Great Meyers Leonard interview after tonight's game (link)

[Natebishop3]

Granted. And it's difficult for the guy guarding him to do the same. It's also difficult for any shooter to offensive rebound most times (unless you are doing the Moses Malone/Zach Randolph bit). LaMarcus isn't getting any on his fade-aways. Anybody besides Brian still want him to stop shooting those? Certainly you don't want your big guys jacking up shots without a game plan to have someone else in position for a board.

Lest I be misunderstood: I'm not a big proponent of big guys playing away from the basket in general. I'm sure Stotts is more comfortable with it than I am. But this notion that any player should never do the things they do best, just seems illogical. Meyers is a good shooter. If he's open, he should shoot. That's basketball.

I'm not against jump shots, but I would prefer a better balance of inside and outside play. LA took way too many outside jumpers last night. I'm also not against a big man shooting a three here or there, but Love has games where he shoots 11 three pointers. I just find that ridiculous. I'm not a fan of it. I guess the Wolves can get away with it because they have Pek, but then again they're under .500 so it isn't working that well for them.

 

[BBert]

I'm not sure I even want Meyers shooting threes. LaMarcus doesn't, except in rare circumstances. This hysteria some people have about Meyers shooting threes seems premature and, well, hysterical. He's a good shooter though. Stotts wants him to shoot. He should do what the coach wants.

 

[BBert]

Just to add: The coach also wants him to play interior defense, box out, and rebound. He needs to really focus on those things, no doubt. He also wants him to set screens on the pick and roll / pick and pop. Unless they are running the pop at the three point line, he shouldn't have that many chances to show off his supposed three point shooting skills.

 

[magnifier661]

Someone really needs to tell Ryan Anderson that he's a Power Forward, and he has no business shooting three pointers . I don't give a fuck how good he is at it (4-8 last night), it's just not right. Same with Channing Frye (4-6 last night). And Kevin Love. Get your azzes under the basket where they belong, and stop hurting your teams by making the most efficient shot in basketball at a high rate.

The thing all three of those bigs you mentioned have in common.

They are on lottery teams. Just sayin'

Well Frye isn't now, but they have two low post players

 

[BBert]

The thing all three of those bigs you mentioned have in common.

They are on lottery teams. Just sayin'

Well Frye isn't now, but they have two low post players

We will bomb them into the stone age.

 

[magnifier661]

We will bomb them into the stone age.

I'm a fan of bigs that can shoot. I just worry about the other things. Leonard is just terrible with help D and gets pushed out too much. I wished he did the pushing!

 

[VanillaGorilla]

Granted. And it's difficult for the guy guarding him to do the same. It's also difficult for any shooter to offensive rebound most times (unless you are doing the Moses Malone/Zach Randolph bit). LaMarcus isn't getting any on his fade-aways. Anybody besides Brian still want him to stop shooting those? Certainly you don't want your big guys jacking up shots without a game plan to have someone else in position for a board.

Lest I be misunderstood: I'm not a big proponent of big guys playing away from the basket in general. I'm sure Stotts is more comfortable with it than I am. But this notion that any player should never do the things they do best, just seems illogical. Meyers is a good shooter. If he's open, he should shoot. That's basketball.

I don't think the problem is him rebounding his own misses.. It's the fact that since he's an outside player, he won't be near the hoop when other people shoot.

 

[e_blazer]

Which is why Freeland is in the game when Meyers is.

 

[Natebishop3]

I'm not sure I even want Meyers shooting threes. LaMarcus doesn't, except in rare circumstances. This hysteria some people have about Meyers shooting threes seems premature and, well, hysterical. He's a good shooter though. Stotts wants him to shoot. He should do what the coach wants.

The hysteria isn't so much about Meyers shooting threes, it was about Meyers spending all summer working on his three point shot. Most people were upset that he spent his free time working on threes instead of working on a post game or learning how to defend/rebound better. Freeland spent the summer becoming a gritty post player. Meyers spent the summer doing his best impression of Dirk Nowitzki. That's what pissed people off.

 

[BBert]

I don't think the problem is him rebounding his own misses.. It's the fact that since he's an outside player, he won't be near the hoop when other people shoot.

Gotcha. Unless he's setting a screen, he shouldn't be out there, IMO.

 

[MARIS61]

No. He had 4 boards, 1 block, 2 points in 10 minutes. He looked alright.

Solid defense. That should make MM smile.

 

[Boise Blazer]

http://www.columbian.com/news/2013/dec/23/blazers-leonard-gets-a-lift/

As Joel Freeland emerged as a dirty-work guy for the Blazers bench, Terry Stotts gave him the minutes Meyers Leonard had last year.

Freeland is one of Leonard's best friends on the team. As Leonard has worked to climb back into Stotts' rotation, he credits Freeland and others with helping keep his head on straight.

"Obviously (assistant coach) Kim (Hughes) who's been around the league for years ... said to stay positive and work as hard as you can," said Leonard. "Joel, who obviously kind of went through the same thing I did last year so he said stay positive, you're going to be fine."

Being jumped in the rotation helped a light a fire under the 11th pick in the 2012 NBA draft.

In what Leonard says was the team's first full practice in about a week and a half on Friday, Stotts mentioned to him that he would be back in the rotation.

"I wanted to help that second unit out with a little bit of spacing," Stotts said after Saturday's win over New Orleans. "Meyers has a good understanding of spacing, he sets screens, he and Joel (Freeland) play well together."

Stotts said that he was pleased with Leonard's play Saturday. He grabbed four rebounds, blocked a shot and made his only field goal attempt.

Robin Lopez, too, was happy with Leonard's contributions in Saturday.

"We were all very happy with what he did. He was active, he got some boards for us. He was confident with his jump shot and he protected the rim," Lopez said.

Leonard's teammates have been reinforcing that confidence, sometimes stopping practice when he doesn't shoot open shots.

Patience has been the key for Leonard as he has worked to try and get back into the rotation of the team tied for first place in the Western Conference.

Looking at the numbers, it's easy to see why Stotts thought the offense with second units needed help.

Lineups with the Joel Freeland-Thomas Robinson tandem have been scoring at a rate that would come in as the 23rd ranked offense in the league according to NBA.com at 99.1 points per 100 possessions.

That's a precipitous drop from the Lopez-Aldridge front court that is scoring 113.1 points per 100 possessions.

Defensively, those second units with Freeland and Robinson haven't been very good either, surrendering points at a rate that would be worst in the league.

The Blazers have been better than their opponents when Freeland is on the court, but the same cannot be said for Robinson as the Blazers have been outscored by 10.4 points per 100 possessions when he is on the court according to NBA.com.

With Leonard in the front court alongside Freeland, the hope is that those units don't have such a dropoff on offense, according to Stotts.

Now that he's back on the court, he vows to keep the same work ethic that landed him back in the rotation.

"But one thing's for sure, I'm going to be in there working," he said. "Continue to grind it out and try and get back in the rotation, but also physically working out as hard as I can, busting it no matter what."

 

[dviss1]

I don't think the problem is him rebounding his own misses.. It's the fact that since he's an outside player, he won't be near the hoop when other people shoot.

Meyers Leonard isn't even a player yet so how can we classify him as an outside player?

 

[magnifier661]

Meyers Leonard... You will only hope to contain him!

 

[mook]

Robinson hasn't done a lot this year to cement his role as a bench player. I'm pretty happy to see Stotts address this fact by throwing Leonard back in the mix. And frankly Leonard did pretty well last night. Not fantasitic. But I'm glad the coach is willing to show that if you aren't carrying your weight your job is up for grabs.

 

[BBert]

Defensively, those second units with Freeland and Robinson haven't been very good either, surrendering points at a rate that would be worst in the league.

The Blazers have been better than their opponents when Freeland is on the court, but the same cannot be said for Robinson as the Blazers have been outscored by 10.4 points per 100 possessions when he is on the court according to NBA.com.

With Leonard in the front court alongside Freeland, the hope is that those units don't have such a dropoff on offense, according to Stotts.

I expected that last sentence to say 'defense', not 'offense'. But since it's 'according to Stotts', I shouldn't be surprised.

 

[jwhoops11]

I just want the Kid to rebound. With maturity I think the rest of his game will come. He's big enough, and strong enough to get it done, but his lack of court awarness is alarming! Every time Portland would play Freeland and Leonard together against the Pelicans, New Orleans would go on a momentum changing run because of the 2nd chance points they were getting.

Thomas Robinson also lacks serious basketball IQ at this point in his career, but dude rebounds the basketball. He should continue to get Meyer's minutes until Leonard can improve.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

I just want the Kid to rebound. With maturity I think the rest of his game will come. He's big enough, and strong enough to get it done, but his lack of court awarness is alarming! Every time Portland would play Freeland and Leonard together against the Pelicans, New Orleans would go on a momentum changing run because of the 2nd chance points they were getting.

Hmm, are you sure? They played together for the first 5 minutes of the 2nd quarter, during which time NO outscored Portland 13-11, getting exactly two second chance points (Davis free throws at 7:30 left in the 2nd). Then they played together for 5 1/2 minutes to start the 4th quarter, during which time Portland outscored the Hornets 16-13. There were four second chance points there, at the beginning of the quarter, interspersed between 8 Blazers points. Oh, and during that 4th quarter stretch, when NO admittedly got several offensive rebounds, Leonard got three rebounds of his own, scored, and blocked a shot. What did Freeland do? Nothing.

So no, though it's the common storyline, Leonard's rebounding was not particularly problematic during his last game. As mentioned several times, he got 4 boards in 10 minutes, which is an excellent ratio. Freeland was actually responsible for some of the offensive rebounds that NO did get, as much if not moreso than Leonard.

 

[KingSpeed]

This team needs defense, not 7'1" guys jacking up 3's

He can do both. If he's jacking up 3s, he can easily be the first one back on defense. I'm not sure how shooting threes makes you a bad defender.

 

[magnifier661]

He can do both. If he's jacking up 3s, he can easily be the first one back on defense. I'm not sure how shooting threes makes you a bad defender.

That's easy to explain. Most the time you shoot threes, your man has the best opportunity to run out. While you are up in the air, they can go towards the basket. If they get a defensive board, because you are a center and aren't in position to rebound, you can't get back on defense. Dunk for opposing center

It's basketball 101

 

[Mediocre Man]

Meyers Leonard... You will only hope to contain him!

On the bench

 

[jlprk]

It's Christmas Eve and I have music on.

Yea, lo Meyers. Meyers, Meyers, oh Meyers.

Meyers the lion. The lionlike. The lithe leonine.

Pray for the cub. The claws to grow.

Oh Meyers, one more year. One more. You will save Israel.

Yes you will, yes you will. Ohh wahooooo wahoooo wahooooooooooo

(repeat 99 times)