The Miami Heat are a slightly different team heading into this season. One of the new players that represent some of this difference is big man, Meyers Leonard.
The Miami Heat are what some would call a team in flux. While they aren’t a complete representation of being in flux, there are still certain parts and/or aspects of the team that are as fluid as they come.
In example and with the addition of Jimmy Butler, not only will they have to figure out how to get the most out of him and his abilities, but the rest of the team also has to figure out the best way to play beside, around, and off of him. Another aspect that represents this fluidity has everything to do with the trading of he who is not to be named to Portland.
Not only does this represent the simple fact that he is no longer there, but it also highlights the fact that the Bam Adebayo era as the main big man should be starting. Another aspect of fluidity surrounding that particular trade with Portland revolves around the player that came back to the Miami Heat from the Trail Blazers.
As a condition of that deal that also saw Moe Harkless land with the L.A. Clippers, the Miami Heat acquired big man Meyers Leonard from the Trail Blazers. That is just where the flux presents itself again though, all around Leonard. Specifically when thinking about how Leonard’s situation is fluid, not only do the Heat have to figure out how to mesh him into the rotation of bigs that they already have but more important is the fact that this will probably have everything to do with which version of Leonard they are getting.
When thinking about Meyers Leonard, you could be getting the Leonard that has been a minor role player for the Blazers for most of his career. Coming out of Illinois, Leonard was supposed to be a athletic, shot-blocking, rim running physical presence who would be the landlord of the paint. Well, as time went on and he started to want to drift out farther and farther from the basket, the realization was made that he may never be that guy as described above.
In reality, he hasn’t quite developed into a dominant rebounder or shot-blocker, with career averages of just 3.7 total rebounds per game and 0.3 blocks per game. His highest individual season average in rebounds was the 2015-16 season where he averaged 5.1 rebounds across 21.9 minutes, whereas his highest individual season average in blocks came in his rookie season of 2012-13 at just 0.6 blocks per game across 17.5 minutes played.
What makes Meyers look even worse is the fact that in 2017-18, he averaged 0.0 blocks per game, although he only averaged 7.7 minutes per contest. There is another side to Leonard though.
In this past season’s playoffs, and specifically against the Golden State Warriors, Leonard shone brightly. In game three of their series against the Warriors, Leonard scored 16 points, with three rebounds, and four assists in 31 minutes of action. In game four he outdid those numbers by putting up 30 points, 12 rebounds, and three assists across 40 minutes of action.
There are several different takes that one could come away with here. The first is that these two games were anomalies. They were simply one-offs, albeit in a back to back fashion against arguably the best team in the league.
The second take could be that he was playing up to his competition and up to the moment, with those two instances both occurring in playoff games, the most pressure packed time of the NBA season. The last take in particular for this matter is that he was finally set free by the coaches to play his game and be who he is.
If there was pressure to make one call on it, it would be a blend of scenarios two and three. While he probably did play up to the moment and the competition, this was also fostered by the fact that he was probably set free to be him.
If the Miami Heat can find a way to incorporate what he does well into a gameplan that also encourages him to be just a bit more physical, they can get Playoff Meyers for the most part. It is a given that in the Miami Heat system, he will be more physical and aggressive when it comes to crashing the boards and blocking shots, he just has to be in a Pat Riley/Erik Spoelstra led environment.
However, there should also be a confidence that the Miami Heat liked what they saw during the series against the Warriors, which is probably a reason for wanting to land him in the first place. He should not only help to replace the size that the Heat shipped to Portland, but he can also help space the floor, which creates open lanes for drivers and gives the Heat a great deal of potential lineup versatility. So to answer the question, the Miami Heat should be getting at least 75 percent of the Meyers Leonard that we saw in the playoffs against Golden State, because they will surely try to pull that particular Meyers out of him.