A NEW Aldridge hater. I am SICK and TIRED of people questioning Aldridge. He is our BEST player. So what if he sucks most games? All he needs is a fantasy Center to compensate for his flaws, and we will be SET.
Love has played two less seasons then LA but will soon have missed more then twice as many games (57 vs 106 and counting) STOMP
Tell me how a 1 rebound difference for someone already averaging 8.8 would account for roughly 1/6 of his total boards? 560/64=8.75/1. You're off by 'roughly' 50 percent... Gee, that's a tough one... maybe there are other things in basketball that he's good at? No that couldn't be it. 21.1 and 8.8 is elite company. It's Mr. Lamarcus and Lebron. If you can't see that, I don't know what to tell you. And in this elite company, he still draws criticism from an ignorant yet vocal minority, who'd love to trade him for Ben Gordon and MKG. If you allow a 1 rebound difference to determine your opinion on a player then you're not very smart. I don't think there are any scouts out there, people that actually know their shit, who talk like that. And if there are, they probably work for Charlotte. Doesn't matter - that he's averaged 20/10 in a season is what matters. Cause, it's like, a milestone, dude.
What's the hangup with counting stats? Yeah, 20 points a game is good, but if LMA (or Lillard, for that matter) scored 44 ppg on 50 shots a game (which is about the efficiency rate at which he's scoring right now), I'd be criticizing the hell out of him as well, because we's be way worse than we are now b/c that type of inefficiency kills teams. I don't consider JJ a better power forward just because he's getting more rebounds a game than LMA. Then again, I don't think much about LMA's #19 ranking for RPG, because (as was pointed out in the last couple of pages) if he played 48 minutes he'd probably average around 11, without being any better a rebounder. His R/min (or R/48min, if you like) is #56 in the league, tied with B. Lopez and D. West and right behind Derrick Williams. And for shooting/other offense, PPG isn't really what matters to me, because there's not much of a correlation at all between PPG and winning. What there is a correlation between is efficiency (offensive and defensive) and winning. So if LMA just stopped shooting 4 of his 12 jumpers a game, his PPG would go down to around 18.5 or 19, but the efficiency would go up. If he turned those 4 jumpers into 4 shots int he paint, he'd average around 23. As we've seen in the last week, when he spends more time inside and less time outside, he's kind of a beast. But we knew that. So no, if he averaged the exact same percentages (FG%, jumper%, rebound rates, shots in paint vs. outside jumpers) and either shot more or played more so that he was now a 22/11 guy or something, I still would be harping on his inefficiencies b/c (imho) it's still not helping the team. To put it another way, it's more efficient (and better for the team) if every time LMA is about to pull the trigger on a jumper he passes out to Babbitt or Nolan Smith to take a contested 3 that he makes at a 28% rate (and still meets the "spreads the floor" issue I keep hearing bandied about), and I don't think anyone wants that. But since it's a guy who has a bunch of high counting stats doing it, then people don't think about it that way. But if he channels a few of those jumpers into going down low, then the efficiency goes way up, and LaMonster starts having really good games. It's not nuclear physics, folks.
In the last couple of weeks, Hickson has been pulled back to give Aldridge space to play like a center. This shows that Aldridge can't play the inside game while coexisting with an active center, because Aldridge is a natural center. Meanwhile, the longer Hickson gets settled into his new submissive role, the less he is able to suddenly turn on his former self and bail us out if Aldridge doesn't come to play. Hickson did this repeatedly until a couple of weeks ago. That's why last night was a blowout. No Aldridge and no Hickson.
So maybe we need to find a defensive pf then? I still think Aldridge at center is the best position for him. It seems forcing him to play in the post helps the entire team. I advocated him at center for a long time. I think he has the strength now to be that man. He's second in the league in second chance points and a pretty good offensive rebounder. Why not just through max at millsap and keep Aldridge. Millsap is a damn good defender at pf and can work the paint as well.
Because Millsap isn't worth anywhere close to the max. What we offered him in '09 ($32M/4) is about what he should get this summer, IMO. Maybe another million/year higher.
Well in that case; we can retain maynor and sign millsap with our cap space. Regardless, millsap paired with Aldridge maybe a good thing.
Similarly, I wonder what David West (turns 33 this summer) will be offered. I wonder if he'll be available for a discounted price due to his age and his (perceived) role in Indiana.
Well we know he kills us historically. It would be nice to be the facilitator next season! Actually that's a really interesting idea. Even maybe looking at brand too. I'm still sold on dalembert and jerm as the one two center punch and bring Leonard at pf/c with 10-15 minutes a game. Freeland has surprised me as of late. I wonder if he actually holds value? Maybe a team is willing to take the risk?
We've been looking at centers all season, but I think it's clear that Aldridge would be far better at the center spot than any FA we might be able to get, and it's clearly easier to find a PF than a center. Somebody (Olshey?) needs to sit down with Aldridge and explain to him how much better it will be for him to be excellent at a position of scarcity rather than at a position of abundance, not to mention how much better it would be for the team to bring in someone like West than someone like Dalembert. I've now settled on this--my dream offseason would involve signing David West (check out his on/off court and PER against!), retaining Maynor, and then filling in the bench through the draft, hopefully with 3-4 year players who are ready to contribute (ie, CJ McCollum, Alan Crabbe, Richard Howell).
I don't understand why he wouldn't accept being a center; since most teams put their center on him already. Also, his range would force teams to bring their man out and not protect the paint. He's quick enough to dominate the position and is arguably our best one on one post defender. Even if he needs more energy playing that position; he may give us a more productive performance. 18-12-2.5 would be still all star numbers for a center, IMO.
this is going to turn out to be a classic thread . . . sorry MM your "deal coming soon" is being replaced.
Teams put their center on him while he's on the offensive end of the court. He already hates banging on the offensive end. Do you really think he wants to take more physical punishment on the defensive end? I don't think he wants that. He's said he wants a real center next to him. To me that sounds like he wants to focus on the offensive side of the court. He doesn't want the responsibility of being the center.
