OT LaMarcus Aldridge requested a trade from SAS this summer

LMA would NEVER ask for a trade.

IMPOSSIBLE!

 

I'm surprised that Pop didn't realize what a big nothing Aldridge is during the recruiting process.
He's usually an excellent judge of basketball mental skills.

 

The whole thing worked out quite well in the end, because many Spurs fans hate him.

 

Knowing what we know now, would anyone go back to the time LMA jumped ship and accept him back at that time if he had a change of heart an turned Pops down?

At the time many people (me included) would have loved having him change his mind and resign with POR. Would those people still share that mentality knowing what they know now?

I not trying to influence any vote here but I sure wouldn't want him back knowing what I know now. Even though it hurt us in talent on the court I think it was/is for the best.

P.S. I don't want to get into the whole we should have traded him then. That isn't what this is about. That is a separate conversation that has already been gone over plenty.

 

Softest donut of the dozen...

 

No I wouldn’t. Quits the moment any adversity hits. Can’t win a championship with a guy like that.

 

I know we all hate Aldridge, but this exchange shows great personal growth. At least he gave the Spurs the opportunity to get something in return and didn't, ya know, tell them he wanted to be the greatest Spur ever, ya know, and then leave them holding their dicks, ya know...

BNM

 

This assumes that LMA told the Blazers the same thing that he told the fans. I'm fairly confident that he requested a trade at one point, and we tried to win him over.

 

Apparently the talk worked because he's having one of the best season's of his career.

 

Did anyone read the article? Jeez.

In it, Pop says that the problems with Lamarcus were actually his fault (Pop's), that he was using him wrong offensively, and that LMA is happy, is having a career year this year, and they re-signed him.

Reality is a bitch.

 

Hindsight

 

Naw the reality is he still cowers from adversity, and only produces when things are the way he wants them to be. The credit here goes to Pop, not Aldridge.

 

Yep, he said he wanted to play next to a "true center" (aka: NOT J.J. Hickson), a big body who could bang down low. Olshey went out and got him Robin Lopez and everything was hunky dory until Wes ruptured his Achille's.

This year, Pau has started all 41 games at center with Aldridge at PF. Last year, Pau started less than half the games and Pop experimented with other combinations with Aldridge (David Lee, Dwayne Dedmon).

Aldridge likes consistency and he likes to be paired with someone else willing to do the dirty work.

P.S. The part about personal growth was a joke. I was being sarcastic, ya know...

BNM

 

I would have been very happy for him to re-sign with Portland.... only because I would have traded him as soon as I could have afterwards.

 

Team performance matters. Aldridge has been the best player on a team that's 28-15. Lillard is the best player on a team that's 22-19. SAS has been missing Kawhi and Parker pretty much all season, and they are still in 3rd place, 5 games ahead of POR. The fact is, he's playing the best ball of his career and has been carrying that team.

Plus, the PG position is stacked in the West. PF, not so much.

BNM

 

For what? He would have gotten a bigger contract here then SA and even SA doesn't think they would get the value for him that they would want. So unless you just wanted to give him away (and you still have to match contracts remember) then I don't see how trading him after a massive contract (remember he was going to get an extra year and extra about 25% here) would have help any. You would have had some other guy (or other guys) instead of LMA just sucking up the cap.