Newly re-signed Trail Blazers big man Meyers Leonard joined Brian Wheeler and Michael Holton over the phone on this week's edition of Courtside to talk about his new contract, rehabilitation from shoulder surgery, basketball camps and, of course, his growing head of hair among other topics.
Here are the highlights...
On his first free agent experience
"On the business side of basketball, I tried to do as little as I could. I try to let my agent handle it. At that time — and still right now — what’s most important to me is my rehab and getting better on the court… It was stressful. When you go through those sorts of contract negotiations and different things like that, you’re trying to decide on a number and your agent is saying one thing. The team is saying another, and I feel a certain way about myself.
I’m really happy with how the way things turned out. I really, really like Portland a lot. I see just an amazing young group of talent and I feel that I’m a big piece of that puzzle. I look to continue to improve and be a part of the future here because it’s very bright."
On his mental approach returning from shoulder surgery
"It’s easier, in some ways, when you’re out to be able to sit back and watch and kind of take in what’s going on on the court. Now, having gone through watching the playoffs, going through my surgery and now rehabbing through the summer, I’ve really been able to kinda dig deep and watch film and understand how I can continue to contribute in the ways I have and I how I can continue to improve and what more I can do with this team."
On his timetable for return
"My rehab has been absolutely fantastic. Our training staff is phenomenal. [Director of Health and Player Performance] Chris Stackpole, [Head Athletic Trainer] Geoff Clark, all the way down the line, they’ve been very, very good with me…
As far as a timeline, it’s kinda hard to put an exact date on it. We’re going back to see the doctor on August 1, and we’ll have definitely a much better of when, let’s say, a one to two week window will be. The hope is that I will be able to be ready around the first game of the season — the being a regular season game. Right around November. Hopefully back into contact and, let’s say, one-on-one or some controlled environment stuff, maybe mid-October. Hopefully it goes quicker than that, but if you think about it on the business side of basketball, I guess, I want to be ready as quick as I can, but if it’s a four-year investment, I want to make sure I can be healthy for the long term but yet still knowing I want to be back and help this team as soon as possible. I’ll just be diligent and just be ready to go once I’m cleared to go."
On his flowing locks
"I’ve always, for some reason, wanted to have extremely long hair at least once in my life. For whatever reason, I picked now. I decided probably two months ago now that I was just going to let it go. I’ve already accepted that I’m going to go through awkward stages. I have a ton of hair, so it’s just gonna be poofy and weird looking. I’ll figure out a way to get through it. It’s not gonna be an exact timeline because I don’t know what it’s gonna look like and how long it’s gonna take to grow, but I’m going to have long hair. Very long hair."
On his annual summer camps
"Number one, I think it’s important that I’ll be there. Sometimes I think guys will just show up and kinda show their face. I think it’s important for me when I go back to my hometown, I try to run every single part of the camp and everything like that. I’m going to have a staff here that’s going to be helping me.
I think it’s very important for me to be around the kids, to interact with the kids, to teach the kids, to jump from station to station to teach them about the game — just overall, to show my face and give them encouragement."