30 that start. Being 18th among them means you're below average among starting PF's, statistically. Not among *all* PF's, just among starting PF's. That's his distinction. Mick, care to link the list, so we can see who's above and below him?
It's a reasonable consequence of what you were suggesting. If doubling him meant a good chance at a turnover, why wouldn't defenses double him a lot? Don't defenses want turnovers? I was probably also conflating your argument with nik's, who did stipulate that Aldridge gets plenty of double-teams. My mistake. My mention of Duncan was to point out that Aldridge was no Duncan. You continued the Duncan comparisons by saying Aldridge is likely to turn the ball over whereas Duncan is not, but Duncan's turnover rate is really not better relative to usage. Of course Aldridge isn't anywhere in the class of Arguably The Best Power Forward Ever. That was never remotely what I was saying. But comparing their turnover rates is still perfectly valid, especially if one takes into account usage rates.
Dude, I really hate being put in a position of saying MickZagger is right, but he said it right in his post: 18th among starting PFs.
My whole point is that just receiving a double team isn't all that valuable unless the player knows how to counter it. LMA really struggles to do just that. If he was burning defenses with his passing or because he had great footwork on the block then it would be a good thing. As it is now, him getting doubled tends to lead to a less than good outcome. Ya dig?
Yeah, I understand that is what he is trying to, but failing to, communicate. That is, however, different than the original post that hasoos made... which I started responding to.
I'm not twisting any assertions around. A PER of 19.1 isn't a great PER by any means. A PER of 20 has always been my measuring stick of a good player. He always gets a pass from this fanbase, when really, he shouldn't. I expect a little more of a player with his abilities and frame, yet every year he shows us he's soft and doesn't add anything to his game. I'm not sure if there's anything in sports that bothers me more than a player that plays soft. We picked him with the 2nd pick, my expectations are a little higher than to have his production gradually go down every year. A PER in the 16's in his 5th year in the league? Thats garbage.
It still doesn't make sense. Team's double team him because the chances of something good happening for the defense are better than if they single coverage him. I really don't see why you want to argue this. If the defense didn't think it was more beneficial to double him instead of single coverage him, they would be insane to keep doing so. Taking that further, teams don't double team Joel. Joel doesn't burn defenses with his passing or footwork. They don't double him because he can't beat them in single coverage either.
Show me where hasoos said "starting PFs" in the post that I originally replied to. Otherwise, you're looking pretty silly by trying to change the discussion.
Unless he proves me wrong. Yup. I'm not just a person who bitches and complains about players on my favorite team. But, something about Aldridge really gets to me. I want a real PF. We haven't had one in a while. I had to sit through Frye and Aldridge, now we got Cunningham and Aldridge. Its sad really.
Uh, you hit the reply button to that very post and said, You were obviously responding to my post in which I said 18th among starters. Your whole premise in this argument is a game of semantics anyway.
No, it really is far from semantics. No, LMA isn't the best power forward in the game. But for people to come on here and claim he is an "average" PF or "below average" or even "just above average" is just stupid. Same with trying to make the argument that he doesn't demand double teams, even though almost every team throws a double at him almost every touch. If people want to argue that LMA is about average for a STARTING PF, fine. But he is far better than an average player or average PF.
