Time to taste the crow

LaMarcus Aldridge...

Was held back by his time in Portland. The players, the coaches, the system - they all did him no favors. I always blamed LMA for his game, hatred for the post, being soft, shooting the worst shot in basketball...

But, as I continue watching him this year and in the playoffs it continues to occur to me..

Man, we really misused him and he allowed it to happen. Maybe he wanted to play that way. But part of a coaches job is to put players in the best position to be successful - and not caving to the demands of your players.

Part of what opened my eyes to this is elevation of his game with Popovich. He is more assertive, aggressive and appears to be a better finisher at and around the rim (don't have the stats) but that's what the eye test shows.

With this... I have to eat my crow. Aldridge is undoubtedly an all star.. but I'm still not 100% sure he is THE guy.

My hatred now is on Stotts.

 

Wow Pop elevated LA's game? This is a shocker. He has never done that before with any other player.

Pop is far and away the best coach in the NBA. He does it year in and year out. He makes every player better. His system is fantastic.

 

That was my biggest fear, that Pop would get the most out of Aldridge.

And he has...sigh. He has put up the highest TS% of his career and has a 68% TS% in the playoffs.

 

I actually think it is somewhat surprising the way he has changed LMA game when numerous other coaches and systems couldn't. It has been drastic in my eyes. Part of it is maturity, coaching.. but part of it - I just didn't think LMA had it in him. And for that, my bad L Train. But deuces buddy.

 

I haven't seen him play a lot this year. How is he being used that is drastically different than when here?

 

I think your hatred is misplaced. I think what you are seeing right now is about 75% matchups and about 25% motivation.

The LaMarcus Aldridge you are seeing right now against OKC is the EXACT same LaMarcus Aldridge we saw two years ago against HOU. His coach in that series was Terry Stotts. Was Stotts holding him back then?

Aldridge has a long history of abusing Serge Ibaka head to head. Ibaka got a reputation as a good defender because he used to block a lot of shots, but the fact is he's a horrible low post man-to-man defender. He's great at weak side help defense when he can come flying in for a block, but he lacks both the strength and length to guard big power forwards 1-on-1 in the low post. When they had him OKC used to put Perkins on Aldridge because he would totally abuse Ibaka - TOTALLY.

Same thing against HOU two years ago. HOU put Terence Jones on Aldridge and Aldridge responded by abusing the fuck out of Jones.

The other part is motivation, and I blame that on Aldridge, not Stotts. Give him a big mismatch, and Aldridge goes into beast mode. Put a big, physical defender on him and Aldridge abandons the low post and start floating further and further from the basket.

Also, Aldridge seems the type that is most motivated when he senses a chance to succeed. The Wes Matthews injury took the air out of everyone's sails last year. Prior to the injury we were the second seed in the West and would have had HCA against a weaker team in the first round. We slid from 2nd best record to 6th best (but held onto the #4 seed by winning the NW Division). We lost HCA and backslid into a tough matchup against MEM. Aldridge totally mailed it in in that series. You could see that in his mind, he was already gone and it showed in his lackluster play.

So, now he's back to playing on a team with a good chance of moving on going up against a player that can't guard him. His success doesn't surprise me.

If you can make a case for improved play, it would be on the defensive end, but that's just Pop. He made Patty Mills into a good defender. The only other coach that comes close to Pop on the defensive end is Thibs, but he's a HORRIBLE offensive coach and burns out, alienates and pisses off his players.

So, Stotts isn't Pop. No surprise there. Nobody is. Stotts has gotten this team to overachieve and exceed all reasonable expectations 2 of the last 3 years. Nobody expected us to win 54 games two years ago, and after we did, nobody expected us to beat HOU in the 1st round. This year, no one expected us to make the playoffs, and when we did, no one expected us to beat LAC in the first round. And you hate Stotts for this?

BNM

 

I guess I'm confused at this jump in LMA's maturity and game in the OP's post. As far as I can tell statistically, he's had a rather sub-par season based on his days WITH Portland. Two good playoff games do not define a paradigm shift in someone's game IMHO...

LMA is also making $20 mil a year - I'd expect more from an 18 & 8 player.

 

His advanced stats and PER36 numbers are on par with his best seasons, especially the one under Nate where he decided to be a low post fiend.

His raw stats are down, big deal. That's just part of being a Spur.

 

Yeah, and if SAS can sign Nic Batum, he'll turn him into the player we always wanted him to be and SAS will challenge GSW's record 73 wins. Seriously, imagine Batum playing SG in SAS in Pop's system.

Unless Nic is totally motivated by money, it would be a great fit for him, playing with countrymen Parker and Diaw, alongside former teammates Aldridge and Mills.

BNM

 

His advanced stats and PER36 numbers are on par with his best seasons, especially the one under Nate where he decided to be a low post fiend.
His raw stats are down, big deal. That's just part of being a Spur.


So how does that equate to Portland holding LMA back?

 

Always wondered what would have happened if the Spurs got Batum. IIRC they wanted him really badly and were pissed when Houston took him right before their pick. Pretty sure a report came out that Pritchard had intel and managed to move up for the sole reason of snatching Batum from the Spurs.

What would Batum have looked like if he started his career under Pop? Would he be as good as Kawhi? Paul George? I don't think there is any doubt that Batum would have developed into a better player.

 

The ONLY time Portland held Aldridge back was the Brandon Roy all ISO all the time years, and that was Nate, not Stotts.

BNM

 

^

 

His jealousy and insecurities will rear their ugly heads soon enough. That type of person doesn't just change over night.

I suspect it will happen once Duncan retires, and the torch officially passes to Leonard.

 

That torch was already passed.

BNM

 

Basically, what I said, but a lot fewer words. Good job Dame.

BNM

 

So why did he feel comfortable straight up refusing to play center, and/or do the things that would've not only elevated his own game, but his team as well while in Portland? He's supposed to be a professional.

 

Maybe in terms of media coverage, but I think it's still Duncan's team. Once he and TP and Manu are gone, it will truly be LMA and Leonard still standing. At that point, I think we might see the old LMA return.

With that said, isn't this really the problem with him? He doesn't play like this all the time. It was never a question of whether he had the talent. It was convincing him to play up to his potential. The guy is mentally weak. He's soft. He shouldn't need Pop to tell him what to do. He's 30 years old. He has been in the league for ten years. It's time to grow up.