Blazers without Aldridge

[PtldPlatypus]

This is the dumbest thing I've read here this week. Yes, turn LMA into an off-the-ball slasher. Just a brilliant post. Congrats.

So, getting the ball to Aldridge on the pick-and-roll--as contrasted with the pick-and-pop on which he presently often receives the ball--is a bad idea?

 

[noknobs]

Recently there were a few games in which our backup center was Claver and we were playing some bad teams... It's no surprise the game was so wide open. Exciting at times, maybe. Better than with Aldridge, hell no.

How soon some of you've forgotten how unselfish and fluid the team was for the 1st 40 or so games. That all happened WITH Aldridge, you idiots. And come playoff time the value of a guy like Aldridge becomes magnified.

 

[LuckyShot]

Imo its not as much on offensive end as defensive, he sucks at help defense. Good 1 on 1 defender but when it comes to team defense we get picked apart. He needs to go back to being a leader and needs to defer to Lopez to control the defense on the floor. Lopez can beast on defense when he's not boxing out to pad aldridges board numbers.

This, kind of. We held all of our opponents under 100 points during our 5 game win streak. I thought our defense was more disruptive when Aldridge was out, however, I think that was more a side effect of us being undersized than Aldridge being sucky.

We had 4 guys on the floor who could switch amongst each other and we wouldn't have too big of a mismatch. This led to quicker rotations, quicker double teams, and more steals/deflections because our defense became more aggressive to try to mask the lack of size. I think it made us tougher to read. We played a style of defense more similar to Miami.

With Aldridge back in, we play much more conservatively because he can't guard anyone but his man. We don't want him leaving his man, and of course Lopez has to stay on a big. That leaves our 3 perimeter players to cover the entire 3 point line where Stotts tells them to stay on shooters. So we are back to the "strategy" of having everyone stand and watch someone else get beat off the dribble or a ball screen, and hope the offensive player misses because we can't leave our man for fear he might get a 3 point shot...

TL;DR I thought our D was better without Aldridge because we changed our style, not because Aldridge is a terrible defender.

 

[PapaG]

With Aldridge back in, we play much more conservatively because he can't guard anyone but his man. .

The Hawks scored 24 points below their average tonight. LMA was a +21 tonight, 3rd on the team, even with his crappy shooting.

 

[rasheedfan2005]

This, kind of. We held all of our opponents under 100 points during our 5 game win streak. I thought our defense was more disruptive when Aldridge was out, however, I think that was more a side effect of us being undersized than Aldridge being sucky.

We had 4 guys on the floor who could switch amongst each other and we wouldn't have too big of a mismatch. This led to quicker rotations, quicker double teams, and more steals/deflections because our defense became more aggressive to try to mask the lack of size. I think it made us tougher to read. We played a style of defense more similar to Miami.

With Aldridge back in, we play much more conservatively because he can't guard anyone but his man. We don't want him leaving his man, and of course Lopez has to stay on a big. That leaves our 3 perimeter players to cover the entire 3 point line where Stotts tells them to stay on shooters. So we are back to the "strategy" of having everyone stand and watch someone else get beat off the dribble or a ball screen, and hope the offensive player misses because we can't leave our man for fear he might get a 3 point shot...

TL;DR I thought our D was better without Aldridge because we changed our style, not because Aldridge is a terrible defender.

Good post, I probably sounded harsh, it does drive me nuts when Lopez gets a block and the other team rebounds because aldride wasn't boxing out. But Aldridge is a decent defender especially 1on1. But he never seems to help right, could be the system or maybe he's the reason for the system.

 

[jlprk]

The Hawks scored 24 points below their average tonight. LMA was a +21 tonight, 3rd on the team, even with his crappy shooting.

You use the +/- stat in a blowout? Really?

Dumbest post of the night, in response to the smartest.

 

[Strenuus]

Good post, I probably sounded harsh, it does drive me nuts when Lopez gets a block and the other team rebounds because aldride wasn't boxing out. But Aldridge is a decent defender especially 1on1. But he never seems to help right, could be the system or maybe he's the reason for the system.

I've seen flashes of good help D with LMA... But, it's like the same with Batum... he kind of has to get motivated or "told" to do it... and then once he does, he's actually pretty good. Same with offense, when everyone has to tell him to go to the paint more... when he does, he's almost unstoppable.

 

[rasheedfan2005]

I've seen flashes of good help D with LMA... But, it's like the same with Batum... he kind of has to get motivated or "told" to do it... and then once he does, he's actually pretty good. Same with offense, when everyone has to tell him to go to the paint more... when he does, he's almost unstoppable.

It actually has me excited for playoffs. I think our entire starting unit save Lopez is bored of season already and post season will excite them.

 

[Strenuus]

It actually has me excited for playoffs. I think our entire starting unit save Lopez is bored of season already and post season will excite them.

I was thinking about this watching the replay of the Hawks game. Like, you could see they were pissed... but also, they just want to get to the good stuff. LMA, though, still needs to get in his rhythm and get pissed off and have a couple 30/15's or something.... Because he doesn't look ready for the playoffs.

 

[rasheedfan2005]

I was thinking about this watching the replay of the Hawks game. Like, you could see they were pissed... but also, they just want to get to the good stuff. LMA, though, still needs to get in his rhythm and get pissed off and have a couple 30/15's or something.... Because he doesn't look ready for the playoffs.

They play better pissed. I hope we get warriors and we can channel anger on the opposition rather than refs like at start of season.

 

[blue9]

I've seen flashes of good help D with LMA...

The problem is those "flashes" rarely happen. Weeks can go by without a flash, so I'm inclined to think it's more of a blind squirrel scenario whenever he does happen to make a decent defensive play as a help defender. He's quite decent when he can put his body on the guy he's suppose to be guarding, but he's a horrid help defender and horrid at guarding anyone who isn't a PF. And that's a large reason why our defense sucks. But the main culprit is the scheme - Stotts just doesn't have a good plan for his players to implement. I would like to think someone like Thibs or Pops could teach LMA how to be a better defender, but sometimes I wonder.