June 28, 2012; Newark, NJ, USA; Meyers Leonard (Illinois) heads up to the stage after being introduced as the number eleven overall pick to the Portland Trail Blazers during the 2012 NBA Draft at the Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

The Blazers are slated at the 10^th pick in this year’s draft, and it’s time for them to think long and hard about how they want to use the selection. Many have speculated that Portland should take a center in order to fill the hole J.J. Hickson will leave when/if he departs in free agency. I am going to tell you, flat-out, that this is a bad idea.

First of all, Meyers Leonard is already a capable 5, despite his defensive shortcomings. The Blazers spent last year’s 11^th pick to draft him, which is not a resource to be taken lightly. Putting Leonard’s development on the backburner in favor of a fresh start would be a terrible mistake; especially since he is a strong shooter for a big man.

I am of the camp that believes Meyers could be a starter next season if he focuses on defense and bulking up this summer. If Portland were to choose another man for the job in the draft, they would be back to square one; a brand new project in need of big minutes to develop.

Besides, the Blazers need a veteran presence in the post. I would like to avoid a scenario in which two youngsters assume responsibility for Portland’s paint game, to the tune of Benny Hill. If they are going to acquire a new big man, it should be in free agency or via trade. Someone who can support and teach Leonard, while contributing in-game, that doesn’t need big minutes to become effective.

Even if the Blazers elect to pursue a new starting center, like Pekovic, Gortat, or Varejao, it would be better for Leonard (and the team) than blowing the 10^th pick on a big man. Another year of coming off the bench would be alright for him, as long as it is to back up a polished veteran that he can study under.

Adding a rookie 5 to the starting lineup would stymie Leonard’s development, but adding one to the bench would be just as problematic. Leonard is not yet rounded enough to show a rookie the ropes he needs to be familiar with. The two would cut into each other’s developmental minutes and leave Portland without the big man they desperately need.

This is why the Blazers need to go all-in on Meyers Leonard’s future. The best options for Portland are to: a) start Leonard and bring in a veteran backup, or b) sit Meyers behind a veteran leader. Either way, they cannot toss out all the time they spent improving him last season.

Since the lottery, some mock drafts have been adjusted to match up the Portland Trail Blazers with French Center, Rudy Gobert. Although a genetic jackpot, the 7’2” prospect would take away from what the Blazers already have. Instead, Portland should focus on other areas of improvement.

What Portland should do with the 10^th pick

Option a) Trade up for Victor Oladipo

• Oladipo is a top tier defensive guard out of Indiana. With a quick first step, he is athletically explosive and a strong finisher at the rim. The Blazers would have to trade up to the 3^rd pick to guarantee his availability however, and it is unlikely that Washington is willing to trade away their auspicious position.

Option b) Draft a scoring wing

• The Blazer bench was hands down the worst in the league last year. They desperately need a sixth man who can provide energy and, more importantly, points off the bench. UCLA’s Shabazz Muhammad could be available at 10^th, as could LeHigh’s C.J. McCollum or San Diego State’s Jamaal Franklin, among others. This option creates the most opportunities for Portland.

Option c) Trade for depth

• As mentioned, the lack of talent on the Blazers’ bench is appalling. The 10^th pick could be bundled up and sent away in a deal to bring role players to Portland’s struggling secondary.

Option d) Trade for a center

• Quality veterans don’t just fall out of the sky. In order to bring one to the Rose City, the Blazers would likely have to include their first round pick in some sort of package deal. Addressing their need at center without drafting a green one is an ideal move for Portland.

My point is that the Blazers need to exercise patience with Meyers Leonard and mold him into the player he has potential to become. In recent days, reports of Blazer veterans’ “win now” mentality have surfaced. I believe the Blazers can do that without giving up on Leonard. With the proper training, and perhaps the support of an established vet, Leonard could make the sophomore season leap that is necessary for Portland’s success. Drafting another big man would slow that process more than anything, and the backward step in development would certainly betray the direction they are pushing toward. The Blazers need to bring in a vet down low and focus their draft selection on a position that is already well anchored in the starting lineup.

@davidmackaypdx | @ripcityproject | davidmackaypdx@gmail.com

Nov 25 2012; New York, NY, USA; Portland Trail Blazers center Meyers Leonard (11) drives up to dunk during the first quarter against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Quick! Let’s play one of Bill Simmons’ favorite games. Take a look at these two, full-season stat-lines from different players:

• Player A: 69 games played, 1206 minutes, 151 for 277 shooting (54.5%), 71 for 89 on free throws (81%), 255 rebounds, 377 points

• Player B: 70 games played, 1009 minutes, 198 for 420 shooting (47.1%), 98 for 147 on free throws (67%), 243 rebounds, 494 points.

Pretty similar, no? Look at the All-Star center who currently has his team up in a bruising conference semifinals series, and then at the Blazers’ “other” rookie. Now back to Roy Hibbert. Now back to Meyers Leonard. Now back to me.

Still not sure? Player A is Leonard this past season. Player B is Hibbert as a rookie.

A few days ago, as I was pouring over the Blazers roster while bemoaning the lack of interior presence, Leonard’s listed height of 7’1” jumped out at me. If you actually stop to look, you will see that there are just not that many true seven-footers currently in the league. At least in this respect, size, Leonard is already among the elite. Hibbert is another, and the more I thought about it, I saw a lot of parallels between him and Leonard.

While Leonard is no athletic slouch (Golden State game dunks say hello), let’s just say he will never be a David Robinson in terms of quickness and agility, and Hibbert sure won’t be either. In fact, the article that was the inspiration for many of these thoughts details just how much work Hibbert has had to put in to overcome his lack of athleticism. There were not athletic shortcuts for him (coughD12cough). He’s truly had to work his way into becoming an All-Star center.

But wow, has that work paid off.. Watching the Pacers/Knicks series, I am salivating over Hibbert’s post game. It’s just so smooth, fluid, and ambidextrous that he’s rapidly becoming one of my favorite players to watch, especially now that he has his wrist fixed.

I digress, though. The point to pay attention to is Hibbert’s development in the league. I was shocked to see that he averaged LESS THAN 15 minutes a game as a rookie. He was a project in every sense of the word, but his slow, hard work and the patience by the Pacers has paid off in full, and then some – scoring an All-Star big man with the 17^th pick of the draft is the type of move that can turn an entire franchise around. Additionally, Hibbert had a full four-year college career during which to develop. Despite this, the process was still a lengthy one.

Lost among all the clamoring that the Blazers pursue a veteran center this offseason (and I have certainly been in that camp) is the fact that they have a first round center already waiting in the wings. On one hand, I can get behind the idea of young players learning from vets, and if the Blazers do end up bringing a veteran center in, it could be great for Leonard’s future if the situation is utilized properly (that’s a pretty big ‘if’, though).

At the same time, young players need minutes to develop. That’s just a fact. There is no shortcut for this either, and something that I think should be kept in mind regarding Leonard. If the Blazers invested the 11^th overall pick in him, they have a plan for him. It’s that straightforward – there was a reason for it.

The Blazers had a specific vision for Leonard (or so we hope), and it is nearing time to start allowing this vision to come to fruition. As I have heard suggested, he could very well be destined for being a career bench player, but that’s utterly irrelevant at this point. Seventeen minutes a game is not enough to tell either way. If the Pacers had written off Hibbert after his first season (when he couldn’t grab more than 15 minutes a game away from Jeff Foster / Rasho Nesterovic [but seriously, Nesterovic played more minutes than Hibbert]), they wouldn’t be where they are now.

May 3, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert (55) attempts to block a shot by Atlanta Hawks point guard Devin Harris (34) in the second half of game six of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Philips Arena. The Pacers won 81-73. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

Here is where it would be prudent to acknowledge Hibbert’s defensive prowess and Leonard’s lack thereof. It’s true: Hibbert has been the lynchpin of one of the league’s best defenses these past couple seasons, and Leonard’s defense leaves much to be desired. With that being said, if we again look at their rookie stats, Hibbert posted a defensive rating of 107 (a middling number), while Leonard posted an unacceptable 110. As a quick primer, a player’s defensive rating is a statistic that estimates the number of points a player gave up per 100 possessions that he individually faced while playing. As a baseline, a number in the mid-90s is elite.

While they may seem close, that three point differential is actually large enough to take note of, and clearly indicates Leonard has a ways to go. What I would focus more on, though, is that Hibbert started out as anything but a defensive stalwart. Just like every aspect of his game, he slowly worked on it, until this past regular season he posted a defensive rating of 97. In five years he improved by 10 points, so what’s to say that Leonard couldn’t do the same?

That brings us back to the crux of it all, though: It’s easy for me to sit here and preach patience. The reality is that from top to bottom, professional teams are under immense pressure to win. This is especially true when your owner has very vocally discussed wanting to win a championship before he dies.

Despite understanding this “win now” mentality (also amplified by the fact that Lamarcus Aldridge’s contract is up in two years), I think it would be foolish to completely disregard Leonard’s future in the pursuit of a high profile veteran center. In fairness, if such an acquisition takes place, it in no way indicates that the team is giving up on Leonard. As mentioned above, some sort of mentoring / tutoring system could work fantastically in his development.

However, I would find it curious, very curious, though, if such a move did bury Leonard on the bench, especially since such a large resource (the 11^th pick) was invested on him.

Whatever the case, we shall soon see what the future holds. As a bottom line, I think Meyers is capable of going the Hibbert route, but he needs the support of the team behind him.

@ripcityproject

January 27, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Portland Trail Blazers shooting guard Will Barton (5) is defended by Los Angeles Clippers power forward Lamar Odom (7) and shooting guard Jamal Crawford (11) during the first half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The 2012-13 Blazers have not been good on the road. Their 11 wins away from home are exactly half of the total wins they currently have achieved in the Rose Garden, and it’s on the road where this young team most obviously shows its age. It’s fitting that this season of growth and previewed potential will end at home in-front of an adoring partisan crowd.

It’s just as fitting that before the Blazers get a chance to give the Portland fans one final look before we stop being satisfied with exciting and almost-there and start demanding wins, they’ll have to face yet another top Western Conference team with designs on a long playoff run.

Though the Los Angeles Clippers don’t have a whole lot on the line (as a division winner they are guaranteed home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs), Tuesday is their final home game of the season. There’s no doubt that they’d like to cruise into the post-season with a blow out at the Staples Center. There’s also no doubt that given the relative disparities in talent and depth, the Clippers are more than capable of running the Blazers out of LA, sending Portland to their 12th straight loss.

So what are the Blazers to do? My advice is, as Wesley Matthews not so delicately put not too long ago, to play with a little heart, try as hard as they can to best represent themselves, and hope that at the very least they don’t get embarrassed. That doesn’t sound like much, but with only two games left to play, there really isn’t any reason to abandon all expectations.

Blazers Starting 5: PG Damian Lillard, SG Will Barton, SF Victor Claver, PF LaMarcus Aldridge, C J.J. Hickson

Clippers Starting 5: PG Chris Paul, SG Willie Green, SF Caron Butler, PF, Blake Griffin, C DeAndre Jordan

If we were going to take the time to break down Tuesday’s game from a match-up standpoint, it would be clear that at almost every position the Clippers have a distinct advantage. It would also be clear that at the position Portland might, and I emphasize that MIGHT, have the leg up (power forward), the advantage LaMarcus Aldridge has over Blake Griffin is small at best, and does little for the Blazers, considering LA’s center is literally heads and shoulders above Portland’s. Aldridge might be better than Blake Griffin, but that advantage in and of itself will make little difference.

So in lieu of a match-up break down, I’ll use this final road game preview to talk about what I want to see from the Blazers.

First, I want to see some consistency on offense. Over the course of the last month, the Blazers have looked very good at times (the first quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers). At other times, Portland has looked down-right awful (the third quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder). When the Blazers play well, they spread the floor, they get good high percentage looks, and they take care of the ball. When they play poorly, the ball stops, the looks come late in the shot clock, and empty trips down the floor become common-place.

Portland doesn’t need to play at the top of their game all game on Tuesday. I mean if they do, they’ll compete, but that shouldn’t be the goal. The goal on Tuesday should be to play consistently. The Blazers don’t need to put up a 41-point quarter, but they do need to avoid a seven-point quarter. If Portland can avoid extended scoring droughts on Tuesday, even if they lose by a dozen, this game can be considered if not a success than at least not a total failure.

Second, I want to see Meyers Leonard go head-to-head with DeAndre Jordan. I’m assuming that J.J. Hickson will start on Tuesday, even though the season is over and Hickson is on his way out the door, he’s still the starter at center. That being said, Meyers Leonard needs to get some run against DeAndre Jordan. DAJ is the kind of center Portland needs, and Meyers is the kind of center Portland has. Leonard can do a lot of things Jordan can’t, shoot jumpers and make free throws being two of the main things. But Jordan does things that Meyers has not shown an aptitude for, blocking shots and rebounding, that the Blazers need next season in the absolute worst way.

There’s a good chance Leonard will have some solid minutes against Jordan. If Meyers can hold his own against Jordan, meaning basically not fouling out in 10 minutes or less, that could make Tuesday worthwhile.

Finally, I want to see Damian Lillard have a good game against Chris Paul. I won’t even entertain the ludicrous advanced statistical alchemy that says Lillard shouldn’t be the NBA Rookie of the Year, but I will say Damian still has something to prove against the NBA’s top NBA point guards. Dame’s best game of the season came in Portland’s loss to the Lakers. Hopefully his next best game will come against Chris Paul.

So that’s what I’m going to watch for. I’m also going to watch this game knowing that this season has been tough at times, and most of those times have been on the road. Going into 2013-14, the Blazers will need to address how well the play on the road. Right now, though, Tuesday will be Portland’s final game in another team’s gym. Even if the Clippers run all over the Blazers, it will be Portland’s last road blowout. That, I can celebrate.

@mikeacker | @ripcityproject | mike.acker1@gmail.com