Different writers and media outlets have again offered up the idea of at least exploring the idea of trading LaMarcus Aldridge. While on the surface, that idea seems ludicrous. The Blazers are coming off their first playoff series win in over a decade and have a young nucleus of players to build around. But there is always another side. LA has increasingly become a less efficient player each year. His shooting percentage is in decline as is his total points per shot. In fact he ranks near the bottom of his own team when compared with the rest of the starters. Now that doesn't mean 'ditch him' but it is a long term trend that will not likely reverse itself. LA takes (and can make) the toughest, most inefficient shot in basketball...the turn around, fade-away 15-20' shot. He makes that better than anyone else in the league and it is almost indefensible. The problem is, it is still not an efficient shot. If that is the only shot the Blazer offense can generate at times, perhaps Stotts isn't the offensive guru we all think he is. Even the playoffs were a testament to reality. His first two games against an undermanned Terrance Jones were of historical beastiness. The rest of the playoffs? 78-191... .408% shooting. That isn't even average. His 'handle' isn't any better than it was years ago rendering him almost useless when he has to put the ball on the floor more than once. It is not a 'sky-is-falling' scenario. LaMarcus can still be counted on for solid numbers on almost any night but the efficiency of those numbers is of very low rank and thereby put the Blazers at a disadvantage from an overall scheme in some cases. If LA is shooting long fade-aways, the other team gets longer rebounds and more fast break opportunities. Portland gets outscored on the break on a nightly basis and that is certainly a contributing factor. LA is still very good on defense as well and in fact, I believe an under-rated defender for the entire league. Without blocking shots, he moves his feet well, plays smart and get his hands on a lot of balls down low before the shot ever goes up. So as LA is at his peak, is that peak high enough to not at least contemplate moving him? Is he that #1 that can take you to the next level? Remember, it took 2nd year Damian Lillard's miracle '3' at the buzzer to get them to the next round. I like LA and he puts up amazing numbers but in a historical sense, he seems like more of a 'compiler' like a Dominique Wilkins than someone who is going to lead his team to contender status. Not sure if that is worth $100+ million over a 5 year contract from age 30-35.
You know, I think the core is set. For better or worse, I think it is. If Paul Allen was interested at all in rebuilding, I think he and/or Nic would have been gone. I think it's a retool. I think they think they can win the big one with these guys. Anything they do will be to improve the depth of the team.
Yes, you're right, you can't do that here, mods suck, homers suck and you're a victim. (There, I just saved you 4 or 5 more posts. You can thank me later.)
Aldridge is Not a good defender! He doesn't protect the rim, he Never challenges a strong drive, he is terrible at help defense and he doesn't box-out. He's a decent one-on-one defender and can guard the perimeter better than most big-men but he's Not underrated defensively, having his poor defensive ability on the court for 40 minutes a game is one of our biggest weaknesses.
A lot of the complaints about LMA is more up to Stotts and Olshey to take care of. LMA has his clear strengths and weaknesses, it's up to Stotts to build an offense that takes advantage of the strengths and limits the weaknesses. This is one of the things that has made Pops such a great coach and why he gets so much out of average role players. He puts them in positions where they can succeed at a high efficiency. Also it's up to Olshey to find the right personnel to play along side LMA. The best example of this is Lopez. He is the perfect center to play with LMA. His strength in screening rebounders away from the basket, blocking shots was the perfect compliment to LMA. LMA is not a perfect player, there are very few, actually only Lebron comes to mind as a player with the fewest holes in his game. Even Durant has to have the right complimenting cast of players around him to take full advantage of his skills. It's far too easy to pick apart a very very good player and point out all of the things they can't do. It's much more difficult to find ways to limit the weaknesses and take advantage of the strengths. That's exactly what Stotts and Olshey did this past season and we all got to see the results.
I think if the term for better or worse is used after you say the core is set, there is a problem with the core
Sly - both Lopez and Freeland are very good defenders, T-Rob is also much better defensively, Nic is the best defender in the business. At some point LaMarcus has to realize he's not really an elite-player until he starts to Really Care about defense. If he makes it a top priority and works hard to improve through 82 games we'd be much, much better next year. These things I listed he doesn't do well are all Major flaws and most if not all of them can be much improved simply by effort.
Aldridge is better than all those guys on defense, imo. Maybe not Batum when he's fully locked in, but LA is probably the best defender on the team overall. I mean seriously....T-Rob better? T-Rob makes some good highlight plays, but is pretty clueless most of the time.
Does he guard the rim? Does he box-out? Does he rotate well or has a good understanding of team defense?
He's a better one-on-one defender than Robin but he's one of the worst bigs in the league in playing team defense, helping guys getting beat of the dribble, understanding positioning and movement on defense and the worst thing is he is probably not going to get better because there are actually fans that'll call him a good defender based only on wishful thinking.
Dude, what are you talking about? His job isn't to protect the rim. That's Lopez's job. That's why Lopez was such a great fit. Aldridge has a great understanding of team defense. He's tied for the highest DRTG on the team while playing the most minutes per game, leads the team in defensive win shares despite only playing 69 games, and also holds his counterpart to below 15 PER whether he's playing PF or C while outrebounding them (http://www.82games.com/1314/13POR13.HTM). If you were to try and identify a weak spot in our defense, LMA is probably the last guy I would look at. Also, why are you questioning his rebounding when he just averaged a career high 26% DRB%, and the Blazers for the season pretty much didn't have a problem with rebounding?
So you're telling me he's our best defender, as long as he has Robin to protect the rim, box-out... Having two guys who protect the rim and box-out instead of one wouldn't hurt us, you know.
What is your problem? A player doesn't have to do every single thing on defense to be a plus defender. How many teams in the league start a PF/C combo in which both players actively guard the rim? The Spurs do it with Duncan/Splitter (And the Rockets I guess, in the postseason). After that, I've got nothing.
I think he can get MUCH better with effort and by making it his first priority. Players add elements to their game all the time. If Aldridge upgrades his team-defense he would really be elite and we'd be hard to stop.
