. . . If Aldridge played like that every night. But of course he was just showing off to all his friends in Dallas last night. He's not really that kind of a player, you see. Most nights he'd rather shoot 18-foot jumpers and just lope up and down the court. Playing hard inside is just too much work--unless he's in front of his hometown friends, that is. Maybe we should play all of our games in Dallas or ship LA's friends to Portland for our home games. Perhaps that's our best hope of tapping Aldridge's true potential.
or maybe, just "maybe" with Roy now obviously a shadow of his former self Aldridge will grow into the role of "main" man. My confidence in that happening is not high I admit, but we saw a glimmer of hope it "could happen" last night. Lets see if we can perhaps see more of that, maybe something good will come of this so far dreadful season.
And between Chandler and Dirk, he's going up against quality bigs and still dominating in the post - imagine how well he could do that against the 10-12 teams in the league that are without decent bigs. Lamarcus is where we have to pin our hopes at this point, hopefully he's up to the challenge.
With all due respect, there is no tough front-line on Dallas. Dirk is an incredible shooter, but not an inside force. Neither is Chandler. I certainly give credit to LMA for recognizing the opportunity and attacking the basket; that is what you should do. When he can do that consistently against teams with tough inside defenders, then I'll agree that LMA has turned an important page in his career.
Same could be said for Batum in last nights game. It's games like this one that make LMA so god damn frustrating. It sure seems like the only guy who can really stop LaMarcus is LaMarcus.
Channeling my inner MediocreMan (but without the perpetual snarkiness) I think we'd see more of this from both LA and Nic if the Blazers played at the faster pace that they did in the second half of last night's game. Now that Roy can't do what he used to do so well, the offense needs to play to the strengths of the other guys.
I totally agree, Roy should be pushed out of the starting lineup in favor of Matthews and Batum. Our second unit is the one struggling, so why not throw Roy in there as the first option, what does it matter if Roy is scoring with the first unit or second? It's very apparent to everyone now that he is dragging down the first unit, on both O and D.
Now you know why I no longer dream of Aldridge becoming an elite PF. All you will do by doing that is set yourself up for dissappointment. When we got Aldridge, I was sure he would become a top tier PF. He had all the tools. But after 4 seasons of seeing him take himself out of the game mentally over and over, and no increase in production from year to year (His production is almost completely proportional to the number of minutes he plays) you just get sick of seeing the same old BS, different year. How many games do we see Aldridge have one fantastic quarter only to dissappear the rest of the game? Lamarcus has all the tools, except for the motor to back it up. That is the problem. Elite players usually have the will and drive to become great. He does not have that.
I, too, am angry that Aldridge is not more talented. It makes me furious. How dare he not be as talented as we'd like him to be? Let me recycle the old Trailblazers fan refrain about Rasheed Wallace, which I'm sure will be recycled again for a future Portland player: he could be the best in the NBA if he just wanted to, but he doesn't care. I think Armon Johnson could be the best point guard in the NBA if he just tried and cared and had little hustle.
Who said anything about talent? I think Aldridge has all the talent in the world, he just doesn't play as hard as he should on most nights. That's what you should be furious about. Exactly. Now you're starting to understand.
TBH, he had a great fourth quarter, but he didn't "show up tonight" until then. He was taking long jumpers, missing when he was on the block, and not setting any picks (and "slipping" to the 19' mark) . He then got into the groove with a few nice passes for dunks and started attacking the basket. I like that LMA. I still don't think he's capable of being the guy you pass to on the block to initiate the offense without some increase in either passing or low-post skills, but the active up-and-down guy who's available for, well, garbage and lobs and dunks (and pulling his man out to the 3pt line) can be a great asset.
Maybe LA got the word the organization is going to blow this thing up and he was showcasing himself to the Mavs last night. I have no confidence he will repeat this performance. I would have more confidence if they would run the offense to the strengths of LA and everyone else not named Brandon Roy.
A telling stat they brought up last night was that Aldridge was shooting 31% in the 4th quarter of games. Something I've been saying for a while now is that he disappears in games. Only to be met with a, "I don't care where he gets his points as long as he gets them". That logic is one of the reasons why this team is as bad as it is. Closing out games is what good players do. Thats the reason why we've let teams consistently come back from 10 pt deficits and lose games in the 4th quarter. Last night was fun to watch Aldridge play, I wish he could bring it every night. But, lets be real, Dallas played zone the whole game allowing Aldridge the space that he needs to be effective. You put a body on Aldridge all night long and let him know that a presense is there and he struggles.
So does Armon Johnson. He has the talent to be better than Chris Paul if he tried harder. Prove me wrong. Oh, don't worry, I'm not just starting. I've understood your rants for years: you deal with frustration about players not being as good as you'd like them to be by trying to make it a moral deficiency in the player so you can feel justified raging at them.
Is saying someone is unassertive or lacks killer instinct really accusing them of a moral deficiency? Calling them lazy, or saying they are tanking, clearly fits...but is that what people are saying about LMA? You seem to be reading the criticism differently then I am. It used to drive me up the wall that people bashed Zach for not being as physically gifted as Duncan or KG.....but this strikes me as rather different. LMA and Batum would both be better players if they developed a bit of a mean streak. They would also be less popular with casual fans and the media. Nor would they have fit as well with a healthy Roy and superstar Oden. That's the devil's bargain the Blazers have made.
