One possible reason for his inconsistency is his slow footwork, side to side and staying in front of the opponent. that could be fixed though with training.

Nah just kidding. I totally agree, obviously. Not a bad player but not as high an upside as folks think. I think I said his rookie year that I figured his upside to be Rasheed without the crazy. At this point, I think it’s more like Antawn Jamison. Who’s not a bad player, but not great either.

Lamarcus gets it and he is absolutely the 4 this team needs. He’ll get better at D with age. You can’t teach that stroke he has and that little hook across the lane is becoming very effective. His post play has improved dramatically and this is only his 3rd year. Juggle stats until you’re blue in the face. He’s already very good and he has the tools to be great.

In the long run, LaMarcus will be a better SF than PF. He’s your typical 7 footer that rather shoot 15’ to 18’ jumpshot versus pounding inside for putbacks!

What this team needs is a true “Power” Forward in the mold of Maurice Lucas or Buck Williams. A player concerned making sure we are tough defensively inside and gets to the boards. Once we have that guy, LaMarcus moves to the three position and continues to work on his 3-point shot.

Also, at the SF position, he will be able to do whatever he wants offensively to other SF in the league. His outside shot can’t be blocked by a SF and he can dominate inside when he decides to venture in the paint the 3 to 5 times a game.

Finally, I do agree that LaMarcus is penalized by the teams inability to push the ball down court. His ability to get out and run for a big man is wasted on this team that just refuses to fast break the ball.

Again, this probably goes back to McMillan and his style of basketball and not having the right trigger man to start the break.

I like LaMarcus but I just think he’s better suited to play the SF position.

I don’t know any preium NBA Power Foward that couldn’t take Stephen Jackson a part down low? If you think LA can’t handle Stephen J down low, you must think he is a pretty crappy low post player? I do think that low post play is not his best strenght!

That’s why I think he should not play Power Forward which really is a “in the paint” type position. Jump shots out to 10’ to 15’ are bonus but what you really want is toughness and REBOUNDS to get defensive stops.

Think of tonight. How many times did Los Angeles toss up a brick only to get the ball back? In fact, in all these losses lately, we have been consitently getting beat on the offensive glass by our opponents! A tough nosed Power Forward gets those boards! LA just isn’t that guy!

He’s talented for sure! He’s got a great outside shot for a big man! Very athletic for his size. He can run like a deer! And, GREAT LENGTH!

And, with that length, I think it can help him guard other NBA Small Forwards. He won’t have to be too tight on the perimeter players. He can lay off and still get a hand in their face when they shoot. I think he could be more effective than you might think!

As far as chasing other SF through screens, what other Blazer does that? What I have seen is the Blazers usually switch through screens. With his length, if he switches to a Center or PF, he would be a better match up compared to our other SF on the team.

You make good and pratical points. I guess I have a different tastes in power forwards and LaMarcus game, to me, is more fitting of a small forward.

1) Aldridge’s rebounding isn’t that bad.

http://www.82games.com/0809/08POR9.HTM#bypos

At the power forward position, Aldridge outrebounds his counterpart per 48 minutes 9.3 to 8.1 on the season thus far. Due to rounding, that makes our rebounding differential at the position a +1.1 when Aldridge is in the game (and not playing next to Outlaw). Therefore, he contributes to the team’s league-leading rebound rate. When Aldridge is in the game, the team grabs 53.7% of all available rebounds.

If you want to use last night to argue against Aldridge, Aldridge had 11 rebounds to Gasol’s 5 rebounds (which is still worse even taking into account Aldridge played significantly more minutes).

2) Aldridge is an efficient offensive player.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/aldrila01.html

Scrolling down to the bottom to the “Advanced” section (for Advanced Stats like PER and whatnot), Aldridge’s Offensive Rating for the season so far is at 112 points produced per 100 possessions (this is purely efficiency without taking into usage rate). This is a tad under our team’s 113 points per 100 possessions (Offensive Efficiency), but it is still well above the league average (which is currently around 107 per 100 possessions).

Adding into account the fact that his usage rate is high, he theoretically helps our team’s offensive efficiency since there is an exchange rate between usage and efficiency. While this is just theoretical, the fact that he almost certainly helps the team is not. According to 82games.com, our offense is +13.9 points better when he’s on the court. While this really has a lot to do with our bad backups at the PF position, there is nothing that suggests that Aldridge hurts our offense in any way.

Why is Aldridge’s offensive rating so high (again this doesn’t even take into account Aldridge’s high usage rate)? Aldridge is efficient because of a stat that tends to get ignored in player evaluation – his extremely low turnover rate.

Among players with any kind of significant minutes, Aldridge is number 10 in the league in not turning the ball over. A turnover is worse than a missed shot because it doesn’t allow for offensive rebounds (and the Blazers get 1/3 of all missed shots on the offensive end). This is also part of why Roy is always more efficient that his TS%. Low turnover rates are a key part of offense, just second to shooting efficiency. This is also part of why the Blazers offense is normally so efficient.

3) Is Aldridge’s defense really bad?

While the team’s defense is bad and Aldridge’s defensive rebounding numbers are poor, how much of this is due to Aldridge?

http://basketballvalue.com/teamplayers.php?year=2008-2009&team=POR

All of the Blazers starters have a negative impact in oncourt-offcourt on defense, while the reverse is true for the bench. The only exceptions are Aldridge for the starters and Outlaw for the reserves.

http://www.82games.com/ilardi2.htm

Here’s another link that says that Aldridge is a good defender using adjusted +/- from his first two seasons in the league.

Any measurement of defense using +/- says that Aldridge is likely good (or at least definitely not bad) at defense. However, it’s quite obvious that +/-, like any stat for defense, is very questionable.

4) Wages of Wins has too many flaws to be valid.

I just felt like pointing this out as I’ve noted this many times before. The fact that Wages of Wins disagrees with ALL other player evaluation stats on Aldridge may say more about Wages of Wins than…ALL other player evaluation stats!

They both came out in the same draft, so their careers will always be linked to some extent, but the simple fact is that Brandon is way ahead of the curve and LMA is probably right where he belongs as a 3rd year player (and not even that because missed a good chunk of time his rookie season).

If you compare Aldridge to Sheed he’s actually ahead of Mr. T based on offensive production, and from what I’ve seen LMA’s defense has done nothing but improve by leaps and bounds this season; he’s legitimately our best perimeter defender.

(Oh how I hate the Yankees and the American League) that Derek Jeter is redeemed by his charisma, his leadership, and all the intangible and immeasurable qualities that characterize the heart of a champion. He is a Yankee captain in the finest tradition. For that reason alone I hesitate to use Jeter as the measuring rod. My agreement that LMA may be over rated doesn’t cause me to like him less. As long as he sets a a high standard for professionalism his value will exceed his statistical contribution.

the fact that he doesn’t get 10+ rebounds is softened by the fact that he is one of the best at getting offensive rebounds. He doesn’t get many Def. rebounds because he is able to defend smaller players so MacMillan allows him to switch, and watch a game, more often than not he is out of position because of this

Aldridge is the clear team leader at +13 per 48 on "2 yr" adjusted +/-. He is 7th best in the league on this. Aldridge is very good at team defense and creating conditions for a strong offense around him and he does some good things directly on offense too. A player’s impact is more than his individual stats.