Everyone can join us I suppose. And...... a wise man once said....http://sportstwo.com/threads/169947-Kevin-Love-On-The-BFT?p=2423307&viewfull=1#post2423307 Also, check out the post I quoted in my post and have a good laugh.
probably deserves a * as it was vs Love and the Wolves Aldridge may or may not make the All Star team, but no way should Love make it before him. Dude puts up only slightly more resistance on D then a nail does vs a hammer STOMP
I don't think that is fair. I have always thought LA was the best talent in that draft. As for the role, Portland has needed an inside presense ever since he got here. He could have done this every single year, but instead settled for outside shots.
In the month of January so far, Aldridge is averaging 27/10/2/1/1 on 53% FG. He's behind only KD, Wade, Monta, James, Griffin, and Amar'e in scoring this month. He's also 11th in rebounding. Yahoo ranks him as the 9th best player in the whole league for fantasy in 8 cat leagues.
Just looking at All Star chances: Yao, Melo, KD, Kome, CP3 will be starters. Stern can pick a player that plays any position to be the starter in place of Yao. And I think he'll pick Gasol to start. So that leaves three forward spots and a reserve position. Guards: Westbrook, Manu, Deron Forwards: Dirk, Griffin, Love Reserve: Aldridge or ZBo or Monta or Gay or Duncan (his stats don't warrant it this year, but he is TIM DUNCAN) It's gonna be tough. If Aldridge hadn't given Griffin and Love such a head start to begin the season, this would have been closer. If Melo is traded, LA's chances improve significantly.
Griffin is a rookie so may not be in the "parent" ASG. Duncan I think will get in; not only is he Tim Duncan, the Spurs have the best record. Parker may get in for the same reason. I can't see Gay & Zbo both on the team. Is Dirk a lock? Monta Ellis IMHO is just another guy who puts up big numbers on a bad team. Love is flavor of the month so he gets in. Aldridge has the same problem all Blazers do, they don't get headlines, they are not a big market, so they have to be stellar, not just very good, to get the nod. Remember during the 90s, for about 8 consecutive years Portland was the only team with a winning record and no all stars?
Yet another great call, Eyore. A bottom feeder coming into the Rose Garden, where the Blazers have played well. Where are the dunces that keep saying you are right more than you are wrong? Go Blazers
I agree with your take on Duncan. Spurs will get 2 all stars. Memphis is only ~2 games behind us, and it's not unfathomable for them to climb over us, and if that's the case, one of Zach or Gay might deserve it more than LA. But that's arguable. As for Griffin, the stats he's putting up are absolutely ridiculous. He's been far and away the best rookie to play in the league since Duncan, even if his team's record hasn't been good. Love is averaging better numbers than LA overall, and his gaudy stats really jump out. Even if LAC and MIN suck, Griffin and Love have been playing really well for longer stretches than Aldridge.
It's definitely a new era for power forwards. The New Improved Aldridge, Griffin and Love are going to be dominating at those positions for the next decade. Well, assuming we don't move Aldridge to center, which may happen depending on who we can find to fill in that hole long term. Of the three, Griffin excites me the most. Griffin is just such a freaky good athlete. With his injury history, I kind of wonder if he can continue to play like he does now when he eventually reaches his 30's. But if I'm a Clips fan I happily live with that worry. I'm not a huge fan of Love. Yeah he gets a ton of rebounds, but just watching him it seems like he gets a fair number of them by not focusing on defense. If you always leave it up to the other big man to block shots or rotate over on defense, you are going to get more boards. Love gets his numbers, but you can see on the court that Aldridge completely abuses him in the matchup. Plus, he's not really the kind of guy you can base an offense around. He doesn't seem to have a great low post game and although his three point shooting is uncanny, it's not where I want my power forward to get his points.
I agree. What I'm hoping for is that the coaches realize the possibility to vote in Gasol and Duncan AT CENTER (instead of going with, say Bynum or Nene), thus leaving more forwards spots. That would leave 2 forwards + 2 wildcards for Aldridge, plus hopefully Stern could send a forward too (Griffin or Aldridge, but definitely not Zach), since that is the position that will have the most snubs. Due to these circumstances (and the Melo trade), I'm fairly confident LA will get to LA.
of course it's the Western Conference coaches who fill out the bench for the AS game not hype driven media blowhards. Whats the chances that the coaches who game plan against the various players aren't aware that Kevin Love absolutely sucks at 50% of the game? Whats the chances that they don't correlate Love's Ole! interior defense with Minnisota's bottom feeder record? It's been rare for someone from a terrible team to be rewarded (by coaches) with an AS appearance, especially when there are other worthy options. Currently the Wolves are tied with Sacramento as the worst team in the West in point differential... how much AS consideration will the woeful Kings garner? STOMP
Of course it's rare for players on losing teams to make the All Star team. But it's just as rare for a guy to put up 21, 16, and 3 every night. Has a guy with those stats ever not made it? His numbers are just way too gaudy to ignore simply because his teammates suck. And fwiw, I think he's on par with ZBo/Boozer/West on D. He's really limited by his lack of lateral speed and height.
announcement of reserves is Feb 3, so coaches' ballots presumably have to be in no later than the end of Jan. Griffen vs. LMA on national TV this thursday likely coincides exactly with when coaches are most seriously thinking about their options. make or break baby!
And we're on TNT vs Boston next week on the 27th as well. More opportunities for LA to make an impression.
how did you miss my point? I'm not talking about his teammates, I'm talking about him. The goal of a team sport isn't to garner gaudy individual stats, it's to win games. Do you think this point is lost on NBA coaches? his defense sucks as much as any starting Big I can think of. Dude is a huge liability on that end of the court which is part of the reason they can't win games. IMO they'd win more games if LA was on their team in his place. They'd have a low post option to run their offense through and a strength (as opposed to a liability) on D STOMP
