Boston Celtics: 2 veteran replacements for Vincent Poirier

Meyers Leonard

Who Meyers Leonard is as a player is very likely who the Boston Celtics wanted Vincent Poirier to be in 2019-20.

No, Leonard will not blow anyone away with his on-court production. However, he is a solid presence on both ends of the floor that isn’t afraid to get physical and do the little things that don’t typically find their way onto the stat sheet.

Spending his first seven seasons with the Portland Trailblazers, the 7-0 big finds himself now in South Beach, suiting up for the Miami Heat after an offseason trade that saw Hassan Whiteside sent to Rip City.

In 20.1 minutes of play per game, Leonard finds himself averaging a productive 6.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game on 52 percent shooting from the field and 43 percent shooting from deep.

Again, no one should expect the 27-year-old to come in and serve as the “answer” to the C’s center rotation. However, he could really help the team in three major weak areas: size in the paint, secondary offense, and perimeter scoring.

Currently, the team’s tallest standing player — that actually logs significant minutes — is Enes Kanter (6-10). Viewed as a punchline on defense, the team could certainly use a big presence down low to help on that side of the ball when need be. Though Leonard is no Defensive Player of the Year candidate himself, he certainly is an upgrade to Kanter and, with his Greek God-esque, 260-pound frame, he’d be a highly useful able-bodied big in the paint to make lane drivers second guess themselves.

As for how he could help improve their second-unit offense, the seven-year veteran is a career 39 percent shooter from beyond the arc. With the fact that the team’s bench ranks 29th in the league in scoring and 27th in 3-point percentage, anyone who shoots better than 35 percent from downtown would be welcomed with open arms.

Put these qualities into an athletic seven-footer and you have an intriguing free agent target come the offseason.