Then there are times when you break up with your girlfriend and find a woman, might not be as hot, but truly stable that you realize you love even more. You realize that you are better off and take a glance at that girl and see she's still jumping from man to man to find the perfect place. Aldridge maybe the Hot 10 chick that was a fucking beast in bed, but sex only goes so far. You need more than that. Ask NY and Melo
I mean...you realize I said "blue chip prospect" and not "blue chip player," right? When the Blazers drafted Oden, he was one of the best prospects in history. Pretty much the definition of a blue chip prospect. All prospects, even the best ones, don't pan out, especially when injuries occur. My point was that at the time Randolph left, the Blazers seemed to have a very promising future in Oden, Aldridge and Roy. This was prior to Oden's first knee injury.
No, I totally get what you are saying and I hope you understand mine. We were fine trading Zach for nothing, being well over cap so we couldn't sign free agents, losing our "blue chip prospect", having Aldridge a mere 16/7 player. We made the playoffs with HCA in the first round. That year, the 6th seed had 50 wins. This season, we lost Aldridge for nothing, have great cap space, 4 very "potential players", and a competent GM. We could be just as fine.
I agree with that, the Blazers could be just fine. I just don't think that Aldridge and Randolph being similarly productive means that losing Aldridge is no big deal. It was a significant loss in both cases, it just seemed less bad back then, IMO. But the Blazers can certainly recover from it; they didn't lose a superstar, they lost a very good player.
1,000% agree with you. Shit man, we should have kept them both and picked Durant, probably hoisting a trophy. Hindsight is a motherfucker man!
Ridiculous. He was a mismatch every night. He's arguably the best PF in the game. Look, I've forgotten he ever wore a Blazer uniform, but I'm not going to not acknowledge that he's an incredible player.
This. I think he's going to take his game to a completely different level next year. And I don't care.
And yet, as those numbers show, replaceable. Let's be honest, he isn't on the same level as a LeBron, a Durant, or a Duncan in his prime. He's an All-Star, nothing more, nothing less.
Curry is borderline. Obviously there's only ever a handful of guys that I would say are irreplaceable, but Aldridge isn't one of them. Maybe if he was a better defender, but as a volume scorer I think he's much easier to replace than many people estimate.
Dude, you will get no argument from me that he's no batman. I put him in the Bosh value type player. The perfect 2nd or 3rd option.
