The Bulls lost DRose for the season and traded Luol Deng for cap space. That's losing two starters. They're now 40-31, compared to Portland at 45-27. 4.5 games back or so.
This team started it's decline with a healthy LA, and played some of it's best ball in 2014 without him. It's true that we're mediocre at best without him playing to his potential, but he fades in and out between being LaMarcus and LaMarsha. Lamarsha is not that good a player. If we could land a good player and a high lotto pick for him, that would be cool.
We talk about lack of depth in here, a lot. I agree there is a problem, but I think people are blaming the wrong positional issues. If Dame get's hurt no problem we go to Mo Williams. At the post we are seeing some issues, but with a healthy Freeland, plus Robinson and Leonard, who while both are raw and make mistakes neither is as terrible as people insinuate, compare them to other backup bigs in the league... No the real Problem IMO is the wing position. Wright has looked OK as a stretch 4 at times and Claver looks ok at times, so does Barton and CJ. But if wesley or Nicolas were to get injured or is really off or just needs rest we are very unstable at the 2 and the 3. We don't have a legit 2 or 3 off the bench at all, or maybe we do, but Stotts hasn't invested any kind of regular PT to any of the wings. As a whole, taking out the variable of injuries this is how the rotation has been for the season. PG Dame / Mo SG Wes /Dame SF Nic / Wes PF LMA /Trob C Rolo / Freeland 2 Point Guards 1 Shooting Guard 1 Small Forward 2 Power Forwards 2 Centers You could argue that Wright was getting minutes at the 3, but he was really ineffective when he was. We rank dead last in Bench scoring and Bench minutes played. And we wonder why our shooting has fallen off? Our starters have been ridden hard and just like last season they are fading due to nagging injuries and fatigue.
Orlando is another interesting trade destination for LMA. Right now it is likely that Orlando will end up with the third and 12th pick in this draft. That would be a nice start to a package for LMA if we could get 3, 12 and Tobias Harris. That would be a really nice haul. At 3 we would get either Embiid, Parker or Wiggins when combined with Harris and the extra depth added from pick 12 the concept is intriguing at least.
We may be assuming that Aldridge has more leverage than he actually does. If things keep going the way they are, why would the Blazers want to give Aldridge a max extension? What has he really done to earn that? Elite players help their teams win. Aldridge has been to the playoffs 3 times in 8 years, and has never been out of the first round. He is supposedly the leader and best player on a team that appears to be having a collapse of epic proportions. He was supposedly the best player and leader on team that went on the longest losing streak in franchise history last season. I don't want to be too negative, but at some point we have to stop pretending that Aldridge is an elite player. I'm curious to see what the market will be for him. His offensive efficiency numbers are very poor and he is statistically one of the worst pick&roll defenders in the league. Many teams are using advanced stats more and more. The advanced stats don't like Aldridge. I wonder if the teams that will be contenders in a couple years would give Aldridge the max money he will likely be looking for? Would he be willing to take a pay cut to play for a contender? He will be 30 in the first year of his next contract which could make teams more hesitant. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
I'm going to weigh in here with a huge portion of wanting LaMarcus Aldridge to retire a Blazer and to hell with trading him for draft picks. Iggy didn't make GS a contender the way everyone predicted. Nash didn't put the Lakers over the top. The vets we did sign this season are new here. That's not the Bulls with Rose or Spurs with Parker Duncan..we're adapting with a handful of returning players and a second year coach. I think patience is required with the current Blazer team and staff. Earl Watson is on this team but always gets left out of the vet list. This team is underachieving since LA and Freeland have been missing in the rotation more than anything. More than ever I want us to get out of the second round this year and shut up some of the doomsday gloom for at least awhile. Go Blazers!
I am also curious. I am one who tends to like the advanced stats. Earlier in the year, LMA was doing a lot more & was being very effective. Since Christmas, he has not been efficient.... not a coincidence that the Blazers have not been good since (with or without LMA). I also believe there will be a team out there that would pay a hefty price for LMA. I would at least seriously look at all options on the table.
There is no "situation"....whatever another team offers him, we will match, move on, add pieces and continue to win.
It wasn't. That won't stop the Imaginary Trade Land GMs from boring the rest of us with their shitty trade ideas, though.
Imagine how happy he must have been after the game. Beating Paul Allen's team by 30 in a game that the Blazers were penciling in as a win.
Just which of his double doubles was inefficient? His 30/15 game? If I'm not mistaken it was after Xmas. Folks seem to want to magnify weakness and ignore strength. LA is a major contributer to the Blazers success.
I think our cameras caught him smiling a couple times. Really quite shy guy, but was always real good to the broadcast crew.
