Not gonna lie, this is some poetic justice right here

He told the Blazers he wanted out years ago, and was leaving when his contract was up

 

I don't hate LMA and I think he played very well for the Spurs. He is a very good player and that's why I wanted, to the bitter end, for the Blazers to keep him. Like many Spur fans expressed in their forum, LA is a great 3rd option, just not your #1. (or even #2) It's the direction the NBA is headed. Your big men now should be your 3rd scoring option. But he was not going to take a back seat to Dame so in the end it was best that he left.

Having said all that I was rooting for OKC to win...and I hate OKC. But it was just too soon to see LA benefit from leaving.

 

"Best fans in the NBA," lol...

 

When will LA's exit interview be? Asking for a friend.

 

It was you, me, and Brian. We said the Blazers should have traded him the year before we made the playoffs and beat the Rockets. There were rumors that he wanted out. Yes, I totally think we should have traded him. I have felt all along that he would leave, but that doesn't change the fact that he told everyone who would listen that he loved the team, that he wanted to retire as the best Blazer ever, and that he wasn't signing an extension because he wanted to wait one year and sign for 5 instead of 4 years.

Just because I thought he would leave, doesn't make him any less of a lying piece of shit. And then all the articles came out that exposed what a selfish diva he is.... so there's that.

So in summation:

Yes, I thought we should have traded him. Supposedly the Warriors offered one of Klay/Harnes and Lee. Can you imagine if we had made that trade?

Yes, I think the team chemistry is better without him.

Yes, I'm gloating over the fact that he went to San Antonio and had the same success in the playoffs that his old team had.

 

I don't begrudge LaMarcus or his decision, but I sure do feel some, as the Germans say, schadenfreude.

 

Exactly right. A number of us had talked about him wanting to go to be closer to home, baby momma issues...etc and there were some VERY solid sources for that. That is all well and good but no one was holding a gun to his head to say what he did and lead the fans astray while he really feels something else. That is where the issue is.

 

I will also point out that I don't think Aldridge ever came out and flatly demanded a trade. I think he made threats, and demanded that Neil put more talent around him or he would walk, but he never directly said, "trade me or I'm leaving."

At least, I have never heard anything to that effect. He asked for more talent around him, he got more talent around. We added Rolo so he wouldn't have to play center. We added Dame. Neil kept acquiring better bench players. His initial excuse that he was tired of shouldering the load and that he wanted more talent around him proved to be BS because that was rumored to be one of the reasons why he left. He couldn't handle Dame getting attention that he felt belonged to him.

 

Yeah he also said this:

http://portlandtribune.com/pt/9-new...te-talks-portland-contract-extension-and-life

What a load of horse shit that article was, looking back on it.

 

I don't remember reading this article, but this part really cracks me up now.

"The first season was a feeling-out period for both coach and player. Stotts feels there may have been some resentment from Aldridge in regards to Stotts' previous relationship with Nowitzki.

"There was an adjustment period for both of us," Stotts says. "The whole LaMarcus-Dirk comparison was overblown. I had to adjust to that, because LaMarcus is his own man, his own player, with his own skill set. So me coming in and having those comparisons wasn't fair to him."

Is there anyone Aldridge DOESN'T resent?

 

Had to rest that little finger

 

And then there's THIS famous article -

LaMarcus Aldridge pledges to sign contract extension with Trail Blazers next summer, says he wants to be 'the best Blazer ever'
http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/i...ers_lamarcus_aldridge_pledges_to_sign_co.html

 

Go Kings! Man those were some bad teams...

 

Yes....anyone who completely kisses is growing backside or anyone who is not a threat in any way shape or form. For everyone else it's:

LaThinskin Noballsridge

 

Lmao. Nothing else to add.

 

I subscribe to the "sudden but inevitable betrayal" theory: LMA was committed in 2013-14 to staying after the team improved so much. The play drawn up with 0.9 remaining was a Dame decoy play with LaMarcus as the target. Dame called an audible, hit the shot, both of which were bad enough blows to his psyche (does Dame think I couldn't hit the shot? Is he getting ideas above his station?)...

But then the worst comes seconds later. Mike Mason calls Dame over, and that rat fink yells into the PA microphone the two words that made him the fan favorite over LaMarcus forever. And even worse than that? The national media runs with that perfect encapsulation of Dame Being Dame for months. He sees it everywhere all summer, and decides then and there he'll play out his contract.

...But during the next year the team is winning and it's fun and why not think about staying? Then Wes goes down and LaMarcus, a man so superstitious he demanded not to be announced as center after Oden and Joel go down with injuries, remember that the franchise is cursed, and he gives up. He realizes he needs out, and totally gives up on trying to make it work with Portland. Nothing anyone can say can convince him otherwise now.

 

now that he's choked in the big game I call it Aldridge joy, not hate