Portland Trail Blazers: Caleb Swanigan is making a case for himself over Meyers Leonard
By Doug Patrick
Caleb Swanigan is making a case for why he deserves the Portland Trail Blazers open front court minutes over Meyers Leonard.
With the absence of Ed Davis, the Portland Trail Blazers have some front court minutes they need to fill this regular season.
Heading into the year, Meyers Leonard seemed the leading candidate for a third big man spot alongside Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins.
Leonard has had great potential to be a very stretchy big man with great height at seven-foot-one. At Media Day, Head Coach Terry Stotts spoke about wanting to shoot better from beyond the arc and GM Neil Olshey spoke about focusing more on offense this year. Nobody can argue that Meyers isn’t perfect to do exactly those things: he is clearly an offensive player who can shoot.
During preseason, Leonard logged the third most minutes for big men on the team at 16.5 through all five games. He played pretty well, too.
He averaged 10 points per game on 72.7 percent three-point shooting, along with 3.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists.
These are solid numbers, and they prove that Leonard can be a very effective shooter in the league.
The fantasy of having an ultra-spaced floor with a legitimate seven-footer as one of the better shooters in that lineup is intoxicating.