Aldridge, moving forward

[mikeg]

Let me start this by saying that I really like LMA. He's super talented and seems like a great guy. But is he good enough to be the second banana on a title team? That's our obvious ultimate goal, and after tonight, I'm starting to have my doubts. When I look at who has won titles for the past decade, I see a lot of amazing #2 guys: kobe, pierce, ginobli/parker, shaq, etc. LMA got outplayed by Scola pretty well tonight. Scola was active, caused foul trouble for us, and made a ton of both high skill and hustle plays. Just seemed to want it more, frankly... LMA did his usual "OK numbers but never really was a factor" thing. I think we would benefit from a PF who brought a little more "Scola" to the table (efficient offense, better rebounding, more desire) and a little less LMA "potential"...

I guess my question is: what is LMA's ceiling? He's been in the NBA long enough that we know what we are getting. And to me, what we are getting is a guy who will get you 24 and 8 one night and 11 and 4 the next. He seems to shrink in big moments. And tonight Scola, who has less talent, just totally outworked him and outperformed him.

So do you think LMA willl become good enough to be the #2 guy when we make a real run at a title? If not, do we move him? Tonight was the first time I felt like "we could do better than this" at the 4 spot. Am I being impatient, or realistic?

 

[BlazerFanForLife]

LaMarcus still hasn't developed his body completely it should be done next year and he still has to work on some more post moves, especially some power ones.

 

[Rozza5]

LMA is the type of player that's going to get better as he gets smarter/older.

That's going to come with experience.

When he's a 6 or 7 year vet he's going to dominate IMO

 

[WWBRoyD]

Let me start this by saying that I really like LMA. He's super talented and seems like a great guy. But is he good enough to be the second banana on a title team? That's our obvious ultimate goal, and after tonight, I'm starting to have my doubts. When I look at who has won titles for the past decade, I see a lot of amazing #2 guys: kobe, pierce, ginobli/parker, shaq, etc. LMA got outplayed by Scola pretty well tonight. Scola was active, caused foul trouble for us, and made a ton of both high skill and hustle plays. Just seemed to want it more, frankly... LMA did his usual "OK numbers but never really was a factor" thing. I think we would benefit from a PF who brought a little more "Scola" to the table (efficient offense, better rebounding, more desire) and a little less LMA "potential"...

I guess my question is: what is LMA's ceiling? He's been in the NBA long enough that we know what we are getting. And to me, what we are getting is a guy who will get you 24 and 8 one night and 11 and 4 the next. He seems to shrink in big moments. And tonight Scola, who has less talent, just totally outworked him and outperformed him.

So do you think LMA willl become good enough to be the #2 guy when we make a real run at a title? If not, do we move him? Tonight was the first time I felt like "we could do better than this" at the 4 spot. Am I being impatient, or realistic?

That's real simple. You're being impatient.

 

[Webster's Dictionary]

I do wish that Lamarcus was a little more intense sometimes, but he is going to round into a very good to great NBA player. If he played as physical and with as much energy all the time as he played against Yao at the end tonight, he'd be a defensive monster.

 

[B-Roy]

He's not strong enough to back down a lot of players. He must develop his face up game in order to become consistently better.

 

[julius]

Ah, the pendulum of fan bipolarism strikes again.

 

[number 10]

bipolarism my ass, over the course of this season it's becoming more and more apparent to me that LMA shouldn't be the long term answer as Roy's #2 and that he's going to be overpaid. It's not a reaction to one game, it's just taht each game is a verification that he will always tend to be an outside player. He's almost certainly never going to become as tough and full of energy as a guy like Scola, he's been labeled soft since high school and nothing has changed. Expecting a guy to reinvent himself will just leave you waiting for the lone exception (Dirk, possibly?) out of thousands of players. If you could sign him for $9m/year or some David West type of deal, it'd be great. For near max money, he's going to be overpaid.

 

[Sheldon Shape]

There were visions of him becoming a #2 guy but it's been increasingly clear that he can't on a consistent basis. With Oden on the horizon and showing he's pretty damn efficient around the basket, he should be #2 with Aldridge becoming the #3. Oden may be raw, but he's far stronger and more powerful than most of his opposition. He can score pretty much anytime he wants.

 

[alex42083]

There were visions of him becoming a #2 guy but it's been increasingly clear that he can't on a consistent basis. With Oden on the horizon and showing he's pretty damn efficient around the basket, he should be #2 with Aldridge becoming the #3. Oden may be raw, but he's far stronger and more powerful than most of his opposition. He can score pretty much anytime he wants.

Agreed. The thought with the team was probably G.O. and LaMarcus would be enough to share the load of being a No. 2/3 on this team. Greg just can't stay on the floor long enough to develop our big 3.
I'm not worried about LaMarcus at all, being just 23. But I think it'd be a big help and would accelerate our development if we had a veteran who could teach these guys some tricks, or how to prepare for the long haul of a season.

 

[Pinwheel1]

I guess my question is: what is LMA's ceiling? He's been in the NBA long enough that we know what we are getting. And to me, what we are getting is a guy who will get you 24 and 8 one night and 11 and 4 the next. He seems to shrink in big moments. And tonight Scola, who has less talent, just totally outworked him and outperformed him.

Am I being impatient, or realistic?

I was thinking "ridiculous" but I will go with impatient. When he is 25 then we will know. Right now he is playing very well and has to adapt to playing with Greg (or not playing with Greg) I would throw his stats out the window when evaluating him. But there is no fuckling way he has been in the NBA long enough for us to know what we are getting. Unless you are Colin Coward. Then you would know his first time down the court.

 

[Ed O]

Impatient.

Aldridge is 23. He's not taken a huge step forward in terms of production, but he's helped the team improve and I'm confident that his head is on straight... he will continue to improve.

He might never be a regular all-star, but I think he'll be a consistent "plus" at the power forward spot for as long as he's here.

Ed O.

 

[Sinobas]

Everytime I"ve seen him try to back a player down this year, they've flopped and he gets an offensive foul. He's usually only successful when he cuts to the middle and does the hook.

 

[Spud147]

Some men continue to grow in height until their early to mid-20s and their body doesn't fully develop until about 3 years later. It's unusual, but LaMarcus could still be growing taller for all we know. When I look at him this year compared to last year he's clearly been putting in a lot of work on strength training.

I read an article about the Texas program and the fact that they really don't do a lot of weightlifting (look at Kevin Durant, he's still a stick!) so all of this new muscle is a result of LaMarcus' hard work. He's also brought in a new shot this season which (to me) shows a lot of dedication in the off season. He won't even begin to reach his full physical potential until his late 20s and he's got a high basketball IQ that will continue to improve even after that. LaMarcus is like an iceberg and we've only seen the tip! I would be livid if the team decided to give up on him now like some of the posters seem to be!!!

 

[Ed O]

Everytime I"ve seen him try to back a player down this year, they've flopped and he gets an offensive foul. He's usually only successful when he cuts to the middle and does the hook.

He does get suckered into a lot of offensive fouls. I really think that's a great reason for why he's going to improve over time... he can improve that with experience whether he lifts weights or is in better shape or whatever.

Hopefully he improves physically, as well, but mentally he's still got a lot of growth potential and I think he's capable of reaching that.

Ed O.

 

[blazerboy30]

How many #2 guys averaged 18,7,2,1 (pts, rbs, assts, stls) at the age of 23 or their 3rd year?

I honestly don't know, but...

I'm wondering if you are unhappy with LMA's performance because you are comparing to guys that eventually became a #1 on their team, or if you are comparing him to #2's when those other players were actually winning titles.

I mean, he doesn't have to improve THAT much to be a 20/10 guy with good passing skills, which seems like very reasonable expectations for improvement over the next couple of years. I don't know how much more you expect out of your #2 or #2.5 guy.

 

[mikeg]

Thanks for the comments, guys... I was just looking historically at who the second bananas were on title teams and comparing them to what LMA's best might be. It's not like I'd rather have Nene or something... He is young, I guess we'll find out if he can become a superstar or not. I agree that if perhaps we can learn to use Oden better that it might be a moot point.