November 2, 2019

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June 29, 2018

Jon Leuer
PF - 6’10, 228lbs - 29 years old - 7 years of experience

This was a lost year for Leuer, who hardly played, and who was clearly not healthy when he did.

After a career-best campaign in 2016/17 - in scoring, at least - Leuer posted a whole load of nothing this year in very little court time. An ankle injury cost him the season, and although Anthony Tolliver and Reggie Bullock subbed in pretty darn well relative to expectation, this was partly why the Pistons ran out of talent at year’s end.

Leuer had started to struggle in the second half of last season. Maybe that was ankle related, maybe not. Who knows. What is known is that Leuer at his best is a high IQ glue guy, post-feeder, sometime driver, mid-range shooter and decent rebounder who is not the most athletic player, most impactful defender or best shooter, but who does contribute on an NBA court by knowing what to do and having the size to do it.

That sort of player for that sort of output might not be worth this sort of money. But he is worth something. This year’s Leuer wasn’t. So hopefully the ankle surgery did what it needed to do and Leuer will come back in his prime.

Player Plan: Two years and $19,510,724 remaining. No trade value at this time, all things considered, unless Detroit are willing and able to do the take-bad-2020-salary thing, which there is surely no way that they are. As such, play it out.

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June 29, 2017

Jon Leuer
PF, 6’10, 228lbs, 28 years old, 6 years of experience

His year-on, year-off three-point stroke had the year off, which hopefully means it will be back next year. It truly disappeared during the final stretch of the season, and Leuer’s confidence looked shot. Despite his solid all-around game, his headiness, his cuts and his mid-ranger, the stretch part of his game is going to be the most important in the team context. The teams wants to play four out but has no high quality shooters with which to do so. Leuer needs to be one, be it as a starter or a key bench player.

Player Plan: Three years and circa $30 million remaining. His contract declines as the MLE will grow, making his contract essentially an MLE sized one in the back end, at which point, if he is still solid by then, he will have good value on the market.

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December 30, 2013

[...] The Grizzlies's roster is fairly young overall, but not the rotation, which is fairly old. Gasol is about to turn 29 and, when healthy, is at his career apex. Randolph is 32 and starting to slowly decline (although being so unreliant upon athleticism may make said decline a mercifully slow one). Allen is about to turn 32, while Prince is about to turn 34 and has lost his athleticism, jump shot and effectiveness. Mike Miller, the bench leader in minutes, is to turn 34 in a few weeks and is limited now to a one dimensional shooting specialist. The only rotation players to still be short of their primes are Conley (26), Bayless (25), Davis (24) and the sneaky-good Jon Leuer (24).

[...] Along the way, however, they have made mistakes that have handicapped this future. Last year's trade with Cleveland saw them give up a 2015 first round pick to move Wayne Ellington, Speights and Josh Selby in a salary dump designed to get under the tax, only for the following week's Gay trade to move them significantly under it anyway. The pick is heavily protected -- both 1 through 5 and 15 through 30 for 2015 and 2016, protected only 1 through 5 in 2017 and 2018, and unprotected in 2019 -- yet potentially expensive. It was the classic example of sacrificing the future to preserve the present, made doubly painful by its redundancy in light of the following week's deal. Only Leuer, who arrived from Cleveland, salvages that deal.

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June 25, 2011

Picks 40 and 41: Off camera, Milwaukee picks hometown boy Jon Leuer, who has even less playing time available to him than Tobias Harris. The Lakers follow this up with the first of their four picks, Darius Morris, who is in the building. He too hugs Adam Silver. Adam Silver is inherently huggable.

[...]

Pick 42: For some bizarre reason, as a part of the George Hill/Kawhi Leonard deal, Indiana are the team giving up the extra assets. They ship the number 42 pick to the Spurs in the deal, where San Antonio used it to take Davis Bertans, the ultimate draft-and-stash candidate who really should have gone about ten picks previously. Bertans is only 18 years old, and could well be amongst Europe's best when he hits 24. Will Jon Leuer be among Europe's best when he hits 24?

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March 17, 2011

The Badgers turned it over only 7 times a game, a deliberate and welcome by-product of spending 30 seconds on every possession not dribbling the ball. The team's turnover leader is also its leading scorer and rebounder, 6'10 forward Jon Leuer, who puts up 18.9 points and 7.2 boards per game on 48% shooting, but only alongside a ghastly, hideous 1.5 turnovers per game. Despite that travesty, Leuer is a competent inside/outside offensive player; without much explosion or ever looking truly fluid, Leuer can drive the ball, makes jumpshots despite his ugly old release, can create on the low box, and is a constant mismatch as a 6'10 face-up scorer.

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