The Meyers Leonard Thread

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Natebishop3 said:
Define "better 2nd rotation player"....
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Someone that the team can trust to anchor down the defense and play 20-25 minutes at center in spurts without the team concerned that this player won't be a detriment on D.

Even a Mark Bryant or old Cliff Robinson type (Not the starter Robinson).

I don't want to be like "Oh God" if Lopez goes down or gets into foul trouble.
 
magnifier661 said:
Someone that the team can trust to anchor down the defense and play 20-25 minutes at center in spurts without the team concerned that this player won't be a detriment on D.

Even a Mark Bryant or old Cliff Robinson type (Not the starter Robinson).

I don't want to be like "Oh God" if Lopez goes down or gets into foul trouble.
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And those defensive anchors are usually so bad on offense that the other team can completely ignore them and use their man to double. Joel Przybilla, as much as I loved the guy, was horrriiiiible on offense. He couldn't catch a pass to save his life. He was a terrible free throw shooter. He had no mid-range game to speak of. He could dunk and that was it. Meyers already has a lot of the tools to be a very good offensive center, he just needs some work on his defense. He's only 21. Give the guy some time for pete's sake.
 
Natebishop3 said:
And those defensive anchors are usually so bad on offense that the other team can completely ignore them and use their man to double. Joel Przybilla, as much as I loved the guy, was horrriiiiible on offense. He couldn't catch a pass to save his life. He was a terrible free throw shooter. He had no mid-range game to speak of. He could dunk and that was it. Meyers already has a lot of the tools to be a very good offensive center, he just needs some work on his defense. He's only 21. Give the guy some time for pete's sake.
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I would rather have someone worse on D than O as the bench rotation player. I don't know if you remember, but our team was dead last in Points in the Paint Defense. I would much rather have a player that at least can box out, set good picks, rotate and protect the rim; than one that can hit the outside shot and set awful picks.

If we had a younger "Joel Pryzbilla"; I would 1,000 times trade that in for a Meyers Leonard.
 
magnifier661 said:
I would rather have someone worse on D than O as the bench rotation player. I don't know if you remember, but our team was dead last in Points in the Paint Defense. I would much rather have a player that at least can box out, set good picks, rotate and protect the rim; than one that can hit the outside shot and set awful picks.

If we had a younger "Joel Pryzbilla"; I would 1,000 times trade that in for a Meyers Leonard.
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That was the whole point of acquiring Lopez. He's the guy who boxes out, sets good picks, rotates, and protects the rim. You can't say, "well if he gets hurt we're screwed..."

Yeah, the same could be said for Wes. Are you excited at the prospect of either Barton or Crabbe getting more minutes?
 
Natebishop3 said:
That was the whole point of acquiring Lopez. He's the guy who boxes out, sets good picks, rotates, and protects the rim. You can't say, "well if he gets hurt we're screwed..."

Yeah, the same could be said for Wes. Are you excited at the prospect of either Barton or Crabbe getting more minutes?
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I would be more comfortable if Wes gets injured and we have CJ, Crabbe and Barton as the rotation players; than if Lopez goes down and we have Leonard and Freeland as the rotation players.
 
people already have their mind made up, they are going to see what they want to see at this point
 
magnifier661 said:
I would be more comfortable if Wes gets injured and we have CJ, Crabbe and Barton as the rotation players; than if Lopez goes down and we have Leonard and Freeland as the rotation players.
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Maybe you aren't paying attention... Barton is ridiculously bad. He makes Leonard look like a ten year vet. Crabbe could actually be a very good rotation player, but we don't know yet. He reminds me of Batum during summer league. He hasn't found a rhythm. If Wes got hurt and CJ slid into the starting lineup to replace him, our bench would look pretty fucking bad again, so I don't think you understand how important Wes is to our current roster.

Your hatred of Leonard is seriously blinding your ability to objectively judge his talents.
 
Natebishop3 said:
Maybe you aren't paying attention... Barton is ridiculously bad. He makes Leonard look like a ten year vet. Crabbe could actually be a very good rotation player, but we don't know yet. He reminds me of Batum during summer league. He hasn't found a rhythm. If Wes got hurt and CJ slid into the starting lineup to replace him, our bench would look pretty fucking bad again, so I don't think you understand how important Wes is to our current roster.

Your hatred of Leonard is seriously blinding your ability to objectively judge his talents.
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I have been paying attention; which is why I put Barton third on the rotation; but there is a good chance that CJ, Crabbe, Wright, Barton and even Claver could put in decent numbers by committee at SG. AT center, we have only Leonard and Freeland (and he's a PF). If Lopez goes down; we are seriously fucked. I don't care how you try and convince me otherwise. Leonard is hardly a player I would be comfortable starting. Freeland is even worse.

LMAO that you think I'm a Leonard hater. I really don't want to be. I wish the dude would shut my ass up, but he hasn't done anything to make be feel otherwise. I also think it's funny that you call me a hater, yet get pissed that people call you a hater for wanting Aldridge traded. (BTW, I never called you an Aldridge hater)
 
magnifier661 said:
I would be more comfortable if Wes gets injured and we have CJ, Crabbe and Barton as the rotation players; than if Lopez goes down and we have Leonard and Freeland as the rotation players.
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Frankly I'd prefer to unload Freeland, probably have to use the new CBA stretch provision and just cut him, and then see if we can pickup a better backup PF/C
 
Blazinaway said:
Frankly I'd prefer to unload Freeland, probably have to use the new CBA stretch provision and just cut him, and then see if we can pickup a better backup PF/C
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I'm down with that too. If we could give around 4-5 mil (adding another 800-1M) to a free agent offer; I think that would be enough money to find a decent rotation center.
 
Blazinaway said:
Frankly I'd prefer to unload Freeland, probably have to use the new CBA stretch provision and just cut him, and then see if we can pickup a better backup PF/C
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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.
 
Rhal said:
I don't get the hoopla about making a big deal about this because of summer league. SL isn't to kind for big and its more of a guards game and its nothing like actual NBA ball. Its fun to watch if you'v got a talented guard/wing on your SL team but to grade bigs on SL play is like grading how an apple tastes just by how it looks, shouldn't happen.
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How do you explain these Bigs in SL then?

Olynyk
Plumli
Zelli
Drummond
Henson
Jones
Morri
Nicholson
Valanciunas
 
KeepOnRollin said:
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.
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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.
 
BlazerBeav said:
In fairness to him, I'd say this summer league roster is hardly one that is doing him any favors. With our real roster, he gets left alone. With this one - he's one of the more serious offensive threats. Lillard can create opportunities for him, whereas this bunch is just playing hot potato.
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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.
 
magnifier661 said:
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.
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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
 
magnifier661 said:
Someone that the team can trust to anchor down the defense and play 20-25 minutes at center in spurts without the team concerned that this player won't be a detriment on D.

Even a Mark Bryant or old Cliff Robinson type (Not the starter Robinson).
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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.
 
HailBlazers said:
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.
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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
 
3RA1N1AC said:
im pretty sure drummond is better than leonard, but its nice to have 3 summer league games to prove it
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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.
 
magnifier661 said:
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.
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you heard it here first, drummond is better than leonard

write it down
 
magnifier661 said:
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
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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.
 
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