RealGM

Now that we are drafted 8th or 9th people should get used to the idea of picking any of say 10 players. The "tiers" break down and some of the best picks have been teams being creative, such as Utah and Indiana grabbing Gordon Hayward and Paul George in their year. Nobody should be written off on the basis of reptuation or where they played.

I will not try and convince people to believe Meyers is the 2nd or 3rd best prospect in this draft like I do, but rather to consider him at 8th or 9th when the talent pool is much smaller, when people are giving up on the chance of drafting an all-star talent. My case:

- With two legitimate 7 footers, we would be building BIG. You win in the trees, and we would have trees. I believe both players could conceviably guard PFs, with Meyers likely being the PF and Jval the C offensively. Both players would play above the rim on both ends, blocking shots and releasing efficient shots at a high elevation offensively. This would give us a potentially unique and valuable combination that screams UPSIDE.

- Meyers' flaws statistically are overstated. For DX 1st round prospects his 23.9 PER ranks 12th, ahead of Beal, Lamb, Drummond, PJIII, Barnes, Marshall, Rivers, among players with a lotto chance, and this is as a big man playing with horrible guards, and being doubled teamed quite a bit. He is 2nd in 2P% and 5th in TS%, 13th in FT/FGA. Leonard ranks 1st among Cs for Ast/TO ratio (2nd among DX's top 100 behind Henry Sims) and is a noted passer. His rebounding and blocked shots are his biggest weakness (10.4 rebs and 2.4 blks per 40, low for Cs), but with his physical profile he should have potential there. He is not an ultra dominant college player but many succesful NBAers haven't been. Leonard had a weak college season like Jeremy Lamb had a weak college season. For one thing it wasn't weak as he was still by far the best player on his team, and if you like his skillset enough it shouldn't matter.

Finally, take the time to watch this video

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK7K2aYpoKI[/youtube]

This video shows a pretty decent mix of his tools. He hits some very good looking turnaround shots, has some blocks, gets up on dunks, makes some nice passes. Here is another video showing exclusively his scoring skillset

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLiYEIaLcSE[/youtube]

He reminds me a lot of a more athletic/jacked Valanciunas offensively, with elite hands and efficiency and both players liking those hookshots. Leonard looks better in the post and also hits those midrange shots in the way we expect Valanciunas can learn to but don't know about yet. I consider Leonard to be the better offensive prospect outright, while Valanciunas has him in rebounding and likely defensive aggressiveness.

As for his current ranking (Ford 17, 15 DX), don't worry about whether that'd make this a reach - athleticism, big men and the workout process go together extremely well. I would bet on him being 3-5 spots behind us at most and not being passed on by Detroit, Milwaukee, Portland, New Orleans' 2nd pick and Houston as all those teams have center minutes to give.

IMO taking Leonard at 8th/9th would give us a player with a rare combination of physical tools (7 foot+, athletic, strong frame) and skill (great hands and developing range) and would give us a potentially exciting "twin towers" frontcourt that could defend while being efficient on the other end

At this point i'm not opposed to drafting Leonard. I still prefer others, but if we get him its w.e.

Sure why not?

He's going in the lottery. Not a great pick for us but maybe GSW looks for Bogut insurance.

FluLikeSymptoms wrote:He's going in the lottery. Not a great pick for us but maybe GSW looks for Bogut insurance.

I think this is much more likely than us picking him. If we're really invested in Ed Davis and Jonas, Leonard could get buried on the bench here.

yea why not, as you wish mufasa, draft whoever for all I care.

redred9 wrote:

FluLikeSymptoms wrote:He's going in the lottery. Not a great pick for us but maybe GSW looks for Bogut insurance.

I think this is much more likely than us picking him. If we're really invested in Ed Davis and Jonas, Leonard could get buried on the bench here.

Yeah. And it's not like Drummond, even, who would be completely different than what we've got coming in already instead of a lesser version. But I could definitely see a team looking for a big liking him more than the stubby college heroes or physically smaller question marks like Henson or Scary.

Also known as JV's bitch?

I'm not even sure he's a lottery pick lmfaoooo

I think thats Humps long lost brother

Leonard and Donut's post moves are almost identical. So, I can see why Mufasa likes them both. But I think he is wrong on this one too.
As you all know, I can talk how terribly bad Donut is for days, not gonna say anything bad about Leonard, because I dont know, but from what I remember, Jonas was a superior player by far. I doubt anything really changed.

He would be a terrible pick IMO. I think everyone will agree Jonas looks better, and waste a 7-8 pick on a permanent back up would be a terrible idea.

Isn't there already a thread for our second round picks?

HSOB SIRHC wrote:Also known as JV's bitch?

Now I remember who Meyers Leonard is now.

He's a lot more interesting than guys like the Jones', Zeller, Miller, Marshall, Rivers, and Lilliard to me. 7 footer who possesses a nice combo of athleticism, skills, and potential. I was originally indifferent to Valanciunas last season, but opened to it because I saw some good qualities and a 7 ft tall player in an uninspiring draft position (5th in a weak draft, similar situation here where we're projected 8th/9th or whatever). My feeling is that we're a really bad basketball who shouldn't be looking for fit, so why not be open to anything? He could easily be BPA imo.

wow i cant beleive there is a meyers leonard thread....this guy is a bust for sure id rather draft marquis teague at 8 than meyers leonard.

drew_8730 wrote:wow i cant beleive there is a meyers leonard thread....this guy is a bust for sure id rather draft marquis teague at 8 than meyers leonard.

How do you know he's a bust for sure...? Yea, you don't. I'd consider drafting him. But not at 8. I'd trade down if possible.

Since this got bumped, just wanted to repeat something, it's pretty silly to consider PJIII a top option at 8 while discarding Leonard

PHYSICAL TALENT: PJIII is 6'10, an explosive freak, but skinny and definitely doesn't know how to use his body that well. Leonard is a legit 7 foot, maybe even 7'1 in shoes, and fairly jacked. He's not as explosive as PJIII but he's bigger. He's still an elite athlete. Basically Bosh physically for PJIII vs Aldridge physically for Leonard IMO

SKILL LEVEL: Both guys have good touch around the basket and can look slick. Their jumpshot capability is about exactly the same.

PRODUCTION: Meyers was slightly better across the board. Higher volume (PTs), much higher efficiency (TS%/2P%), higher REBs, much higher BLKs due to his size, much better FTA/FGA. PJIII has the slight edge in A/T, Ast, and TOs. PER was 23.9 for Leonard vs 21.2 for PJIII. Leonard had by far the highest PER on his team, PJIII was 3rd behind Acy and Jackson. There were 3 players with a higher TS% than PJIII on his team with two others tied with him at .54, Leonard had the highest TS% on his team by a full 6 pts with .62 vs .56 and 3rd highest TS% on his team was 10 points behind him at .52. Leonard compared to his teammates dominated in the efficient scoring, rebounding and blk categories. Nothing PJIII did statistically separated himself from teammates.

FIT ON OUR TEAM: PJIII gives us the same type of production and role Bargnani does, unless you make the ill fated decision of believing a player with his size and ball skills can be a 3. IMO I like the Leonard fit more because then we have a dual 7 footers, twin towers type of lineup, plus he and Bargnani can play together a lot better than PJIII/Bargnani. I'm as sold on Meyers offensively as I am PJIII and I'm far, far more sold on his defensive potential

There is next to no reason to be in a mode of saying draft PJIII and "hahaha fk this guy" with Leonard at the same time. PJIII has every reason to like or dislike him that Meyers does.

drew_8730 wrote:wow i cant beleive there is a meyers leonard thread....this guy is a bust for sure id rather draft marquis teague at 8 than meyers leonard.

yeah me neither...i don't even know why this thread exists, however I wouldn't draft teague at 8 but i'd rather trade the pick than drafting leonard, whatever pick this dude is projected at, in reality he should be 25-30th pick at best, looks like a 3rd stringer big on any NBA team, at worst, he's a bench-warmer material, and a waste of a pick for the Raptors front court. This is the type of pick that gets BC fired if he drafts leonard to replace Bargs.

He should be a decent player but I want something more then a decent pick for going through this horrible year. Lillard, Jones, Rivers.