lose an asset for nothing. He does not have the value of a LMA, but he still has value to teams who want a big who can spread the floor. Can we trade him later for another asset?

I guess it will come down to who Neil thinks he can sign instead of Meyers. If his hand is not forced by another team then he can wait. If his hand is forced then you know Meyers has value, and you might want to match it and include him in a trade later on. (or keep him if he is helping the team win)