I was thinking, as I am sometimes wont to do, who I'd like at PF better than LaMarcus. What I love about Aldridge is his size and quickness on defense. Even when struggling with his offense, he's good at that (a la Sheed) as we saw in the Bulls game, where he was helping out on Rose. What I'm not so keen on is his below average rebounding, and inconsistency on offense. Now, these could change - he's young - or they might not (Shareef stayed "soft" his whole career). So who would I like better? Chris Bosh. He's not quite as big as LaMarcus, but he's tougher (LaMarcus himself said it, because they've worked out together), he's great on defense AND offense, rebounds very well and he's an all-around great guy (a YouTube star). Why might we be able to get him? Answer: because Toronto knows they're very likely to lose him. Every team in the league (practically) is maneuvering to get cap space for the LeBron free agency bonanza (summer of '10), and that's when Bosh is a UFA. Furthermore, several teams are supposed to be targeting either LeBron AND Bosh (NY) or Bosh in particular (Detroit). Wouldn't Toronto do well to offload him while they have the chance, and before he gets to decide who he wants to go to so that they would be forced to sign-and-trade with teams with all the cards? Two caveats: 1. would WE be able to keep him, if Toronto can't? (I say the chance of being on a dynasty would help.) 2. Would he mesh with our guys? (I say Brandon and Oden are also two very unselfish players who would accommodate him completely.) Imagine a "big three" of Oden, Bosh and Roy. Huh, huh?
It wouldn't surprise me as it's pretty rare for an NBA All Star to play for only one team for his whole career but other then being able to offer him more money and years the Raps will also have JO's $23 million deal coming off the books and a decent amount of quid to play with.
Give LMA time and he will be just like Bosh, both are very similar payers and have similar stats at both points in their career.
My danger with getting Bosh or LBJ is that right now it would take a ton to get them, but there's no guarantee they're not gone in 18 months. At least with LMA you're pretty sure you can get him locked up for 4-5 more years or so. If he doesn't sign the extension this year, then trade.
Bosh is what LaMarcus could be if he played aggressive consistently. We would see a different player if he just played with some fire.
Having seen Bosh play LaMarcus, I'm not so interested. Or was that just an uncharacteristic off game?
However, Bosh and Aldridge are almost the same age. So comparing them "at the same point in their careers" doesn't really make sense. Bosh is definitely the superior talent.
Bosh is a superior talent thanks to his ability to attack the rim off the dribble facing up like an athletic SF - since he does it at the PF position - he is really at an advantage over most power forwards and that's why he is such a big time scorer. On the other hand - if you think LMA is soft and does not play like a big PF should - you would not be happy with Bosh - because LMA is already a better defender than him and his back to the basket game is superior. Just think about the fact that per-36 Bosh grabs 2 more rebounds than Aldridge - but he does it playing next to JO (who is either out or not that great of a rebounder, being #18 in the league in rebounding rate for centers). LMA rebounds next to Oden/Joel who are #1 and #3 in the league in rebounding rate for centers - on a team that rebounds a whole lot more than the Raptors. I think that the "at the same stage of their career" is clearly talking about NBA experience and you have to also factor their "role" on the team. Bosh was the #1 option on the Raptors team on his 3rd year - LMA is the 2nd option.
Oh - I agree that Bosh is a better talent than LMA - but I think that the difference between them is not as big as PER makes it (especially given LMA's slightly better defense, which PER does not really measure) - and the people who call LMA soft because of his rebounding are going to be very surprised when they see what Bosh does next to Portland's other dominant rebounders. Their Rebounding rate does not really cater to the issue of who they play with. We have seen, yesterday - that when the two of them play on the same court - LaMarcus is actually rebounding slightly more efficiently than Bosh - they both got the same number of rebounds but LMA did it in 2 less minutes of play. LMA is getting his rebounds on the 2nd team in the league in RBR - Bosh is getting his on the 2nd worst team in the league in RBR - it is not a surprise that LMA rebounds slightly less than Bosh - he has a lot of other players that take some of these rebounds on the roster with him.
