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

Pretty much ... except we're not all wondering when Aldridge is going to pick up his 20th T of the year.

 

Didn't we sign him so 4 years later we could trade him for Chris Bosh? I think Aldridge has been slated as the second option for Portland and he really doesn't fit that bill. As said before he is really more of a 3rd option, but just getting paid 2nd option money. I'd personally like to see him play with more fire in his belly, but that doesn't appear to be his thing. You'll fall asleep watching him put together a 25/10 game, but that is just Aldridge, not very flashy. I doubt we trade him, but if something could be done to get Bosh with him agreeing to stay with Portland, then you do it to get your 2nd option scorer.

 

You guys are all missing the bigger picture. Aldridge may be less than hoped for at the moment, but that is in large part due to the crazy circumstances that have hit the Blazers this year. LMA is kinda soft. That does not mean he is not a good player. And next year, when he can once again be paired with the anti-soft Oden, be backed up by the anti-soft Pendergraph, his finesse game will shine and add a dimension on offense that will make this team near unstoppable. And on defense, he is not a shot blocker, but he does rotate very well and helps cover gaps nicely. Once Oden is back as the intimidater, Aldridge's quick rotations and coverings will allow Oden to take those gambles on defense.

 

We drafted him of course we were going to sign him or why draft him?

 

Guys with more blocks than Aldridge:

Jason Kidd
Baron Davis
Andre Iguodala
Rasual Butler
Rudy Gay
Brandon Rush
Martell Webster

etc, etc

 

Ownage.

 

Hardly, the only one on that list that scores more than LMA is Rudy Gay at 19.9 ppg at 45.8% and LMA is at 49%. Its a stupid list that compares apples to oranges.

 

Ouch.

 

Aldridge has gotten into a horrible bad habit of swiping at the ball. He's always done this from time to time, but now it's nearly every time his man exposes the ball.

His guy spins......swipe, drop steps....swipe, pump fakes....swipe, faces up and takes him off the bounce.....swipe. Pisses me off.


I'm fine when he does it when his guy is operating in the mid-range area, but when your 6' 11"+ w/ very long arms, you should be putting a hand up a and contesting hard around the rim almost every time.

Aldridge per 40min block #'s since a freshman in college (came out after his sophomore year) : 2.7, 2.3, 2.1,1.4, 1.0, 0.6....

 

The one objective reason for keeping Aldridge over Zach, was LMA's potential to be a far superior defensive player. Instead, LMA seems to have lost interest in playing defense. If he was a go-to player on offense, that might be acceptable. For a guy who is merely a nice 3rd option, it isn't.

I admit I am biased. I thought LMA was going to be an all-star - a game-changer at both ends. He is not even close to that, and I am very disappointed.

 

Thought we were going to get this



But we ended up with this

 

I love LaMarcus, but I saw this just now and it blew me away:

Points per 36 minutes this season:
16.7 Greg Oden
16.3 LaMarcus Aldridge

 

You're insulting Keith Van Horn.

KVH's 2nd year averages:21.8 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.0 spg, 1.3 bpg

Amazing. When did Sheed ever do that? When will LMA ever do that?

What the hell happened to Van Horn? He averaged almost 20 ppg his rookie year and lost out Rookie of the Year to Duncan. Duncan's still around. Where's Keith Van Horn?

 

He was part of that Jason Kidd deal wasn't he? I don't think he ever played for New Jersey after the trade. I'm guessing he is watch league pass on his couch saying "I bet I could still do that" while watching Duncan, Shaq, and heck let's throw out there Portland's Mr. Howard.

 

I don't specifically remember, but looking at his statistics over the years it appears as though he had some injury issues. He missed a lot of games in an otherwise solid first 6 seasons. Then he went to the black hole of New York where careers go to die.

Offensively I'm not gonna harp on Aldridge too much. The reason that the vision of the big three works so well is that Aldridge's game of mid range jumpers and offensive rebounds blends very well with Oden's post game and Roy's driving ability. So to evaluate Aldridge without those two elements just isn't fair.

But his lack of ability on the defensive end is just inexcusable. The one thing that everyone said separated Aldridge from guys like Channing Frye and Bargnani was his defense. Now he doesn't even have that. Call me crazy, but I'd rather have Channing at <5 mil than Aldridge at 11 mil.

My dream for Aldridge is that he can play the role for Greg that Charles Oakley played for Patrick Ewing. On offense he's basically a mid range jump shooter, but his defense and hustle are what make him worth the near max contract. Weren't there rumblings that the Blazers were looking to bring in Oakley as a big man coach?