Has LMA reached his ceiling?

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Fez Hammersticks said:
His shot blocking is truly pathetic for a player his size.

Nearly 7'0" with a 7'5" wingspan, athletic, he has the tools to be a force on the defensive end. He just doesn't focus enough or just lacks heart.
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I'm leaning towards the theory that the problem is not heart or focus; it just seems to me he doesn't process information quickly and react to this information quickly. That also might explain why he seems to give teams time to doubleteam him after he receives the ball and is slow to pass out of doubleteams.
I first thought this when a smaller player drove to the basket from the other side than Aldridge.
Aldridge got there late. But the guy missed the shot, rebounded, missed again, rebounded and missed again. All while Aldridge never got off the floor. Admittedly Aldridge was behind the guy but he was several inches taller and all he needed to do was go up there and tip the rebound away from the basket.
This actually might be fixable through specialized non-basketball drills, but the Blazers would first need to recognize that this is the problem.
 
DeanMoriarty said:
Look at Rasheed's numbers.He didn't do well offensively until his 6th year.
Aldridge is already ahead in terms of offense. And he can develop defense. His help defense is already decent and his man-to-man has gotten better. It will take time before he develops the veteran savvy intangibles that Rasheed had.
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Nice Work! That's what I'm talking about, these things take time.
 
Tince said:
Fair point, and yes I would have said he would improve. Most might disagree, but I think LMA has improved over the past three years, just not as much as people would like. He'll never be the shot blocker people want him to be, but I think he has to ability to be a solid defender and improved inside post player.
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Of course he has the ability---he demonstrated it in college. He also has been the shot blocker (at least I) want him to be. Since Zach went away, he's focused on being an 18-foot jump shooter. Perhaps he's just following Nate's instructions. I doubt it, though.
 
DeanMoriarty said:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/wallara01.html

Look at Rasheed's numbers.

He didn't do well offensively until his 6th year.

Aldridge is already ahead in terms of offense. And he can develop defense. His help defense is already decent and his man-to-man has gotten better. It will take time before he develops the veteran savvy intangibles that Rasheed had.
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Misleading. He had to split a lot of time with Brian Grant and Arvydas Sabonis. In crunch time we went to Grant for the most part, not Wallace.
 
He averaged 35 mpg or more in two seasons (97-98 and 99-00); those two seasons are perfectly legit to use as examples.
 
Well we disagree. He wasn't offensive focus those seasons, so he wasn't called on to score a lot. He was a role player.
 
hasoos said:
Well we disagree. He wasn't offensive focus those seasons, so he wasn't called on to score a lot. He was a role player.
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I think that was Rasheed's choice. MD always talks about Rasheed never wanted to be a #1 or #2 option.
 
Uncle Ty said:
I think it's very unlikely we will see much of an improvement in LaMarcus' game.
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I think it's very unlikely we wont see an improvement. If the Blazers improve, so will LMA. So are you pessimistic or optimistic about the Blazers next year?
 
Tince said:
I think that was Rasheed's choice. MD always talks about Rasheed never wanted to be a #1 or #2 option.
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Choice or not, it was reality. Rasheed was a capable scorer his first year in the league. He played behind Cweb and a guy who is on our roster this year, Juwan Howard, who was a legit stud at the time. But even then he could score. The guy had NBA scoring skills when he was in college. The number of years before he started scoring at his highest level in the NBA is moot. The skills were there way before that time period. I watched North Carolina those years. I watched the Bullets/Wizards. Part of the reason he was moved was because he didn't want to stay behind those guys anymore. He was capable year one. How he was used, was different.
 
HailBlazers said:
LMA is a team player. This year our team was not complete. Has he reached is ceiling? No, he needs a full roster to shine. He's young and still has allot of potential left to fulfill... IMO
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This.
 
BlazerCaravan said:
I'm okay with LMA hovering around 18 or 19 PER and playing the way he is for the foreseeable future. Here's why: we had six players with 500 minutes or more and PER over 17:

Oden (23.1)
Roy (21.3)
LMA (18.2)
Miller (18.1)
Nic (17.3)
Camby (17.0)

But when you look at the playoffs, the top two players were missing, and the bottom two were hurt, leaving only the middle two, and leaving us essentially at 33% strength. So LMA being 3rd out of 6 good-to-great players on the team isn't bad at all. It's just getting all six on the court in the same game (though not the same play... unless it's against the Celtics).
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yup. I'd add in that LA's #'s came on in the 2nd half of the season when he wasn't playing through two (reportedly) badly twisted ankles. To have a better idea of his (and the team's) ceiling, it would be nice to see him/them enjoy a season avoiding injury next year.

STOMP
 
I'm very happy with LA getting 18 and 8.......... if Greg is healthy and averaging 12 and 10! I wish I had a link, but I heard somewhere that there were only 4 other PF's that averaged more points/rebounds then LA........ ZBO, Boozer, Stat and David Lee. Not bad. He is on my opinion 1 of the top 5 or 6 PF's in the league and I'm cool with that. We paid him a bunch so we didn't lose him, more then on potential! Of course I'd like 25/15 out of him, but 18 and 8 works just fine for me with Brandon at 22 ppg. As soon as some of you on here realize he is not a top 3 PF, the easier it will be to accept what he is.
 
so what you're saying, HCP, is that he HAS reached his ceiling, but you're ok with that and we should be, too? That he'll never be a top 3 PF? Or do more than 18/8?
 
STOMP said:
yup. I'd add in that LA's #'s came on in the 2nd half of the season when he wasn't playing through two (reportedly) badly twisted ankles. To have a better idea of his (and the team's) ceiling, it would be nice to see him/them enjoy a season avoiding injury next year.

STOMP
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Here's the other question: how much causality is there between the stat and the record? There's certainly correlation, but think of this: if other teams get worse, you get better relatively speaking. Because you get better relative to your competition, you are more efficient in dispatching your opponents, and your PER goes up. You win more games, so your Win Shares go up. You score more points (because their defense is worse) and your ORtg goes up. Your opponent misses more shots, scores fewer points, and your DRtg goes up.

Is it any wonder why the best players PER-wise in the last 20 years have been mostly from the East? Look how many horrible teams are there for a team like Chicago or a player like LeBron or a team like Boston to feast upon. Look how good they all perform over there.

Not to get of on a tangent, but my point is that sometimes the tail (your opponents in a division or conference) wags the dog (your stats overall). The West has been brutally difficult the last five years, and a team that can win 50 in the NW division is particularly talented (and probably would win 58-60 in the Atlantic division with NY/NJ to play four times each).

As the West ages further, they will deteriorate, and the young West teams (OKC and Portland) will feast. We will get better both by default and through growth, but we are also better than it seems now.
 
BrianFromWA said:
so what you're saying, HCP, is that he HAS reached his ceiling, but you're ok with that and we should be, too? That he'll never be a top 3 PF? Or do more than 18/8?
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I believe with Brandon, a scoring PG in Miller and possibly a healthy Greg, I believe his #'s will not get higher. If you judge a players value on strictly #'s, I could see why people might be disapointed. I'm just saying I'm not. I never thought LA would be a top tier PF and guess what, he's not. You can't have a superstar at EVERY position. If he fills a role this team needs and we succeed, I could care what his #'s are.
 
HCP said:
I believe with Brandon, a scoring PG in Miller and possibly a healthy Greg, I believe his #'s will not get higher. If you judge a players value on strictly #'s, I could see why people might be disapointed. I'm just saying I'm not. I never thought LA would be a top tier PF and guess what, he's not. You can't have a superstar at EVERY position. If he fills a role this team needs and we succeed, I could care what his #'s are.
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Unlike a lot of people around here, his offense doesn't bother me that much, it's his defensive intensity that I found lacking this season. Part of that passivity was trying to stay out of foul trouble with no other great options to go to if he was out of the game, but with his wingspan, versatility and mobility he should be generating a lot more blocks and not getting beat as often as he does. Hopefully with a guy like Camby to learn from (with a very similar body type) he'll improve next season and can be more aggressive, but it remains to be seen.
 
I agree that he could learn a ton from Camby. Let's hope he does!
 
Nikolokolus said:
Unlike a lot of people around here, his offense doesn't bother me that much, it's his defensive intensity that I found lacking this season. Part of that passivity was trying to stay out of foul trouble with no other great options to go to if he was out of the game, but with his wingspan, versatility and mobility he should be generating a lot more blocks and not getting beat as often as he does. Hopefully with a guy like Camby to learn from (with a very similar body type) he'll improve next season and can be more aggressive, but it remains to be seen.
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This is my biggest problem with LaMarcus. He has the speed and hops to be more of a force as an off the ball defender then he has been. In his defense he did start to come on strong as the season progressed.

I would like to see him become a real two way player like a homeless man's Kevin Garnett
 
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