I'll get the ball rolling. WHY did we sign Aldridge?

I did my part.

 

To give you something to bitch about

 

Ummm I started this thread for good luck since there was a similar thread about Miller before tonight's game.

 

I really hate his game.

It's either a step-back jump shot or a little baby hook.

He doesn't attack the hoop at all. He's also averaging 0.5 BPG.

He's Keith Van Horn minus the three point shot.

 

Better defense than van Horn, the final stretch of this game excepted.

 

ouch

 

Career Defensive rating: 104

Career Defensive rating: 108

Guess who's who.

 

The "P" word

 

Aldridge has one of those easily-offended, standoffish personalities that makes him hard to coach.

All summer long, posters said, "Come on Pritchard. Hurry up and sign Aldridge. Give him whatever he wants. Don't take a chance on losing him." And I said on another board, "He's not worth anything near the maximum, that he's trying to get. Play hardball with him. If he goes FA after the season, you can trade him before that."

 

The guy is almost 7'0" with a 7'5" wingspan. His 0.5 BPG is flat out embarrassing.

 

And unaccpetable. He's going to be one of those guys that you are going to have ride. It's a shame but something I firmly believe. Nate may not be the guy to get the most out of him.

 

It's often hard to get blocks when you're on the perimeter for defense.

 

we know... how many times in one day do you need to inform us of this opinion?

STOMP

 

same goes for defensive rebounds... he was shadowing Dirk for much of the night.

dude did get 4 blocks the previous night

STOMP

 

The guy can score. He's a decent second or third option on offense. He spreads the floor. Teams can't ignore him. He is capable of rebounding and defending. He's still young. I'm not unhappy with LMA. Could he be better? Yes. Could he be an All-Star? Yes. Is he ever gonna be the man? Probably not, but we don't need another Brandon Roy. We need a guy who can score, go about his business, and not bitch about touches or shots.

 

get iggy or trade for bosh or amare. thats the answer

 

Much like Sheed, he'll always be measured against what he "should" be achieving in some mythical world where he averages 25/10. He's just not going to do that. Particularly in a slow-down offense like ours. He's really a very, very bad fit for a Nate McMillan team. And, much like Sheed, he's saddled himself with expectations that come with an overpriced contract.

Portland hasn't had a starting point guard worth a damn for 14 or so years (until Andre). At the same time, though, we've had a ridiculous wealth of quality power forwards. Grant, Sheed, O'neal, Randolph, Aldridge....I think one consequence is that we take 18/8 (or whatever) from our starting PF as pretty much a given, and that "good" ones are at least 20/10. Probably like Utah fans assume 7-8 assists/game as just getting by, when we'd kill to have that kind of consistent production over the last decade.

Truth is that Aldridge is (like Sheed was) an above average starting PF who brings some defensive intangibles that aren't measured in blocks or defensive rebounds. And, again like Sheed, his finesse offensive game makes him a nice second or third banana, but somewhat infuriating when he's the main focus.

You can pretty much dig out old Sheed posts from 2002 (minus all the talk about techs and other insanity) and you pretty much have current Aldridge posts.

 

I'm gonna say it's a combination of fear and inexperience. KP is great at draft day, but this is his first set of contract negotiations. So it makes a certain amount of sense that they'd go a little rough. Aldridge has a seasoned agent on his side and as far as I know the Blazers don't have anyone with significant experience in such matters on their side.

I also think that Paul Allen and the Vulcans (good name for a band?) are likely to have interfered a lot. Left to his own devices KP might have done the smart thing and waited another year to sign LA. But his bosses just aren't patient enough. Same thing happened with Darius Miles. John Nash wanted to haggle but the powers that be don't have the patience to let the GM do their job.

 

Personally, I'd like to see Aldridge add about 20 lbs. of muscle. He also needs to work on his lower-body strength....then actually USE it!