First Sheed, then ZBo, now Aldridge...

Soft touch outside, agility, height and skills in the post. Smooth is the best I got.

 

I think statements like "years away" are just foolish. Especially with the new CBA limiting contracts, for the most part, to 4 years. We're years away, yet when those years come, there's SOOO much different in the league. We might not have half our players, etc. You always want a long term plan, but I think it's in general a bad idea to build for further than 3 years away. And with discussion of Aldridge's window, you seem to be eyeing basically 4 years from now as when we can maybe compete.
Of course, we all had this discussion probably 4 or 5 years ago. What? trade for someone 28 to go with Roy and Aldridge? Our window....and look at how much has changed.
You can go and trade Aldridge for some other rookie and get another rookie this year, and then when those guys are just hitting their stride in the league, Batum leaves. Wes leaves. Lillard is up for an extension, etc. And there you have an entire different team again.

 

At what point though, do you stop saying a guy has the potential to be great, and just see him for what he is? I had high hopes for Aldridge, and he's lived up to them in a way, but he will never have the killer instinct that Roy had, or Lillard has. He's a second fiddle, which is fine, but all those skills and talent that you speak of are going to waste because he doesn't use them to the best of his abilities. We have two guys on this team that are maddeningly frustrating in Batum and Aldridge. Both players have the skills and talent to be the best at their position, but are so damned inconsistent. It's frustrating as hell.

 

Comparing LA to Dirk is like comparing apples to oranges. Btw, I love oranges!

LA has height, eh? OK. Dirk and LA are very close in height. So are several other crappy previous and current PF's.

Soft touch outside? LA shoots the most inefficient shot out there. The long distance two point jumper. At least Dirk has range from anywhere on the floor. You can't say the same about LA.

Skills in the post? LA went to the post on the left block for the vast majority of his post points. Teams know this. They guard against this easily. Besides, it takes LA forever to get himself positioned. Dirk could post up on post sides of the block making it more difficult guarding him.

Do you have more skills/ability to compare with Dirk?

 

So you can throw up your OPINION more?

 

I can give you stats and that's called fact.

 

Wrong. Stats have to be interpreted, by Humans. Imperfect ones at that.

 

Conversations between humans (such as ourselves) can be imperfect as well.

Your argument positioning on this matter is weak at best in regards to the comparison you're attempting to make with Dirk.

 

I will say this about Aldridge. I think he could be a solid #2 or #3 scorer for our team. Possibly convince him to do more on defense while deferring to Lillard, Batum, and Matthews on offense. I can see him averaging about 17 ppg and 10 rpg. Our defense is atrocious and he could help if he channeled more of his energy towards that side of the court.

 

This franchise has a propensity towards soft, jumpshooting big men. My favorites in order: Sheed, Z-Bo, Rahim and then Aldridge.

 

At least Sheed played defense though...... the other three, not so much.

 

Shred was the best player on a team that was 1 game away from the Finals. He'll always be cool in my book despite his shenanigans

 

I think Aldridge is better than you're giving him credit for. Opposing fans around me are always saying "he's goooood." Aldridge has hit lots of big 4th quarter shots for us including some game winners. Not sure how you know that Lillard had killer instinct a handful of games into his career. In a few years, you'll want to trade him too, I'm sure. Sheed wasn't the problem. Zach wasn't the problem. Aldridge isn't the problem. It's their TEAMMATES. Once Sheed got good teammates, he won a title. Once Zach got good teammates, he beat the Spurs in the playoffs as The Man. All Aldridge needs are good teammates. Batum, Freeland, Barton, and Pavlovic aren't going to cut it.

Luckily, I think Olshey is thinking like me. Hold onto Aldridge and build around him. And he will add more pieces next summer. If we make the playoffs this season, hooray, Lillard gets playoff experience (and we take a close look at that killer instinct you'r so sure of). If we don't, we get another lottery pick.

 

Trading a talented all star big for a small is not how you win in this league. Never trade a talented big for a small.

 

Don't waste your breath. There are still Blazer fans who think Oden isn't injury prone and that the team made a mistake dumping his crippled ass. At 27, LMA is already on the downside of his career. Age is just a number.

 

Among PFs who play 36+ mpg, Aldridge has the 5th highest PER.

 

Stop making sense!

 

BTW, anybody talking about building around Lillard needs to examine the last few box scores. Kid has a loooong way to go and no guarantee of getting there.

 

Well, he's hitting the wall. Teams have scouted him, they're prepared for him, and now he needs to adapt.