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Some people say he should go top 3 in this draft and said he's a star-in-the making. What do you guys think?

Fred, wtf?

Marlo Stanfield wrote:Fred, wtf?

I'm just curious to what the people from this draft board think of Leonard lol.

Two pretty good thread discussions regarding Leonard from a bit back:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1138074
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1145628&start=45

No, he is more likely to be a bust than a all-star.

Some people think the world is ending sometimes in December. So, some people think a whole lot of dumb chit.

He will be a top 10 or so C in the league, but probably not an all star. He will be an asset to the team that drafts him.

I could see him putting up the same stats as like Hibbert and Marc Gasol. So that might make him an all-star team even if he's not a like a true all-star (Though Marc might keep making ASGs at Memphis' rate)

Superiorblogman wrote:No, he is more likely to be a bust than a all-star.

Some people think the world is ending sometimes in December. So, some people think a whole lot of dumb chit.

Yeah I agree, he'll be a bust for sure. He'll be lucky to have a spot at the bench cos that's how far he'll go. Yeah, those people think way too ahead of themselves, his talent is nothing worth praising for so I don't get why these people overrate him.

Marlo Stanfield wrote:

Shhh...that's right, silence

princeofpalace wrote:He will be a top 10 or so C in the league, but probably not an all star. He will be an asset to the team that drafts him.

He'll definitely be an asset for the team's bench, I won't say top 10 C in the league, he'll be just like a Psycho T type (not saying same upside, Psycho T is a monster in UNC, but I'm talking about the similar role), someone who's a blue collar, plays physical and rebound the ball, but won't have the upside of those who can demand the ball in the post or be the go-to-guy for the team. Heck, Meyers should thank god if he gets Psycho T's type of role on the team.

fredericklove wrote:

Marlo Stanfield wrote:

Shhh...that's right, silence

Don't tease!

no

fredericklove wrote:

princeofpalace wrote:He will be a top 10 or so C in the league, but probably not an all star. He will be an asset to the team that drafts him.

He'll definitely be an asset for the team's bench, I won't say top 10 C in the league, he'll be just like a Psycho T type (not saying same upside, Psycho T is a monster in UNC, but I'm talking about the similar role), someone who's a blue collar, plays physical and rebound the ball, but won't have the upside of those who can demand the ball in the post or be the go-to-guy for the team. Heck, Meyers should thank god if he gets Psycho T's type of role on the team.

i've seen this description of meyers leonard and i couldnt disagree with it more.
he doesnt project to be some energy guy. he doesnt throw his body around and try to out-physical his opponents.
he has post skills, a mid-range jumper and has shown an ability to pass out of the post and high post.
he's nothing like psycho T at all.

if hibbert can be an all-star, then meyers has all-star potential as well.

Doubt it, but stranger things have happened. Good centers are so hard to come by these days, so I suppose the only chance he has is if the competition is so bad at C in one conference that he gets in. I see a solid shot-blocking center who is a nice lob target who can also knock down a mid-range jumper.

But then there's the whole thing about him sucking against college level competition...

RiotPunch wrote:Doubt it, but stranger things have happened. Good centers are so hard to come by these days, so I suppose the only chance he has is if the competition is so bad at C in one conference that he gets in. I see a solid shot-blocking center who is a nice lob target who can also knock down a mid-range jumper.

But then there's the whole thing about him sucking against college level competition...

except he didnt suck.
a player who sucks shouldnt get doubled off the ball, should never get triple teamed on the ball and shouldnt have entire defensive schemes centered around denying him the ball.

Meyers Leonard totally failed for a C his size. I want my C rebounding and blocking shots he does neither on the level of undersized guys like Al Horford did as a sophomore. He does neitheron the level of Roy Hibbert as a sophomore. De-Andre Jordan had more upside and produced better than Leonard and he dropped to the 2nd rd. Leonard is the biggest example of how blown out of proportion this draft is.

Superiorblogman wrote:Meyers Leonard totally failed for a C his size. I want my C rebounding and blocking shots he does neither on the level of undersized guys like Al Horford did as a sophomore. He does neitheron the level of Roy Hibbert as a sophomore. De-Andre Jordan had more upside and produced better than Leonard and he dropped to the 2nd rd. Leonard is the biggest example of how blown out of proportion this draft is.

no, he did not totally fail for a C his size.

% of team's total rebounds
Leonard- 25.1
Horford (soph)- 21
Hibbert (soph)- 21

blks per 40
Leonard- 2.4
Hibbert- 2.7
Horford- 2.7
the difference is not statistically significant.

jordan's college stats were insignificant since he was just a 20mpg player.
jordan HAD more potential, but he had no discernible offensive skill coming out of college and still doesnt. leonard is already more offensively skilled than jordan is now.

Leonard will be a stud in the NBA. Big centers with offensive skills like his will translate to the NBA.

He will have a Brook Lopez type career minus the injuries. Lopez is a top 3 Center minus injuries.

ManualRam wrote:

Superiorblogman wrote:Meyers Leonard totally failed for a C his size. I want my C rebounding and blocking shots he does neither on the level of undersized guys like Al Horford did as a sophomore. He does neitheron the level of Roy Hibbert as a sophomore. De-Andre Jordan had more upside and produced better than Leonard and he dropped to the 2nd rd. Leonard is the biggest example of how blown out of proportion this draft is.

no, he did not totally fail for a C his size.

% of team's total rebounds
Leonard- 25.1
Horford (soph)- 21
Hibbert (soph)- 21

blks per 40
Leonard- 2.4
Hibbert- 2.7
Horford- 2.7
the difference is not statistically significant.

jordan's college stats were insignificant since he was just a 20mpg player.
jordan HAD more potential, but he had no discernible offensive skill coming out of college and still doesnt. leonard is already more offensively skilled than jordan is now.

I guess I keep wondering why Leonard was so worthless as a freshman? All they guys listed above were much more productive. If we want to just look at sophomore numbers:



I'm looking at per minute defensive rebounds, total rebounds, ratio of steals and blocks over personal fouls, assist to turnover, and the flawed but generally accepted metric Win Score. Leonard appears to be significantly worse than Horford in every catagory. Leonard is closer to Hibbert, but still lacking. Looking at this, I can guess why Leonard was triple-teamed when in possession of the ball and in the post: it appears that it would result more regularly in a turnover rather than an assist.

If I went just off of the numbers, I would project Leonard to be a serviceable NBA player. Considering what I perceive to be a lack of physical and mental toughness, my estimate is more conservative. I would be absolutely shocked if he ever becomes an All-Star level player.