Posted 08/07/2012 3:16 PM

Ok so again I have been a Blazers fan since NBA LIVE 10 came out....  As you might know I'm a fan of Myers Leonard and I see him aspiring to become great as a basketball player.  Anyways , watching the summer league team I was really impressed with the likes of Myers, Lilliard, Babbitt, and Barton.  Lets break down a little bit of info from what I gathered from scouting them via the summer league pass.



MYERS LEONARD



Great team player....Extremely raw talent. Going to be a great rebounder, shot blocker... Great body, great size, great conditioning, great pick setter who takes up a ton of space down low which is great.  Alley oop nation for this guy.  Myers will need to adjust his defense to funk up those offensive minded big men in the NBA.  I did see one game during SL play when some International guy was really holding his own against Myers displaying some good offensive awareness.  This will be Myers challenge, to continue to adapt to those big men outplaying them with his strengths. 



Myers has many strengths....Can run well, needs to work on his offensive game, (hook, face up jumper,posting up, backing down, the normal big man stuff) Myers jumps really high and will get tons of clean up points from missed jumpers while distracting multiple shots down low.  TRUE FREAK OF NATURE if you ask me "I'm just saying"  Will get dunked on this year but I truly hope that he realizes that it will come with the territory.  Will dunk on others as well.   Go Myers Leonard.....The future



DAMIAN LILLARD



 Damian Lilliard is really good.  What I like about Damians game is that he plays it well and is a TEAM PLAYER,  I mean at moments during the SL, I would say to myself "no don't shoot that, however a man must play his game correct?.  During summer league play Damian really controlled that offense and was the engine that could.  Damian showed me that he can take on any opposing PG defensively staying right in front of pretty much all his opposing matchups and wasnt giving an inch on the court, I mean "lock down fundamentally sound D."  That is what I think of when I think of Damian Lilliard, "fundamentally sound," and he will get better.  The idea of him being bigger, faster, stronger, will help him create his own Identity. 



On offense, Damian was magical on the court playing some truly inspiring basketball with a ballsy "bring it on, know you now who I am, approach, I even saw glimpses of "I'm better than you out there."  Damian is athletically gifted in terms of his ability to run, jump, quickness, etc and did posterize that Benson dude on a dunk however it wasn't Bensons fault nonetheless, great athletic demonstration by Mr.Lilliard.  Damian showed some decent shooting ability however will of course need to improve his consistency knocking down shots from anywhere on the court.  I really like Damians ability to pass the ball, push the ball, shoot the ball, his playing flat out, he should be a great teammate who plays within the framework with a chip on his shoulder.



LUKE BABBITT



Portland, this guy is Larry Bird.  I mean it, Luke has incredible range on his jumpers, impressive to say the least... A former 1st round pick, I think that this guy has an incredible upside. If Luke can continually knock down those 3's in transition and from kick outs Luke should help Portland accomplish some amazing feats on the hardwood.  Not only the 3's but the 2's as well the 17 fters and 12 ft shots.  Continue to beat your guy off the dribble showcasing your abilility to score the ball.  On the defensive side from my summer league observations, Luke played extremley hard, I mean his matchups didn't get anything easy that night.  If there was a summer league All Defense, I would put Luke on the 1st team as I was that impressed with his commitment on the defensive side of the ball playing against guys who might had a slight edge athletically (no pun intended there)Luke can hold his own out on the court and did make many highlight summer league plays including hanging on the rim.  Luke also appears to have tremendous confidence within a team game concept and will need many touches, however, I think that BABBITT is a team player who will make great decisions.  The key will be consistency as LUKE BABBITT has OUT OF THE GYM RANGE. 



WIL BARTON



Wil Barton was getting better with each and every summer league game, GOOD PICK.  I mean at first I was like "I don't know," however then the next game I was like "Good Play Dude."  I like this guy, I think that he knows his game well and that's really important.    Barton will be great as I think that his team ball IQ is outstanding and with a scorers mentality who has a knack for getting buckets, the sky should be the limit.  His play off the ball will be critical for him as he will need to move without the ball and coming off screens to knock down shots.  I would say that this guy can hit 50% from the field and get maybe 12-15 points a night contributing to bottom line.  His defense will be put to the test as he also will be guarding scorers "Ah Ha, gotcha." Barton is extremely athletic and plays a nice flow of basketball.  I find it nice when you have a scorers mentality as that's what you do "Score" and that's what Barton will do, always has, always will, finding a way to score.



I'm liking PORTLAND to make some noise out there in the NORTHWEST, With LaMarcus, Batum, and these young guns, ITS TIME TO WIN...