I will leave this quote on he game log to give you an understanding on Aldridge's importance to the Blazer's success No more talk about Aldridge being soft, not demanding doubles or how he hurts this ball club. Aldridge has proven he is still the best player on this team right now. Lillard needs Aldridge as much as, if not more than, Aldridge needing Lillard.
NAH BRO, JUST TRADE HIM NOW FOR PAUL MILSAP OR TRISTAN THOMPSON. OR FUCK...IMAGINE IF WE COULD GET LARRY SANDERS FOR HIM. THAT WOULD BE AWESOME. NEED SOME ELITE REBOUNDING
Aldridge is soft. He doesn't demand double teams and he hurts this ball club. He isn't the best player on this team and Lillard doesn't need Aldridge as much as Aldridge needs Lillard.
There will always be something to biatch about. Don't think so? Let him and those prove it. You know who I am talking about.
Yeah its ridiculous how some posters on here have bitched endlessly for years about how inefficient LaMarcus' long 2 point shots are and how Lillard and Matthews are so effective. With no LaMarcus the rest of the team doesn't get all of those efficient shots. The long two pointers are an integral part of the offense. Stotts isn't an idiot; if LaMarcus shooting jumpers was bad he wouldn't have him do it.
Stotts has how many rings as a head coach? LMA shooting 20 footers opens up Lillard and Wes how exactly? Low percentage 2 pointers are better than dominating in the post how? I suppose if Boston let Kevin McHale shoot 3 point hook shots from the corners Larry Bird would have been even better and Boston would have beat LA every year. Sinobas has you so twisted that you've turned LMA shot selection into a Republican vs Democrat or pro/anti abortion type of discussion. It is pretty pathetic really.
And yet Aldridge scores more in the post than Boogie and Marc Gasol, while turning the ball over less to boot. Weird how that works!!!!
Yep, the hateful one has been suspiciously quiet lately. Understandable, getting constantly proven wrong must get tiring after a while. The quote in the the first post in this thread is another perfect example of how LaMarcus Aldridge, and the midrange game Sinobas loves to harp on, helps make his teammates better and helps this team win games. I made that same argument in response to Sinobas' hating on Aldridge three weeks ago. I won't post the whole thing here, but here's a small excerpt: "And again, that's why Aldridge is the PERFECT fit for this team. He can score on the low block, when called to, and draws constant double teams when he gets the ball in the low post. But, that's not all he does. Because teams do (and MUST) respect his midrange game, it pulls his defender away from the basket and opens things up for his teammates. Wes Matthews has developed a GREAT post up game - and thanks to Aldridge, he gets to use it. Aldridge draws his man away from the basket and allows Wes to post up opposing guards without worrying about help defense from Aldridge's man. Same goes for Lillard. The BIG improvement in Lillard's game this season has come in his ability to finish at the rim. Again, Aldridge pulling his man out of the paint, creates lanes and opportunities for Lillard to drive the lane and finish at the rim." His typical ill-informed response, that clearly shows a complete lack of understanding of team basketball: "How does LaMarcus make anyone better? Does he magically make Lillard and Matthews shoot better with his teleknetic powers?" Well, last night was just another example of how LaMarcus Aldridge makes his teammates better and helps his team win games. Aldridge was absolutely abusing Nene - a pretty good defender. Within a span of 9.0 seconds, Aldridge drew three quick fouls on Nene. There was less than 5 minutes left in the game and the Blazers trailed by 4 points at the time. Those 9 seconds completely swung the momentum in the Blazers favor. It put Nene in foul trouble, the Wizards in the penalty and the Blazers in the bonus. All three fouls started with Aldridge catching the ball 17 - 19 feet from the basket - that dreaded midrange area Sinobas loves to bash Aldridge about. The 3rd foul was Nene's 5th personal at the Wizard's 5th team foul that resulted in Aldridge hitting 2-2 FTs and the Blazers cutting the lead to 2 points. The impact of that sequence was even more significant a minute and a half later, with the play Mag's quoted in his first post. With Nene in foul trouble and unable to stop Aldridge one-on-one, Wall left Lillard to double team Aldridge 19 feet from the basket (there's that dreaded Aldridge midrange game again). Aldridge instantly recognized the double team, spotted the wide open Lillard, calmly delivered the pass to his wide open teammate who took his time and drilled the wide open "practice shot" 3-pointer that put the Blazers up by 7, their biggest lead of the game and one they would never relinquish. That minute-and-a-half sequence, that turned a 4-point deficit into a 7-point lead is EXACTLY how LaMarcus Aldridge, and his midrange game, makes his teammates better and helps his team win games. The proof is in the results and has been there all along for anyone with a modicum of common sense and a basic understanding of team basketball. Constantly bashing Aldridge because his FG% is lower from midrange than from in the post is myopic and shows either an unjustified blatant hatred for our best player, or a complete lack of understanding of team basketball, or both. Teams know they MUST challenge all of Aldridge's mid range shots. They throw there best big defender at him - all the way out to 19-feet from the basket, and when even that doesn't work, they double team him. This draws the other teams' best shot blocker out of the paint, allowing Wes Matthews to post up and Damian Lillard to drive and finish at the rim, and when doubled, creates wide open 3-pointers for Matthews, Lillard and others. Houston learned that the hard way in Games One and Two last May. Put a weak defender on Aldridge and fail to double and he'll kill you. Put your best defender on Aldridge and throw double teams at him and it creates easy scoring opportunities for everyone else. It's no coincidence that Lillard, Matthew, Batum and even Mo Williams all had big games agaonst Houston - AFTER Houston gm planned to stop Aldridge. Damian Lillard is awesome and Wesley Matthews is a warrior, but LamMarcus Aldridge is still the engine that makes this team run. BNM
Yep, he even had some special title like Associate Head Coach, or some such. Basically, he was the architect of the Mavs offense the year they won the title. BNM
See my other post... It's really pretty simple. Aldridge is usually guarded by the other teams' best big defender. These guys are some of the best weak side shot blockers in the game (Anthony Davis, Serge Ibaka, etc.). When Aldridge draws these guys out 20-feet from the basket, it opens up the middle and allows Dame to drive add finish at the rim without Aldridge's man there to challenge his shot and allows Wes to post up opposing guards without worrying about Aldridge's man being anywhere in the area for help defense. If Aldridge didn't have a midrange game, his man could just camp out in the paint to erase Lillard's drives and Wesley's post ups. The ability to draw the other team's best shot blocker out of the paint has a huge impact on creating easy scoring opportunities for Aldridge's teammates. BNM
you usually know when fans are complete fucking idiots when they start bashing on Aldridge. So it's easy to weed out the fools that think they are couch wannabe coaches.
Or worse, wannabe GMs. If that was the case, we would have dumped Aldridge for Tristan Thompson and a draft pick and tried to sign Kevin Love to a max. contract. BNM
