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Portland Trail Blazers: Meyers Leonard Showing Signs Of Life

By Gerald Bourguet

Nov 11, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward Meyers Leonard (11) hangs on the rim before the start of the game against the San Antonio Spurs at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 11, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward Meyers Leonard (11) hangs on the rim before the start of the game against the San Antonio Spurs at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports /
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Meyers Leonard got off to a slow start for the Portland Trail Blazers in 2015-16, but he’s starting to come around for Rip City now that he’s healthy.

After an offseason of roster restructuring, the Portland Trail Blazers were expected to be little more than a Western Conference bottom feeder in 2015-16. The Blazers have been better than expected at 8-12 thus far, but outside of Damian Lillard‘s nightly stat lines and C.J. McCollum‘s Most Improved Player campaign, Rip City fans have had little to enjoy from the younger, rawer players.

A big part of that has to do with Meyers Leonard‘s underwhelming start to the season.

Last year, Leonard was a rarely used reserve who averaged a meager 5.9 points and 4.5 rebounds in 15.4 minutes per game. He only made 55 regular season appearances, but in Portland’s five-game first round playoff series, he put up even better numbers, averaging 7.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game while draining 10 of his 13 three-point attempts.

With four of the team’s five starters gone and the Blazers looking to build around Lillard and the team’s newly acquired youth movement, Leonard joined McCollum as the most likely candidates to take a major leap in 2015-16 as they transitioned from minor bench roles to the starting unit.

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    • Thanks to an up-and-down start and an early shoulder injury that sidelined him for seven of the team’s first 20 games, it hasn’t exactly worked out that way for Meyers Leonard so far.

    In 13 games, the first nine of which were in the starting lineup, Leonard has averaged 9.4 points and 4.7 rebounds in 25.7 minutes per game — all career highs. However, he’s shooting just 43.5 percent from the floor and a dismal 28.3 percent from three-point range. Considering he converted 42 percent of his three-point attempts last season, the shots just haven’t been falling early on.

    To be fair, Leonard is attempting nearly double the amount of shots — both from the floor and from long range — that he was last season, and with that increase in responsibility, there was bound to be some drop-off in his shooting percentages.

    But Leonard had been admittedly inconsistent, with games like his 0-for-5 night against the Phoenix Suns or a couple of four-point duds serving as testament to the growing pains of life as an NBA starter.

    Since getting his shoulder right, Leonard has come off the bench in each of his four games, but after a couple of mediocre outings in limited minutes, he’s shown real signs of life in his last two contests.

    Two games is a small sample size, but he’s increased his minutes to 32 against the Dallas Mavericks and 25 in an impressive win over the Indiana Pacers. Against Dallas, Leonard put up a season high 23 points on 8-of-17 shooting to go with seven rebounds. He nailed four of his 11 triples and though he fouled out of the game, he was the team’s second leading scorer behind Dame.

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    Against Indiana, Leonard totaled 12 points on an efficient 5-of-10 shooting, knocking down two of his four three-point attempts.

    Those aren’t superstar numbers by any stretch of the imagination, but with Dame and McCollum having to take care of most of the scoring so far this season, having a healthy Leonard back in the lineup could be a huge boost.

    At 7’1″, Leonard has the size and shooting ability to be a versatile stretch-4 in this league, especially with defenses having to worry about Lillard and McCollum attacking off the dribble and in the pick-and-roll.

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    The shoulder injury and the abrupt change in responsibility means this season was always going to be a learning process, but it shouldn’t be long before Meyers Leonard works his way back into the starting lineup and begins to deliver on his fourth-year potential.

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