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LaMarcus Aldridge in 2015 (left) is 41 pounds heavier than he was as a rookie in 2006.
MEMPHIS – It was the summer of 2009, after the Trail Blazers had been ousted from the playoffs by the Houston Rockets when a franchise, and a player, changed.
It's when LaMarcus Aldridge began the transformation from potential star to perennial All-Star, and when a franchise saw its hopes for a cornerstone player evolve into reality.
In that 2009 series, a 4-2 victory by the Rockets, coach Rick Adelman threw the Blazers a curveball by putting Ron Artest, a physical and sturdy defender, first on Brandon Roy, then at times on the much taller Aldridge.
Artest's ability to push, bump and bang the Blazers' stars off their spots and out of their games became a central theme of the series victory, and one he famously championed by flexing to the Houston crowd during a key moment of the series.
For Aldridge, it became a defining moment in his career, one he took directly to a weight room in Dallas that summer to begin a transformation of his body, and his game.
"After that series, I remember when Ron guarded me – and he is above average strong – I didn't like how I couldn't still play my game,'' Aldridge said Tuesday. "So I wanted to just dial it in (in the weight room) so that if a guy switched on me who shouldn't be down there, I was going to punish him.''
He hired a trainer and began a weight-lifting regiment. Two times a day. Sometimes three. He pushed tires. Did squats. Lifted heavy weights. Every type of hard workout there was, Aldridge said, he did it.
"After that summer,'' he noted, "I never looked back.''
And neither has his game.
Over the past six seasons, Aldridge has added a staggering 41 pounds of muscle to his frame, transforming a 234-pound string bean as a rookie into what teammates and opponents say is now an immovable object.
As the muscle gradually layered his body, he began to gradually shed his old labels.
He became strong enough to hold off opponents for rebounds. Thick enough to absorb blows while driving inside. And sturdy enough to stand his ground on defense.
Not surprisingly, his game evolved into that of a perennial All-Star, and considered among the best at his position.
Today, in a first-round playoff series against Memphis, Aldridge and his strength stand as one of the few examples of the Blazers holding their ground against the physical nature of the Grizzlies.
In a dominant victory in Game 1, Memphis scored more than half of its points inside the paint. But Aldridge held his man – the bulldozing Zach Randolph – largely in check. Randolph shot 3 of 10 inside 15 feet, and four of those misses were blocks by Aldridge.
On offense in Game 1, Aldridge shot 11 for 23 inside 15 feet and 2 for 11 outside 15 feet.
It was a far cry from 2006-07, when Randolph and Aldridge were teammates in Portland, and Randolph was able to get deep position by lowering his head, or putting his backside into the rookie. And back then, Aldridge's offensive game was almost exclusively on the perimeter.
"LaMarcus was real skinny coming out of college; now he is strong,'' Randolph said the day after Game 1. "I told him last night: 'Man, you've gotten strong. You been working out again?' He just looked at me and laughed.''
Aldridge laughed because even years later, he can still remember how he was criticized for being soft. And how his name was mocked as being LaMarsha.
• • •
On the eve of Game 2, Aldridge's chest sticks out when he talks about the adjustments the Blazers need to make to end a five-game losing streak to Memphis.
In reality, Aldridge is not sticking his chest out. It has just become that large, that filled out.
And even though he says he didn't hit the weight room to silence the critics, he takes pride in how he has transformed his physique and his game.
"I knew I wasn't soft. I knew I could play on this level and I knew that being in the paint was just a physical position that I wasn't strong enough for,'' Aldridge said. "I wanted to get myself strong enough where I could be dominant down there.''
He acknowledges that he heard the labels, and the feminine-based insults, but that they never fueled him.
"I never cared about that because people in my circle know how hard I work and how competitive I am and how physical I am,'' Aldridge said. "But if you are not strong enough – what can you do? So I did it for myself, so my game could grow.''
He had always had a sturdy base with thick thighs and backside, and in the past two years in particular, his upper body strength has increased, pushing his weight to 275.
That weight and strength will be one of the anchors of the Blazers' attack against Memphis.
"Since I've gotten stronger, I can hold a guy off and get a rebound,'' Aldridge said. "And like banging with Z-Bo ... if I wasn't strong enough to hold him out, he would bury me down low. If I wasn't strong enough, he would hit me one time and I would be gone.''
Two of Aldridge's teammates, Joel Freeland and Meyers Leonard, both say Aldridge is one of the, if not the, strongest players they have ever gone against.
"It's crazy,'' Freeland said. "You can't move him. He's ridiculously strong.''
Leonard says he is often asking Aldridge how he transformed his body and his game.
"Because the guy is an absolute brick wall. Once he is planted, you can't move him. Watch him and Z-Bo down there when Z-Bo is trying to get inside. Normally, Z-Bo is pushing guys out, but L.A. he just stands his ground,'' Leonard said. "It's really impressive. Any guy who plays against him will tell you the same thing.''
Randolph, who has been called a bully more than once in his career, just shakes his head when picturing the change in Aldridge.
"Lot of muscle. Lot of muscle,'' Randolph said. "He's been in the weight room.''
It all started with Artest and that first-round upset in 2009 and carried through to a rough-and-tumble Game 1.
"Like the last game with Z-Bo, a lot of the game was up top (in the body): grabbing, holding, pushing, shoving. So my upper body strength has paid off. It has been big time for my game.''
And big time for a franchise in need of a cornerstone to build around.
--Jason Quick | jquick@oregonian.com | @jwquick
http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/i...aldridge_and_the_muscle_that_changed_his.html
