Portland Trail Blazers: What’s Meyers Leonard’s Potential?
There are not a lot of eyes on the Portland Trail Blazers backup center Meyers Leonard. Why would there be? The team is in very good shape, as they did just come off a very good 54-win campaign last season. The team has a lot more on their mind this year than whether or not their project backup center will pan out.
The team may or may not regret taking the 7’1” center 11th overall. So far, Leonard hasn’t done all that much, or has had much of an impact for his career. That’s not the best way to start your career, especially not on a team that is as deep as the Portland Trail Blazers are.
The Trail Blazers have begun the year on a red-hot note. The team has started the year with a 9-3 record and has looked like an improved team over that 12-game time span. I understand that is a very small sample size, however the team has been playing at an excellent clip.
For this reason, and the fact that Portland is seemingly set for the foreseeable future, the Blazers aren’t really in a hurry to have Leonard develop. That is great for some players, as they get to take their time and they don’t have a lot of pressure to come in a produce at a high level.
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Other times, this simply means that the team doesn’t believe a player will develop as they should.
Now, I don’t think Meyers Leonard will ever reach the potential that everybody thought he could when he was drafted 11th overall in 2012. He was clearly a project pick, but he did have the potential to become a nice player. Unfortunately, he hasn’t exactly developed like that.
Right now, Leonard is looking a lot more like a role player. And that’s OK. There’s no big need for Leonard to develop. Better stated, there’s no rush. It would be nice for it to happen, but the way the team is built, it’s okay for him to be a role player.
Meyers Leonard does not have the physicality to be an adept NBA center. He’s very tall at 7’1”; as a result, he struggles to keep him position for rebounds. His center of gravity is higher than your average NBA center, so Leonard gets pushed off of the ball easier.
It doesn’t help that he is only 245 pounds, he simply does not have the strength to hang with the big men in the NBA for extended minutes. The physical aspects of his game haven’t really improved over his short career. It’s hard to be a legitimate NBA big man when the physical aspect of your game isn’t up to snuff.
The good news for Leonard is that he has shown good decision making ability. He rarely forces shots and he understands his limitations on the offensive end. So, it’s not looking like Leonard will reach his potential, but it’s perfectly okay. Especially if Leonard develops into a role player for Portland.
Not everybody can be a star player, and it looks like Leonard won’t be.