The recurring theme in that video for me is the number of wide open 18 footers defenses gave him. Teams have to put a center on him and focus so much on containing him inside that when he receives the ball for those shots it's like the defense goes, "Oh crap, we forgot he can do that too!" He's always had that shot, but in past years he's had to take it with a hand in his face. Now it feels like he's getting those shots in shootaround. I love the way he scores around the rim, but I count any possession where he gets a completely wide open 18 footer to be a success too.
He is, but I rarely see him. He was on some road trips at the beginning of the year, but not in the last 2 months. He did go to PHX with us for that overnight trip in January. Hope everything is OK.
Can you find out if there's anything wrong with either him or his family? I pray he doesn't follow Luke's footsteps. I don't want to be nosy, but he's a member of the Blazer family. I'm not interested in specifics, I just want to know that everything's okay.
Just asked and found out he is kind of a part time asst. Goes on just certain road trips. He will join us when we leave tomorrow morning. Everything is fine, he just travels occasionally.
Me. I've said about 10 times on this board over the months that the assistants have a lot to do with the changes, and you're the first to agree. Congratulations, and you are now the second-smartest person here.
While I know he said he wanted to during his 2nd and 3rd years, I actually don't want Aldridge to expand his range. I feel the low post and the mid-range game is where he'll find the success he has had these past two months. The mid-range game, I feel, is also very important as a secondary option because most championships have been won on mid-range games. History has proven that it has been more vital for PF's to have a Duncan, Garnet, McHale approach than the Nowitzki, Cliff Robinson approach (I'd make an exception to Rasheed, but he didn't shoot well during his 2003-04 championship playoff run).
In each of those videos there was a play where he put the ball on the floor and went to the whole and dunked the ball. On the one against Duncan he used a tiny pump fake but it was enough for Duncan to bite and he was at the rim. If he gets better at that, the sky is the limit for him. He doesn't even have to be better, just keep it in the arsenal.
I haven't seen every game he played prior to this year but I can't recall him doing it. I know he must have, but it couldn't have been very common. I can't think of something that would be more fun to do in basketball. I remember one game I played in our little crap gym league at Lake Shore Athletic Club 12 years ago. I hit eleven 3s and iced the game with six straight free throws (swear to GOD) but my favorite part of that game was a little pump fake I gave a guy from the corner three point line and went in for a layup. If I could have dunked the ball I would have cried with joy.
I one day hoped LaMarcus Aldridge could fulfill his potential and become another Chris Bosh. His current agressiveness shows me I underestimated his ceiling. He can be better than Bosh.
Since Roy went down - the Blazers lost only 3 times when LMA went over 20 (against Miami, Dallas, PHX) The team's record when he goes for 20+ since then is 15-3 It is pretty clear that if you want to win against the Blazers - you really have to limit LMA - as the team is 1-6 when he is limited under 20
There were several threads last summer and last season along the lines of: Aldridge vs. Bosh. Of course there were posters who said you do nearly anything in an attempt to "upgrade" from Aldridge to Bosh, but a surprising number of posters here wouldn't have traded to two straight up, let alone paid more in talent to get Bosh. Even at that time of the "old" Aldridge, to many he seemed a better fit for the other talent on the team (pick-and-pop vs. face up guy - longer, more versitile defender), and was settled in on the team, and was on a much more reasonable contract. Now that Aldridge is in the middle of blowing up, while Bosh has often struggled to be a complimentary type player, it would be interesting to do an updated poll.
