The Reason I think John Hollinger is a hack

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/players/hollinger?playerId=2983

First off, Aldridge played out of position frequently last year at center, and secondly in what universe does Greg Oden on the low Block and Aldridge in the high post equal less minutes for LaMarcus? I'm not saying there aren't areas for improvement in LaMarcus' game, but if you look at his game last year all he did was get better after the all-star break developing a honest to goodness low post game that had been nonexistent in the early part of the year.

LMA gets so little respect it seems.

 

He has no clue!

 

It's only John Hollinger... no one really cares about he says.

 

Whistling past the graveyard?

I'm a big LMA fan - but he is very much a finesse player. His defense and rebounding are soft for a guy with his size and talent. I never really expexted him to be the 2nd coming of Dennis Rodman on the boards, but his defense has been moderately disappointing.

 

Hollinger isn't a scout, so can't really be taken seriously when he tries to give scouting reports. Or rather, he can be taken exactly as seriously as any random fan.

Where he has some value is his statistical models. Whenever he talks about how a player looks on the floor, or his style of play, it's basically equivalent to listening to Tom Cruise talk about particle physics. Not exactly going to his strength.

 

Hollinger said that if Nate plays small ball like he did at times last season, Aldridge might be the one to sit instead of Oden. I think Nate might be more likely to try a really big lineup rather than a really small one this season, but I don't see anything wrong with the statement that if Nate does go small, he might choose to sit Aldridge and play Oden more, although I could also see Nate resting Oden more than we think to keep him from getting in foul trouble, tired or hurt.

Hollinger also said Oden might take some shots away from Aldridge, but would allow Aldridge to see fewer defenders, and therefore get better shots, leading to scoring the same amount of points on a higher FG%. I don't have a problem with that.

The one statement Hollinger made that I could see fans having an issue with is Aldridge being soft. Aldridge shoots more than he posts up and doesn't have huge rebounding numbers, so I see what he is saying, but we've had Joel Przybilla, so we haven't had much of a need for Aldridge to play post defense and get rebounds, and we will have Greg Oden as well this season, so I don't see that changing much anytime soon.

I don't see much to get excited about in what Hollinger said about Aldridge.

 

I think it's likely that both Roy and LA average less minutes then they did last year. That won't be a sign of them regressing as players, it's more the natural result of having quality depth.

STOMP

 

You don't sit LMA for a small lineup very often. I have said LMA might end up our best player and I think there is a good chance he is our top scorer this year. I know there are a few poster here that wanted to keep Zbo but LMA numbers were as good as Zbo was last year and didn't have to dominate having the ball to get those stats. I do agree he played a little soft last year but I don't think he will with Oden playing center. I normally don't think Hollinger is that bad but on LMA I don't think he knows what he is talking about and probably could be considered a hack.

 

I'm with Ed O. I would watch games last year and basically repeat exactly what Hollinger said while watching Aldridge. It's sort of the truth and hard to argue against that.

 

Glad to see more people realizing that Hollinger knows nothing about basketball other than his derived statistical analyses, which have their own flaws.

 

I like reading Hollinger.

And there is nothing I disagree with in the article. LaMarcus is a low mistake player and a frustratingly mediocre rebounder. Plus his minutes will probably drop because of Greg. We know McMillan likes to use Travis at power forward in the 4th quarter. Do you really think LaMarcus will average 34.9 minutes a game again this year with all the weapons Nate has at his disposal?

 

Wow, really? You think that if LMA was any softer, you would use him to blow your nose? Why don't you tell that to LMA?

Hollinger's problem, consistently, is that he lets his personal opinions cloud his statistical analysis. He is a hack.

 

Aldridge is soft. I don't see how anybody can argue that he's not soft.

I checked out his stats on draftexpress.com and he averaged 9 rebounds per 40 minutes pace adjusted. That's the lowest of any PF who got 30+ minutes last season. Just .1 behind Rasheed Wallace. Lower than Gasol, who's famous for being soft.

How often do you see Aldridge mixing it up inside? Throwing guys around? Realling putting his body on somebody on defense? Not very often.

He's one of the softest big men in the game. But being soft isn't a problem, being unskilled is a problem. Aldridge is clearly very skilled, so I can accept his softness. Apparently not that many people around here can.

 

I agree and being soft isn't as importrant as being skilled and LMA is very skilled. I do agree he is soft especially when playing center but IMO it won't matter as much with Oden in the middle.

 

Let's be honest. Hollinger had a higher opinion of Sheed and Zach than a certain segment of Blazer fandom. To those folks, he will always have zero credibility - even when he says "the sky is blue", "the earth is round", or "LMA is soft!"



And now, a pirate and his dancing penguins - just because!

 

LMA IS soft. but i think he is an average defender already. Having Oden will completely nullify this weakness. hopefully.

 

I'll take a crack at it... LA trended up in boards and activity towards the end of the year. Check the stats.

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/lamarcus_aldridge/game_by_game_stats.html

STOMP

 

I must admit that there were times last year that when I saw LaMarcus back off rebounds to avoid contact that I did think he was as soft as a Kleenex. I wouldn't be afraid to say that to LaMarcus but I wouldn't because I like the kid. Just like I liked Rasheed despite playing much the same way.