Start Vonleh

[blue9]

Please keep Aminu at the 4. I do not want him at the wing.

Back-up PF.

 

[Eastoff]

If Vonleh continues to evolve into the kind of two-way player we need, I'd love to see him starting at PF. Move Chief back to his more natural SF position. His D is as good as Harkless' and even though his form sucks, he's a better 3-point shooter.

But when we need a stop. I'd love to see Vonleh at the 4 with Ezeli at the 5 and Aminu at the 3. If you have enough timeouts left to go with offensive/defensive substitutions you could even add Harkless or Turner at the 2.

Plus, we could also run a good small ball defensive unit with Noah at the 5, Aminu at the 4 and Harklesss or Turner at the 3.

Vonleh's improvement gives us so many more options. That's the difference a single good two-way player provides.

BNM

Turner at point, Crabbe at 2, chief 3, Noah 4, Ezeli 5. Almost a balanced offense too

 

[Pinwheel1]

Back-up PF.

I am OK with that. But I like him better at the 4 than the wing.

 

[blue9]

I am OK with that. But I like him better at the 4 than the wing.

Me too. Hate it when he's SF...but again, maybe off the bench he'd be better at either position. But with Turner/Crabbe there's no reason for him to ever play SF.

 

[H.C.]

I'd personally not move Vonleh to the starting lineup.
I'm not sure I could name a better C/PF duo coming off the bench.
^
something I never thought I'd say coming into the year.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Love the confidence he showed.

It's just one game.

 

[B-Roy]

I like Vonleh and his offensive presence coming off the bench.

 

[blue9]

I like Vonleh and his offensive presence coming off the bench.

I get that, too. But then I think about how his presence could totally open up the floor for Dame/CJ. They're still playing without a low-post presence, or even a true 3rd option - it's looking like Vonleh could provide them with both. And with Turner, Crabbe, and Aminu off the bench (along with one of Dame/CJ) I think we should be fine with offensive fire power...hopefully Turner finds some semblance of an offensive game sooner rather than later.

 

[illmatic99]

And serious props to Terry for rewarding the guy after his solid preseason. Not easy playing a guy (hell, 2 if you count Plums) on a rookie contract over a guy with a 40 mil contract

 

[Schilly]

And to think so many jack asses wanted to cut him... learn some patience and how progression actually works.

 

[PDXFonz]

Teams are always in the market for floor spacing bigs, therefor Meyers will have some value at the deadline. It is going to be interesting watching Vonleh's development unfold.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Reposting from Quick's peeping Tom article:

Added Turner: “There’s a beast in him that is going to continue coming out. Once he taps into it and understands who he is and how good he can be, he will be a force to be reckoned with.’’

McCollum sees the same future for Vonleh.

“He’s strong as an ox, and once he figures out how strong he is and how good he can be, he is going to be a terror in this league, just because of his skillset,’’ McCollum said.

He seems to be figuring it out.

BNM

 

[KingSpeed]

Vonleh looked soooo confident out there, not just that he belonged, but that he was there to dominate.

 

[riverman]

Vonleh is destined for great things...he's not hesitating and he's got mad skills. A really rare PF and only 21!!! my oh my!

 

[SheedSoNasty]

Even from summer league till now. What happened? He was unimpressive in summer league, where he should have been able to dominate against non nba talent. But he doesn't even look like the same player at all right now.

He was hurt during summer league for a while. That being said, that preseason game where he dominated the Suns and basically won us the game felt like the turning point for him. It's been a culmination of all the work he's put in and I'm glad to see that that switch may have finally turned for him.

 

[Scalma]

When I saw him take it right at KD without hesitation Friday I was like ok, we might have something here.

 

[Sarni]

Love the confidence he showed.

It's just one game.

It's not really one game, he was also good in preseason and showed exactly the same attributes. Still early days but signs are very promising. He's going to be an asset if he keeps developing, especially with apparent lack of available promising power forwards. Parker and Porzingis are two of the best prospects in this position and neither of them will be available for a trade, basically the best PF you could get in a trade in the next 1-2 years look to be Kenneth Faried and Kevin Love, which is frankly not that great for us, and would much prefer to develop internally. With Aminu, Vonleh and Davis we have options.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Vonleh is still so young and there are going to be ups and downs. Last night was a good up

 

[Sarni]

Also, with players like Vonleh who came into the league at a very young age it's easy to forget how young they are. At 21 he's younger than some of the players drafted this season and he's been in the league since 2014, he was 19 when he played his first NBA game. He's still 1 year younger than Kris Dunn, 2 years younger than Buddy Hield and Denzel Valentine, he's the same age as Jakob Poeltl - all will be rookies this season.

The same goes for Harkless really. He's only 23 but been in the league for 4 years.

 

[Blazinaway]

Vonleh is still so young and there are going to be ups and downs. Last night was a good up

nice to see him appear to e "getting it", now of we could only get that from Meyers

 

[STOMP]

Love the confidence he showed.

It's just one game.

yup. Last night was the best I've seen him look as a Blazer. The form on his J was so improved. He went up without hesitating or the hitch he had last year. The Utah announcers I was blessed with listening to said he'd really been working on it this offseason. So important a guy of his size isn't limited to just playing in the paint on Offense.

I don't know if he should be a starter, but if thats a true sample of what he's going to provide from here on out no question he'll get plenty of minutes.

STOMP

 

[TBpup]

A hearty welcome to the bandwagon to all the impatients who were vilifying him as a young 20 year old last season. His ability has always been there. He was the best player in the Big-10 as the youngest Freshman in the league. Then he shot well in limited minutes his rookie season. That ability didn't go away but he was not playing against men. It was just going to take time. He is as strong as an ox, can shoot, can post up and is a very versatile defender. None of those things are new. What is different is his mindset and confidence which is not unexpected for someone who was so young.

Even from summer league till now. What happened? He was unimpressive in summer league, where he should have been able to dominate against non nba talent. But he doesn't even look like the same player at all right now.

Part of that is that he was 'The Man' in Summer League. He's not ready for that yet. Even thought it was his 3rd year in the league, he was still the youngest player on even the Summer League roster. I'm guessing that doesn't happen often. Now that he is with the regular squad, he is not the focus and can take advantage of space created by all the attention on Dame/CJ and also has more confidence to take advantage of mismatches when he gets them.

His mini Michael Jordan shrug after his 2nd hook shot was classic!

 

[Nhawz]

His shooting is comparable to Myers. His post game is far better than Meyers. His defense is far better than Meyers. His IQ is far better than Meyers. His motor is far better than Meyers. His playing time should be far greater than Meyers. If he continues to progress through out the season, I see no reason why Olshey does not field offers for Meyers at the deadline.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

If he continues to progress through out the season, I see no reason why Olshey does not field offers for Meyers at the deadline.

I see a reason--because there might be none.

 

[Scalma]

I see a reason--because there might be none.

10m for a guy like Meyers really isn't much. There will be offers.

And no, Vonlehs shooting isn't comparable to Meyers. At least not yet.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

10m for a guy like Meyers really isn't much. There will be offers.

We can only hope.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

Even from summer league till now. What happened? He was unimpressive in summer league, where he should have been able to dominate against non nba talent. But he doesn't even look like the same player at all right now.

It's the hair!

 

[The Professional Fan]

I remember when CJ started to blossom and show a completely different level of confidence during the Memphis series. You could just tell he finally "got it" and was no longer hesitant. I see that in Vonleh now. Stemming from the preseason even. Something different. He is absolutely our biggest X-factor this season.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

Reposting from Quick's peeping Tom article:



He seems to be figuring it out.

BNM

Maybe him just reading those quotes helped?

 

[Blazer Freak]

And to think so many jack asses wanted to cut him... learn some patience and how progression actually works.

SportsTwo at it's finest lol. In reality I think Vonleh is our starting 5 next year. If you remember the regular season game we won against GSW last year we played our current SL but with him at the 5 and they had absolutely no answer for it.

He is the prototype of the NBA's future 5. He's is the key to us contending because he can take the Draymond-esque role Plumlee plays currently and take it to an entirely new level with his solid offensive game. I think the Blazers have been hoping this would happen because while I love Plumlee, it'd be mighty hard to swallow handing him over $15M a year for his limited game. Dame/CJ/Mo/Aminu/Vonleh is the future!