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JasonStern wrote:

Oden2 wrote:tj leaf on a 2 way contract. I don’t know much about him other than he was decent at UCLA. If nothing else at least he’s a big body

Tough loss for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.

Leaf continually refused assignments to Ft. Wayne when he was with us.

d-train wrote:I watched TJ Leaf a couple times with Pacers. My impression was he couldn't play dead. I expect nothing good out of him. Maybe he will be a handy practice player.

d-train wrote:

Oden2 wrote:tj leaf on a 2 way contract. I don’t know much about him other than he was decent at UCLA. If nothing else at least he’s a big body

He's a big stiff. It looks like his feet weigh 50lbs each. He was a 1st round pick, so he must be more talented than he looked to me.

He’s got some talent in some ways. We wanted him to be a stretch 4, and he’s definitely not. I don’t know why, but he kept bulking up, and lost more and more mobility, and developed maybe the flattest arc on his 3 point shot I’ve ever seen. If it doesn’t go absolute perfect, it has absolutely no chance. He does have some nifty moves to get to the basket though. Solid on post ups, spins to the rim, etc. He’s the kind of guy you could have run the baseline or hang in the dunkers spot and get some solid buckets out of. He was also probably the 2nd best natural rebounder we had, behind Sabonis?

BUT...he’s pretty terrible defensively. He’s got no lateral movement to defend to the perimeter, though he tries and he seems to be smart on his movements, he’s just still a couple steps too slow. I’d consider him a small ball 5 more than anything else, and he should be expected to operate in the lane, more than anything else.

I wouldn’t plan on him making it here, unless he absolutely rebuilt his mobility, and his long-range shot. But, he’s a body, and he’s a rebounder. On a 2 way, he’s not terrible, but I’d personally look elsewhere.

Leaf is one of those guys who left school far too early and the Pacer board indeed seems to think if
he lost some weight and regained some mobility, he'd have a chance.

Likely he'll be a practice body and the team gets a free look at him in 2021. He was in Portland for
the workouts in 2017 when we had three first round picks and who knows if he has any future in
Portland for if he really takes to heart what he needs to do, he's still 6'10.

Full Disclosure — Zach Collins wasn’t on my radar during his draft. I like what he can do if healthy and what he may become.
BUT I wanted the Blazers to draft TJ Leaf.

I haven’t watched much of Leaf at Indiana and bulking up is a bad idea as he’s not highly mobile to begin with. At UCLA, I liked how he made basketball plays and operated in the key. Pretty active at UCLA, he looked like he just played. I hope this opportunity works out.

Giles is the guy who should have a much higher ceiling but seems low key. That’s why with his body type he reminds me of a poor man’s Elden Campbell. Giles can go more at both C and PF. Leaf likes mixing it up and seems more active but as a PF not a C. A bit narrow in the shoulders for a big.

Leaf also talked a lot over the last years with reporters that he just does not feel comfortable playing on the perimeter as a 4, and really feels much more comfortable playing inside as a 5.

I’ll be honest. With his Israeli passport, I assumed he was destined for the Israeli league once waived. Unless he’s truly changed his mindset and his body, he’s probably not an NBA player long term. But, this is a good last ditch flyer for Portland. If he is on that route, he could put up some points.

I guess with Nurk's knee possibly an issue we needed another big

Blazinaway wrote:I guess with Nurk's knee possibly an issue we needed another big

Dang i’m starting to think his career as a healthy player is over if it was ever here. He’s good when healthy but It’s injury after injury. Honestly i’d say Kanter is about as good as Nurk anymore. I’m almost thinking Olshey let’s him go in a year unless Nurk will sign for an absurdly cheap deal

Scoot McGroot wrote:Leaf also talked a lot over the last years with reporters that he just does not feel comfortable playing on the perimeter as a 4, and really feels much more comfortable playing inside as a 5.

I’ll be honest. With his Israeli passport, I assumed he was destined for the Israeli league once waived. Unless he’s truly changed his mindset and his body, he’s probably not an NBA player long term. But, this is a good last ditch flyer for Portland. If he is on that route, he could put up some points.

We don’t need him to log mega mins. I think most of our C mins outside of Enez will be small ball which helps open up minutes for our multitude of guards/forwards.

Honestly i think Kanter is performing well enough right now that he can play 24-30 mpg at c, if leaf can give us 10 minutes of hard fouls and aggression in a joel freeland mold that’ll be perfect

TJ Leaf is a complete waste of money. There are better unemployed big men available. This signing says Blazers are more concerned about the attitude of players at the end of the bench than they are in basketball ability.

Let's not overact to Nurk's latest injury but not get carried away with small ball for no small ball team
has ever won a championship.

Nurk's been off for a long time and he's going to need some time to get back in shape. Portland is going
nowhere without Nurk in the playoffs, especially if they try to play 3 guards extensively. They need his
size and with Dame/CJ and Enes on the defensive end in the playoffs...

d-train wrote:TJ Leaf is a complete waste of money. There are better unemployed big men available. This signing says Blazers are more concerned about the attitude of players at the end of the bench than they are in basketball ability.

Weren't you arguing for Meyers Leonard earlier? lol

Waynearchetype wrote:

d-train wrote:TJ Leaf is a complete waste of money. There are better unemployed big men available. This signing says Blazers are more concerned about the attitude of players at the end of the bench than they are in basketball ability.

Weren't you arguing for Meyers Leonard earlier? lol

Don't think I did. Since you mention him, he would be a good 3rd or 4th center, if we need that many centers. He is better than TJ Leaf. Leonard has skills Nurk and Kanter don't have.

Oden2 wrote:Honestly i think Kanter is performing well enough right now that he can play 24-30 mpg at c, if leaf can give us 10 minutes of hard fouls and aggression in a joel freeland mold that’ll be perfect

Oh, that's absolutely not at all what TJ Leaf has ever done, or appears likely to be able to do. Hard fouls and aggression is not his game at all. If that's what you're expecting of him, you'll absolutely hate Leaf.

I mentioned Ronny Turiaf in another thread. Leaf is never going to be that guy which is a guy which all guard
oriented teams always seem to want for his in HS days and at UCLA, Leaf has always been the scorer. In the
grand scheme of things for Portland, he's just a practice body on a two way contract. Portland hasn't had that
guy who gives hard fouls and aggression since the days of Joel Pryzbilla

d-train wrote:

Waynearchetype wrote:

d-train wrote:TJ Leaf is a complete waste of money. There are better unemployed big men available. This signing says Blazers are more concerned about the attitude of players at the end of the bench than they are in basketball ability.

Weren't you arguing for Meyers Leonard earlier? lol

Don't think I did. Since you mention him, he would be a good 3rd or 4th center, if we need that many centers. He is better than TJ Leaf. Leonard has skills Nurk and Kanter don't have.

Among other things, Meyers is out for the season with an injury.

chrbal wrote:

d-train wrote:

Waynearchetype wrote:Weren't you arguing for Meyers Leonard earlier? lol

Don't think I did. Since you mention him, he would be a good 3rd or 4th center, if we need that many centers. He is better than TJ Leaf. Leonard has skills Nurk and Kanter don't have.

Among other things, Meyers is out for the season with an injury.

This would be a deal killer.

Interesting to watch the Nets with Durant, Kyrie (still no Harden) reinforced with Griffin and LA.

LA is not the player he was but at a buyout price, he's going to do great as the Nets fourth option.

Tomorrow is the last day players can be waived by one team and be picked up and used in playoffs by another team.

Khem Birch was waived by Magic. He would be an excellent pickup by Blazers.

Birch cleared waivers and signed with Raptors. According to the publicly reported salaries, Blazers could have picked Birch off waivers and stayed under the tax. I hope Blazers failure to do this is an indication Zach is going to be back this season.

Birch would have shored up our 4/5 rotation in case Collins doesn't make it back this season.