On Crawford: When Aldridge played with Crawford during Kevin Durant's charity game in Oklahoma City last month, Crawford expressed a desire to play for the Blazers. Aldridge didn't merely embrace the idea, he lobbied for the move on Twitter, writing: "Rip City when (Crawford) come play in my game we need to make him feel at home so he will sign with us!" The Blazers and then-GM Rich Cho tried to trade for Crawford at the trade deadline last season and Aldridge remembers hearing rumors about the move at the time. So he asked Crawford if they were true. "He said, 'Yeah,' and that he would love to come play in Portland," Aldridge said. So Aldridge is drumming up support. "I'm not being bashful," Aldridge said. "I would love for him to come play in Portland. I put it out there so he knows I'm serious. If he really wants to do that, I wanted him to know I'm behind it. "He's a really good player. He doesn't mind coming off the bench. Or starting. He can bring a different dynamic to the team. He's great at pick and rolls; he's a really good shooter. When I get double teamed, it would leave him open in the corner."
On Bayno's departure: Bayno had been a driving force behind the development of Aldridge's game over the years. Not only did they work together behind the scenes throughout Aldridge's first five seasons in the NBA, the two worked together each summer to mold Aldridge into the star he became last season. When Aldridge heard Bayno was leaving to join Rick Adelman's staff with the Minnesota Timberwolves -- after the Blazers declined to offer a multiyear contract -- Aldridge was shocked. "The Blazers know what they're doing and it's a move they decided they had to make," Aldridge said. "But I wasn't happy about it. I thought that he was a really good guy on the staff. I thought he really helped players get better. I definitely had a close relationship with him, work-wise, and I will miss him."
On an offseason workout Aldridge organized with his teammates: In early October, Aldridge reached out to every player on the Blazers' roster and tried to organize a couple days of workouts in Austin, Texas, at the University of Texas. Six teammates -- Wesley Matthews, Raymond Felton, Nolan Smith, Elliot Williams, Armon Johnson and Luke Babbitt -- decided to attend. The players worked on their individual games in the morning and then joined pick-up games at UT later in the day with other NBA and college players. "I called the guys and said, 'Let's get together and get some workouts in,'" Aldridge said. "We had a really good few days down there. We got better, got some chemistry. And I got to play with Raymond Felton in a gym."
Speaking of Felton: Aldridge strongly endorsed the Blazers' newest acquisition: "He's definitely a good passer," Aldridge said. "I always knew he was, but it's different when you get to play with him. We were really able to build some chemistry (during the Austin workouts). He's going to be good for us. He's got speed, has a nice pace to his game. He wants to play faster and ... it sounds like that's something (coach) Nate (McMillan) wants to do." Would Aldridge embrace a faster-paced Blazers offense? "It doesn't matter to me," he said. "I see myself as a pretty mobile big man. I think I play well getting up and down the court. But if we need to slow it down, I can do that, too. It's really all about what Nate wants. It's about what makes us win." http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2011/11/trail_blazers_a_conversation_w.html
My favorite player ever since his rookie year. I'm glad to see him step up for the team and to give back to the community.
I like the quotes about Crawford. No he isn't the answer as a full time starting PG or SG, but he could be a great addition in the rotation. PG Felton SG Matthews, Crawford SF Wallace, Batum PF LaMarcus C Camby, <Oden> Thats a nice 8 man rotation. Not going to win a championship next season but could be a fun team to watch and get an upset in the playoffs. But if we did get Crawford I think we would probably have to amnesty Roy, I don't see how you could try to add him into the above rotation without harming team chemistry from someone getting stiffed on playing time.
Crawford would make a helluva lot more effective sixth man scorer than Roy would, and not just because he's got two working knees, he's used to playing that role and understands what it takes. So if it really was a matter of waiving Roy and getting below the tax line and adding Crawford for the MLE for a few years to be the team's sparkplug wing scorer, you could do a whole lot worse.
As I recall Roy and Crawford are pretty tight. My guess is he would prefer to play with Roy if he came to Portland. Crawford can play back up PG and SG. Wes can gets some minutes at the 2/3 and Wallace can get minutes at the 3/4. Do-able if the cap is 70 mil (and they cut a couple)
Retire Roy but make him an assistant coach. Or some lower rank, in which he's with the team at home but not on the road.
A great article. Aldridge is really becoming a fine team leader. Kudos also to the young men who showed up in Austin. It's nice to see they all want to work on their games. As for the quote above? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, and I am a lemming type fan who can't see with my own eyes
Reading into this, one could cynically draw that Luke, Elliot, Nolan and Armon couldn't break into the pickup game rotation at UT. Just like when I was playing in Norfolk when Iverson would show up. 6'1 non-college-playing white guys didn't get to play on the Iverson court.
Felton, Roy, Crawford, Matthews, Batum, Wallace is too many guys to have all in one rotation. I wouldn't want Wallace playing more than a few spot minutes a game at PF. If Wallace gets more concussions banging around at PF it could end his season or career just like Jahvid Best. There just wouldn't be enough minutes for 6 players to play 3 positions. If one of the starters plays 35 minutes in a game that only leaves 13 minutes for his backup. Do you think Roy, Crawford, or Batum would be happy getting 13 minutes in a game?
No they wouldn't. Gerald and Nic are both in a contract year, Roy has never shown much interest in sharing minutes (or the ball) and I don't think Crawford would want to come here to be a mop-up man. At a minimum Roy would have to be waived, and some other trades would probably have to be done as well to clean up and clarify the wing rotation.
