Vonleh should play more

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Vonleh's defense is quite good actually. Not just for a 2nd year player but for any PF in general. I think that is clearly his best attribute right now.

Sadly his rebounding is quite poor and his offense is virtually non-existent. It's hard for him to get more minutes in Terry's offense when they have to play 4 on 5 with him on the floor. I think his minutes are fine for now. (Think Batum in 08-09)
 
Leonard still provides better floor spacing - and as reliant as we are on guard penetration, that's more important than what Vonleh can bring at this point.
 
Sadly his rebounding is quite poor and

I agree with most of what you said, but I don't think his rebounding is that bad. Granted his stats say 8.7 (per 36 min) as a starter, where he was at 12.0 last year off the bench, but I like his effort and instincts. "Quite poor" is an embellishment IMO.
 
His perimeter defense is quite good. He just gets no shot attempts or anything more than the 1st play of the game run for him. Tough to gain confidence on the offensive end when your entire job is to run around and set screens for the guards and occasionally hand the ball off to them on a screen. He has good instincts (little confidence), a good handle, good athleticism and every game does something that most bigs can't do. Then he fades back into the woodwork.
Its the system. More minutes more confidence and plays designed to his strengthes.
 
I agree with most of what you said, but I don't think his rebounding is that bad. Granted his stats say 8.7 (per 36 min) as a starter, where he was at 12.0 last year off the bench, but I like his effort and instincts. "Quite poor" is an embellishment IMO.

His TRB% is 13.2%. That is like pre 13-14 LMA levels, and we know how much flak Aldridge was getting as a rebounder before that season.

From the eye test he seems to consistently get outworked by similar sized players an is unable to grab rebounds over guys that are longer than him.

Also, if you look at player tracking stats for rebounding here: http://nyloncalculus.com/stats/detailed-nba-rebounding-stats/ and filter by just Blazers players, you'll see that he has by far the worst rebounding win % (Percentage of contested rebounds secured.) of any of the rotation players at 28.9%, lower than even the point guards. From these stats it seems like he goes after a lot of rebounds, but is just unable to secure them, so perhaps the problem isn't effort, but technique. Sadly, technique is a lot harder to teach than effort.

Perhaps "quite poor" is a bit of an overstatement, but at the very I least I would say it is disappointing, considering rebounding was supposed to be one of his strengths coming into the league.
 
People are sooooooooooo impatient with big guys.

People are so impatient in general.
They say Stotts has mismanaged the situation... and they want to see Vonleh out there with plays being ran for him because this year is about development.
But if Vonleh had plays ran for him and failed in a game or two or a month of games.... They'd say Stotts mismanaged it too.
I'd rather Vonleh show the ability to grow in practice with some game time. Rather than average 30+mpg and develop bad habits.
It's not about who starts, it's about who finishes.
 
I really see Vonleh as a young Zbo...low center of gravity, range, plays below the rim. I'm thrilled Stotts is giving him starter classes against real PFs this early. He's in school.
 
I really see Vonleh as a young Zbo...low center of gravity, range, plays below the rim. I'm thrilled Stotts is giving him starter classes against real PFs this early. He's in school.

Yep!
 
I really see Vonleh as a young Zbo...low center of gravity, range, plays below the rim. I'm thrilled Stotts is giving him starter classes against real PFs this early. He's in school.

Except ZBO was light years ahead at this point. Zach was drafted at 20 years old and by his third year he was averaging 20 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. I remember Zach just dominating in the summer leagues. He was an extremely polished post player, even at 19-20 years old.

Vonleh and Zach might have some similar features, but in terms of talent, Zach was a really special player. He just had a 10 cent head.
 
Zach oozed talent. Vonleh currently has very little talent at anything other than defensive positioning. His touch around the basket is awful.
 
Vonleh with more total points/rebounds than Plumlee so far....in half the minutes.
 
After one of Vonleh's best games of the season, he sees the floor for a total of 12 minutes tonight? Stotts isn't a bad coach, but his rotations are bunk.
 
I thought Vonleh looked good tonight. He's just not a guy you put your offense around yet, and that's okay... it'll come. I saw a couple flashes of what he can do around the rim tonight. Not worried.
 
Von is the 5th option on the starting offense so if does score that a plus. Rebounding actually pretty good for the minutes he play. Pretty good defender and Stotts bringing him on slowly on the offense I see that will increase next year.
 
Why did some guys think he was a future all star? It baffles me
 
Vonleh with more total points/rebounds than Plumlee so far....in half the minutes.

That is so hard to believe, I ran a spreadsheet. In season rebounds + points, Plumlee is 4th on the team and Vonleh 10th.
In season (rebounds + points) per minute, Plumlee is 5th and Vonleh 12th. You must have meant for the game in progress.
 
Is he our best inside defender? He's way better than Meyers at guarding 4s.

Offense clearly not there yet, but his defense looks good.
 
That is so hard to believe, I ran a spreadsheet. In season rebounds + points, Plumlee is 4th on the team and Vonleh 10th.
In season (rebounds + points) per minute, Plumlee is 5th and Vonleh 12th. You must have meant for the game in progress.

He did. And Vonleh had a post move in this game that was better than anything Ive seen any Blazer do in years....

Vonleh was also injured the bulk of his first season? Comparing to a healthy Zbo at the same stage is also not fair. This is really Vonleh's true rookie season.

My eyes say Vonleh can learn, has great speed and quickness, has a knack for defensive positioning. The kid will grow and become a starter... a REAL starter. All star? Not sure yet.
 
after 9 years with Lamarcus, it's an adjustment watching a team where the offense isn't power forward driven..I like that Vonleh is clogging lanes and rebounding. Our bigs are not ever going to be Lamarcus type players
 
That is so hard to believe, I ran a spreadsheet. In season rebounds + points, Plumlee is 4th on the team and Vonleh 10th.
In season (rebounds + points) per minute, Plumlee is 5th and Vonleh 12th. You must have meant for the game in progress.

Yes, it was for that game in progress. He was great in the 4th quarter against the Nuggets and then started off with a ton of energy, 4 quick rebounds and a RARE BLAZER low post bucket....then gets to play 6 minutes the rest of the game. That is what is baffling. Especially when Gasol and Zach were in there at the same time and Stotts was running Dame, CJ, Crabbe and Henderson out there with either Davis/Plums/Leonard. Gee...wonder why Zach went bonkers?
 
Maybe because he looked really good in summer league?

Tons of scrubs look good in summer league, but hey thats fair he teased you guys for a second but teams just dont trade top 10 draft picks in one year. Even garbage teams when they make that trade are usually right like the kings did with Trob
 
Why did some guys think he was a future all star? It baffles me

You are wording this as to say he turned into Greg Oden and he's done.

The word you were looking for is "does".

And he has potential. And look at what I wrote for him. I said he looks good for very tiny things. Improvements. That's all we're looking for from him this season. It took Meyers 3 years before he even did some small things well. At least Vonleh has shown very small improvement through a few games. and dont look at his PPG or some crap, that's not where his improvement lies.

(Notice I never used the term "he's 21").
 
Tons of scrubs look good in summer league, but hey thats fair he teased you guys for a second but teams just dont trade top 10 draft picks in one year. Even garbage teams when they make that trade are usually right like the kings did with Trob

How many big men look good in summer league? Almost none. It's a league of guards and forwards who chuck long jumpers. Hardly anyone runs plays for big guys.

And the Kings traded TRob for a bunch of scrubs. The Hornets traded Vonleh and Hendo for a starting small forward in his prime. That's a little different.
 
You are wording this as to say he turned into Greg Oden and he's done.

The word you were looking for is "does".

And he has potential. And look at what I wrote for him. I said he looks good for very tiny things. Improvements. That's all we're looking for from him this season. It took Meyers 3 years before he even did some small things well. At least Vonleh has shown very small improvement through a few games. and dont look at his PPG or some crap, that's not where his improvement lies.

(Notice I never used the term "he's 21").
So you're gonna use him playing better than a rookie Meyers Leonard as a barometer for him being a future all star? Haha

And every 20 year old well show some flashes of what they can do. So he hasn't played incompetent the last couple games, that's where the improvement is.. Still doesn't mean he'll come close to being an all star
 
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So you're gonna use him playing better than a rookie Meyers Leonard as a barometer for him being a future all star? Haha

And every 20 year old well show Tony flashes of what they can do. So he hasn't played incompetent the last couple games, that's where the improvement is.. Still doesn't mean he'll come close to being an all star

They just like him because he was traded for a somewhat productive SF and they don't want to feel like we got screwed in that trade..
 

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