Meyers Leonard Watch....Top 5 bound in 2012?

Post #101 » by **UGA Hayes** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:09 am

While his team and coach do suck, LEonard right now is only ok about getting position. He doesn't have a great base,so while he does an admirable job of trying to get position in the post, I'm not convinced he will be able to do it aginst all opponents at the next level, and will have to score with variety at the next level, which he seems to have the potential to do. Definitely one of those guys where the inherant nature of the college game limits some of the ability to evaluate him.

Eoghan · Post #102 » by **Eoghan** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:52 am

Looked like Meyers got position pretty well against Sullinger to me. Sully had to elbow him to get a shot up, lol.

UTJazzFan_Echo1 · Post #103 » by **UTJazzFan_Echo1** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:51 am

Watched Leonard for the first time tonight... to put it simply, he's going in the top 10 for sure. His size and athleticism alone is enough to consider him in the top 10 but then you add his great passing and fairly high skill level on top of that... you'd be crazy not to look at him in the top 10 and I'm sure teams will seriously look at him in the top 5, especially after workouts.

To be honest with you, I like him a lot more than Drummond at this point...

Johnlac1 · Post #104 » by **Johnlac1** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 12:54 pm

Saw the first half of the debacle last night, and yes, Leonard definitely showed his potential. But he is still more potential than real pro prospect who could step in and give an NBA team decent minutes next year. His biggest problem right now is strength. He's slow getting his shot off, and he can be outmuscled and have the ball taken away from. One more year of standard development in college, and Leonard could look very good as a pro prospect by the end of next year. Sure, he'll probably get drafted, but I don't think the team that drafts should expect him to produce next year.

Jazzfan12 · Post #105 » by **Jazzfan12** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 6:09 am

Would an absolute best case, absolute worst case comparison be like LaMarcus Aldridge and Patrick O'Bryant?

Johnlac1 · Post #106 » by **Johnlac1** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:45 am

I think Meyers can be a pretty decent pro center. Maybe not as good as Aldredge but better than say Bogut. He has to work on his offensive moves and get stronger. Obviously, if he stayed two more years, with a good coach, he'd be ready to produce his rookie year. He appears to have a pretty decent bb IQ but shows immaturity at times. I'm guessing his ceiling in the pros in about 15-17 pts, 10-12 rbs, and two or three bs per game. Not bad. He's not a bad passer either, so his offensive worth is actually higher than a lot of centers who are black holes.

Superiorblogman · Post #107 » by **Superiorblogman** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 7:23 pm

Most overstated person on this board. Like I said Brook Lopez is much more polished and put up better college numbers and led his team to the NCAA tourney and fell to the late lotto. This guy is not a top 5 pick at all, and he is wearing down as the season goes on which is another bad sign.

peachbucket · Post #108 » by **peachbucket** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 7:20 pm

Superiorblogman wrote:Most overstated person on this board. Like I said Brook Lopez is much more polished and put up better college numbers and led his team to the NCAA tourney and fell to the late lotto. This guy is not a top 5 pick at all, and he is wearing down as the season goes on which is another bad sign.

Again, evaluating draft prospects isn't all about current production. It's about what sort of player he can become a few years from now based on his raw potential. Leonard is a much athlete and natural passer than Brook Lopez and projects to be a much better shotblocker and rebounder at the next level.

Eoghan · Post #109 » by **Eoghan** » Sun Feb 26, 2012 6:23 am

And Leonard actually tries to rebound, unlike Lopez.

It's gonna take Meyers a good 2-3 years to really contribute in the NBA if he is drafted this year but I think his ceiling is a lot higher than other bigs in this draft like the Zellers, Henson, Ezeli, Melo, etc.

TheExpert91 · Post #110 » by **TheExpert91** » Sun Feb 26, 2012 2:37 pm

Good player but his team is struggling. They lost 9 of their last 10 and have upcoming games against Michigan and at Wisconsin. He did have 21 points against Jared Sullinger so that's impressive. Not a top 5 but I say between 10-15.

Grits n Gravy · Post #111 » by **Grits n Gravy** » Sun Feb 26, 2012 11:12 pm

he's not starting vs iowa, is this normal? and gus johnson just said "no injuries just want to get a more competitive spirit to start to the game"?

ManualRam · Post #112 » by **ManualRam** » Sun Feb 26, 2012 11:34 pm

Grits n Gravy wrote:he's not starting vs iowa, is this normal? and gus johnson just said "no injuries just want to get a more competitive spirit to start to the game"?

Bruce weber desperation, motivational tactic. Looks like it worked so far.

Grits n Gravy · Post #113 » by **Grits n Gravy** » Sun Feb 26, 2012 11:41 pm

ManualRam wrote:
Grits n Gravy wrote:he's not starting vs iowa, is this normal? and gus johnson just said "no injuries just want to get a more competitive spirit to start to the game"?

Bruce weber desperation, motivational tactic. Looks like it worked so far.

you mean motivating leonard? cause i've only seen him once prior and in that game he looked pretty soft & scared defensively with not much of a motor(played better in second half)...playing absolutely outstanding so far in this one..playing really hard, tough and smart...VERY impressed with THIS guy so far.

ManualRam · Post #114 » by **ManualRam** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:04 am

Grits n Gravy wrote:
ManualRam wrote:
Grits n Gravy wrote:he's not starting vs iowa, is this normal? and gus johnson just said "no injuries just want to get a more competitive spirit to start to the game"?

Bruce weber desperation, motivational tactic. Looks like it worked so far.

you mean motivating leonard? cause i've only seen him once prior and in that game he looked pretty soft & scared defensively with not much of a motor(played better in second half)...playing absolutely outstanding so far in this one..playing really hard, tough and smart...VERY impressed with THIS guy so far.

Brandon paul was benched as well. It was more a message to the entire team.
This isnt the first time leonard has played like this. Soft players dont fight for position on both ends of the floor. Leonard has fought for position all yr.
His awareness is not good defensively and if he has fouls on him, he overcompensates and plays defense not to foul.

Superiorblogman · Post #115 » by **Superiorblogman** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 7:18 am

Meyers is not a top 5 pick anywhere but in the minds of a fool.

peachbucket · Post #116 » by **peachbucket** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 8:19 pm

Superiorblogman wrote:Meyers is not a top 5 pick anywhere but in the minds of a fool.

Great post Superiorblogman. As always, your keen insight continues to set the standard on this board.
:bowdown:

btw...its 'mind of a fool' or 'minds of fools'..but I understood what you meant.

Superiorblogman · Post #117 » by **Superiorblogman** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 7:32 am

peachbucket wrote:
Superiorblogman wrote:Meyers is not a top 5 pick anywhere but in the minds of a fool.

Great post Superiorblogman. As always, your keen insight continues to set the standard on this board.
:bowdown:

Thank you for acknowledging this truth.

Jazzfan12 · Post #118 » by **Jazzfan12** » Fri Mar 2, 2012 3:58 am

He looked really impressive on offense again tonight, but is his pick-and-roll defense always bad? He was way too high in stance tonight and stayed with the ball handler too long it seemed like and gambled for too many blocks.

I do like him though. Giant, great athlete, capable passer, good touch.

ManualRam · Post #119 » by **ManualRam** » Fri Mar 2, 2012 4:13 am

Jazzfan12 wrote:He looked really impressive on offense again tonight, but is his pick-and-roll defense always bad? He was way too high in stance tonight and stayed with the ball handler too long it seemed like and gambled for too many blocks.

I do like him though. Giant, great athlete, capable passer, good touch.

his defensive awareness is not good. i've seen him hedge and recover well. he has the foot speed to do so, but that's more of a pro technique. not many teams in the college game excel in the PnR. michigan is one of the few because of how good trey burke is with the ball.

skones · Post #120 » by **skones** » Fri Mar 2, 2012 7:37 am

Jazzfan12 wrote:He looked really impressive on offense again tonight, but is his pick-and-roll defense always bad? He was way too high in stance tonight and stayed with the ball handler too long it seemed like and gambled for too many blocks.

I do like him though. Giant, great athlete, capable passer, good touch.

Disagree. He was aggressive on the offensive end, calling for the ball, but had far too much trouble trying to maintain position in the post, especially in the first half, against much smaller players. In addition, his shot selection was god awful in the first half. The form on his jumper was very ugly, and he looked completely lost on the defensive end. The guy is very agile for his size and moves extremely well, but beyond that, I don't see much of his current game translating well to the NBA.