Why did the Blazers draft Meyers Leonard 11th????

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Boob-No-More said:
Actually, centers taken after the 3rd or 4th pick are a big gamble, regardless of skin color. In fact, if you go back and look at the last 15 or 20 NBA drafts, you will see plenty of serviceable centers, not stars, but solid starters with long careers (guys like Dale Davis and Kurt Thomas come to mind, there are many others), taken in the 10 - 14 range. You also see an occasional diamond in the rough (Andrew Bynum) taken in this range.

If you look at those same drafts, you will see a LOT more centers that were total busts taken in the 5 - 9 range (Rafael Araujo and Patrick O'Bryant come to mind) than 10 - 14. There are even plenty of busts, of all skin colors and countries of origin, taken top 3 (Kwame, Olowokandi, Darko, Oden, etc.). Why? Because you can't teach height, center is the hardest position to fill, and teams will always be desperate enough to take a chance on a 7-footer with potential. Hell, it's hard enough to get an average starting center, let alone a game changer.

As long as the expectations for Leonard aren't ridiculous, I think he'll do just fine and justify his draft position, both compared to others taken in this range in past drafts and the players taken after him in this draft. Does that mean he'll be better than everyone taken after him? Most likely not. Most drafts have at least one Michael Redd or Monta Ellis that makes all the GMs that passed on them look foolish. But that's what the draft is, a big gamble. You do your homework, pick the guys you think will pan out and hope for the best.



Who was the last American born white center that possessed Leonard's combination of size an athleticism? Rather than skin color and birth country, wouldn't it be better to compare Leonard to other players of similar physical characteristics, skill level and experience? Also, by all accounts (so far), Leonard is a hard worker and seems to be coachable. Hopefully, that will allow him to take maximum advantage of his rare combination of size and athleticism.

BNM
Click to expand...
No it would not. I stand by my prejudice on American born white centers right along with my every player from Syracuse sucks stance.
 
Boob-No-More said:
Actually, centers taken after the 3rd or 4th pick are a big gamble, regardless of skin color. In fact, if you go back and look at the last 15 or 20 NBA drafts, you will see plenty of serviceable centers, not stars, but solid starters with long careers (guys like Dale Davis and Kurt Thomas come to mind, there are many others), taken in the 10 - 14 range. You also see an occasional diamond in the rough (Andrew Bynum) taken in this range.

If you look at those same drafts, you will see a LOT more centers that were total busts taken in the 5 - 9 range (Rafael Araujo and Patrick O'Bryant come to mind) than 10 - 14. There are even plenty of busts, of all skin colors and countries of origin, taken top 3 (Kwame, Olowokandi, Darko, Oden, etc.). Why? Because you can't teach height, center is the hardest position to fill, and teams will always be desperate enough to take a chance on a 7-footer with potential. Hell, it's hard enough to get an average starting center, let alone a game changer.

As long as the expectations for Leonard aren't ridiculous, I think he'll do just fine and justify his draft position, both compared to others taken in this range in past drafts and the players taken after him in this draft. Does that mean he'll be better than everyone taken after him? Most likely not. Most drafts have at least one Michael Redd or Monta Ellis that makes all the GMs that passed on them look foolish. But that's what the draft is, a big gamble. You do your homework, pick the guys you think will pan out and hope for the best.



Who was the last American born white center that possessed Leonard's combination of size an athleticism? Rather than skin color and birth country, wouldn't it be better to compare Leonard to other players of similar physical characteristics, skill level and experience? Also, by all accounts (so far), Leonard is a hard worker and seems to be coachable. Hopefully, that will allow him to take maximum advantage of his rare combination of size and athleticism.

BNM
Click to expand...

I can only think of one, and he's still in college: Cody Zeller.
 
so you're saying he's unathletic? :devilwink:
 
bum can't even get a double-double in PRESEASON!!1!!11 :MARIS61:
 
I'm glad Sly bumped this. It's only pre-season, but ML definitely has potential. I'm hoping there will be good reason to be bumping this one all season.

Go Blazers
 
Meyers Leonard has never been a stiff. Not even in High School.
 
funny that had this been Odens first 2 pre-season games, we would've been ecstatic.
 
He looks better then what I expected SO FAR. Don't get ahead of yourselfs though. He has not even played 1 real nba game yet. I also said multiple times that I hope i'm wrong about him.
 
ODENISGOD said:
He looks better then what I expected SO FAR. Don't get ahead of yourselfs though. He has not even played 1 real nba game yet. I also said multiple times that I hope i'm wrong about him.
Click to expand...

We hope you're wrong too.
 
ODENISGOD said:
He looks better then what I expected SO FAR. Don't get ahead of yourselfs though. He has not even played 1 real nba game yet. I also said multiple times that I hope i'm wrong about him.
Click to expand...

the very good news here is that you are wrong a lot so that bodes well for Meyers
 
The thing I liked most about Leonard's game last night was the way he ran the court and picked up some easy points just by hustling and working hard. It's obvious he doesn't yet have a polished NBA-ready low post game, but if he can get 4 - 6 extra points a game off pure effort, beating his man down the floor, offensive rebounds, etc. it will help build his confidence - not to mention help his team.

The polished low post game will come later. He has the basic tools, but needs to work on putting it all together. He seems like a hard worker and Kim Hughes seems like a capable big man coach. It will take a while, but I am optimistic he will get there.

BNM
 
I think this team needed a Andre Miller/vet backup PG.

Or at least a decent enough backup SG.

btw, is anyone else getting confused seeing #24 and #3 and not thinking Andre Miller and Juan Dixon (and apologies to all for reminding you he was once a Trail Blazer)?
 
julius said:
funny that had this been Odens first 2 pre-season games, we would've been ecstatic.
Click to expand...

Perhaps as an homage to the OP, we should rename this thread:

Meyers Leonard set to dominate the NBA!!!!!!!!!!!!

BNM
 
I like his numbers a lot more than what I see with my eyes, which could be a good or bad thing.

It seems like he very soft moves around the basket with an extremely low release point far away from his body and has no interest in using his strength to power through defenders. Defensively, again, he doesn't appears to want to use his natural strength to help him gain position on rebounds or to force his defender of his spot.

Having said all that, maybe those are easily correctable things and instead of going 14-8 with major soft spots in his game, he'll be going for 20-12 once they're fixed.
 
You paranoids searching for Mixum under every bed should be finally told--that--I'm Mixum.

[video=youtube;u93bhAimFFU]
 
To answer the question posed at the beginning of the thread....

Because he was available.
 
Reading "ODENISGOD" 's posts make me want to bash my head against a brick wall.

I remember why I haven't so much as read a single thread on this forum in the last few months...time to go away again. Peace out.
 
ODENISGOD said:
He looks better then what I expected SO FAR. Don't get ahead of yourselfs though. He has not even played 1 real nba game yet. I also said multiple times that I hope i'm wrong about him.
Click to expand...

honestly you saying he is going to be awful, put me more at ease about Leonard, and thinking he is gonna be a pretty decent pro.
 
Wheels said:
honestly you saying he is going to be awful, put me more at ease about Leonard, and thinking he is gonna be a pretty decent pro.
Click to expand...

Are you saying OIG isn't a very good evaluator of talent?!?
 
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