Exclusive 2022-23 Portland Trail Blazers Roster

No question LMA in 13-14 was a force. Every team had to double him every time down the floor. If they didn't it was an easy two. He got better at passing out of that double and he had learned to spin to the basket without the ball for the lob.
No question this team was hurt badly by losing him for nothing.

 

I think a lot of fans forget how good he was. Too many people like to trash him. He is a top 10 blazer of all time. Yes, his personality left a lot to he desired. But he was a top big man in the league.

 

I don't forget how good LA was. That's why i called him Benedict Aldridge. Because he was great, not good, and he set the franchise back, BIGTIME!! The grass ain't always greener, and he found that out in SA. Should have stayed. The Blazers just might have got it done.

 

Definitely. We had some great conversations about Aldridge behind the scenes at a meet and greet. He felt like all the love went to Roy and then Oden and that he was overlooked. I can see that point of view. I don't really blame Aldridge. He went home. Many of us would want to go to our hometown too. It was Olsheys fault for not getting a definitive answer. He should have traded him when he could have got high value if he had any feeling he would leave.

Aldridge will still always be one of my favorite blazers. I liked him more than Roy or Oden.

 

San Antonio isn't his home. He grew up in Dallas. It'd be like me growing up in Chicago, and then "going home" to play at Indiana, Milwaukee or Detroit, all which are closer to Chicago than San Antonio is to Dallas.

 

Its in the state of texas. Its like 290 miles away which isn't that far. And it is super close to where his friends, family, and the University of Texas, which he attended, are.

It's pretty close to home. If your son lived in Chicago you might want to sign with Milwaukee to be closer to him and spend more time with him. Sports fans get all up in arms about it, yet, in their own lives they may make a similar decision.

 

So two things... well.... three things.

1. Aldridge was a really good player. He left a little to be desired on defense, which was sad because he was a really good defender when he wanted to be, but he and Dame could have been the foundation to win a ring. It's annoying that we never really got to see it.

2. My issue with Aldridge is that the fucker didn't just come out and say he wanted out. He played that bullshit about wanting to retire as the best Blazer ever. A lot of us knew he wanted out. We were BEGGING the team to trade him a year... two years... before he left. He didn't help by coming out publicly and saying he loved the Blazers and wanted to retire here. He put the team in a tough spot because if they traded him, they'd be the bad guys. I think he did it deliberately to prevent them from trading him so he didn't have to deal with going to a new team before ultimately signing with the Spurs.

3. Fuck Neil. That moron should have seen the writing on the wall and made the trade. That's his fucking job. He should have been fired for that alone. That was just one of many transgressions that he was allowed to get away with, and arguably the most egregious. Worse than 2016. He let a HOFer walk for nothing in his prime. And there was tons of warning that he was going to leave. Neil and his ego led him to believe that he could convince LMA to stay and it was never going to happen.

 

Didn't Aldridge blame Neil about the best blazer of all time thing? I thought he had said something at one time that he was pressured by management to say something like that.

 

I think Paul thought he and NO could get it done, no sweat and he was wrong.
Ive always thought he played the game so he could sign with the spurs rather than be traded elsewhere. He wanted to end up with his son and mother in SA.

 

Not sure. I never saw that, but I don't really believe it. LMA is such a sensitive flower that it wouldn't surprise me at all that he threw the team under the bus to try to make himself look better. After he left there was reports from within the team that he was always super sensitive and insecure and I 100% believe that based on the way he carried himself and the way that there were various reports of jealousy of Roy and Oden.

I don't think Neil could make him do anything he didn't want to do.

 

I'm sure Paul was part of the problem as well, however it's Neil's job to accurately assess the situation. If regular Joe Schmoe's on here could accurately predict what he would do years in advance, I don't know why Neil couldn't see the writing on the wall.

 

Neil could have wanted to trade him and Paul vetoed, wanted the two to fly down and wrap t up and felt good about it. Didn't work.

 

The year he would have brought the most return was the summer before he left. He was a really good player and I know there was a lot of debate on who we could have gotten for him. In hindsight there was probably some draft pick that would have been beneficial, but not the names we were throwing around at the time. I also don't remember that particular draft being all that good. Regardless I don't really blame Neil for holding out hope that they could re-sign him. He was that much better than who we would have gotten in return at the time, especially when other teams were not sure if they could re-sign him either.

 

I personally don't buy it. There were reports that Aldridge basically asked for a trade a couple years prior and Neil supposedly convinced him to wait. He should have been traded right then. There was just too many red flags. He missed his family. He wanted to be closer to his family.

If Neil went to Paul and said, "I think he's gone. I think we're going to lose him for nothing." I can't see Paul just completely ignoring him.

 

I really wanted to trade him to OKC for Harden. In hindsight, I'm not sure Dame and Harden could have co-existed.

 

Interesting note: at the end of the video, we see Dame and Ant hangin' by the pool.

 

HoopsHype's take.
https://hoopshype.com/lists/projected-starting-lineup-blazers-jerami-grant/

 

Still have Little as a backup. IMO he is a better fit than Hart at the 3. Something has gotta give eventually.

 

"Eventually" being the key word. I am liking our depth for a change. It will be interesting to see how some of our younger players develop throughout the season.

 

After Nurk gets hurt (He undoubtedly will) we may see Watford leapfrog Eubanks to start. Drew will do well against second units so i would assume you may see Billups do the same thing Stotts did and made changes only in the position of need.