“It’s important to stay ready, mentally and physically,” says Leonard, averaging 2.4 points and 2.7 rebounds in 8.9 minutes a game. “Not only being a young player but a young big. It’s been tough.
“Last year, I had a few more minutes than what I maybe deserved. The minutes were just there for me. This year, I got hurt early, Joel played well and I was out of the rotation. That was tough from the get-go.”
“He has handled it well,” Stotts says. “He continues to work hard. He’d like to play. Like we’ve told all the young guys, you never know when your number will be called. He’s staying ready, but there are certain times when frustration sets in. That’s human nature.”
It’s at the defensive end where Leonard needs the most work. At times, he is a foul machine during his limited time on the court. His instincts with help defense are lacking. Part of it is his youth (he turned 22 in February) and dearth of experience. Leonard didn’t play organized basketball until his freshman year in high school. He averaged five minutes a game as a freshman at Illinois before blossoming into a star as a sophomore, warranting the Blazers taking him with the No. 11 pick in the 2012 draft.
“There are a lot of things defensively,” Stotts says. “You rely on your big guys to help, whether in pick-and-roll situations or penetration, discouraging shots at the rim. The goal is that he’s able to react without thinking. That takes time; it takes experience.”
So it’s a Catch-22. Leonard needs time on the court during games to get better. He can’t get time unless he shows improvement.
All the while, Leonard has become a whipping boy for the Blazer faithful, who have belittled him on social media and sports talk shows and through website posts.
Asked how he feels he has been treated by Portland fans this season, Leonard pauses for a long time, searching for the right word.
Mixed?
Short pause. “Mixed,” he agrees, seemingly reluctantly. Another pause.
“I’ve shut down social media for a reason,” he says. Before he did that, “I heard it all (on Twitter). I’ve heard, ‘F you, I hope you tear your ACL.’ I’ve heard, ‘You’re a bust.’ That’s the reason I don’t look at that stuff anymore, and I probably won’t during a season. It’s just not worth it. I don’t ever listen to that stuff or buy into it, because mentally I have to stay locked in and confident in myself, or that will just kill me.”
