Declining the USA Basketball Team

by lee3022 on Jan 10, 2011 10:55 AM PST

Last summer the decision by LaMarcus Aldridge to skip the USA Basketball FIBA world championship team participation brought growls of discontent from Coach McMillan and many of the Blazer fan faithfuls. There was an expectation that LaMarcus would have gained international exposure and increased training and skills from that team. Now, six months later a reassessment is revealing a different perspective.

Simply put, LaMarcus is now playing like an All-Star. He came to training camp this fall with considerably more muscle and a renewed commitment to interior dominance. During the first 25 games, this difference was slowly asserting itself as LaMarcus learned to play a more physical game. When Brandon Roy was shut down the team was forced to turn over the offense to run through LaMarcus (a strategy Coach McMillan had asked for for three years). The result has been 13 consecutive games of dominance of his position. During those 13 games LaMarcus has averaged 28.5 points and 11.7 rebounds while shooting 53.7% FG%. Against the celebrated Chris Bosh last night LaMarcus had 31 points and 14 rebounds while holding Bosh to 18 points and 8 rebounds. Compare this to last year's averages of 17.9 points, 8.0 rebounds shooting 49.5% FG% and you can see the significant improvement.

It appears to me that LaMarcus' decision to work on his game privately last summer was a good decision that has resulted in carrying the Blazers in the absence of Brandon Roy. Do you agree?

Poll

USA Basketball or FIBA team participation means representing a player's country. But Blazer basketball may be better served for players to stay home and rest and prepare for the next season. Do you think this is true?

I agree in LaMarcus' case but not for most players who need the experience

86 votes

I agree in every case - let the other teams supply FIBA

19 votes

I disagree in LaMarcus' case that FIBA would have hurt his development

59 votes

I disagree is evey case - players should put their country first

18 votes

What the heck is FIBA and how did it get into Blazers Edge?

4 votes

186 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 13 comments | 1 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

I think it was a good idea

If he played like this on the US team he would be a shoo in for all-star, but no reason to believe he would have made the switch. Same problem with Durant as with Roy no doubt.

We can only speculate as to what would have happened if he joined, but it turned out great for us, so I’m happy.

Portland could coast along with their superior talent and stay right with us. Now that Portland woke up, the hammer cometh down.

Bayless > Daffy Duck after 3 cans of rockstar

by Batumshakalaka on Jan 10, 2011 11:06 AM PST reply actions

He also had a good excuse

He talked about it on media day. If I remember correctly it was his mother who was very sick (or grandmother, can’t quite remember). I have no problem with him skipping it to be with his family in a time of turmoil. And yes it looks like this summer worked out well for him.

by AxemanACL on Jan 10, 2011 11:28 AM PST reply actions

His mom had cancer

by BlazerKuttn on Jan 10, 2011 11:33 AM PST up reply actions

i agree, I will never be upset if a player chooses to be with family/his son over basketball. LA has his priorities straight.

#52

by bustabucket on Jan 10, 2011 11:48 AM PST up reply actions 2 recs

i am not sure if we can draw any correlation

of missing the olympics to doing well this year. I think we need to give credit to LMA’s hard work, Bill Bayno’s training, Roy not in the line-up so someone needed to step up, and Nate pushing a little button in LMA’s head after the dallas loss (i think).

by Name's Ash on Jan 10, 2011 11:42 AM PST reply actions 2 recs

Obviously things have worked out fine

But it’s hard to say it was a good idea for him to skip it considering young talent like Rose, Westbrook, Love, Rondo, etc. have all had tremendous season’s as well.

I don’t think it would have hurt him in any way, but family health issues are a very legitamate reason not to participate.

by Blazas! on Jan 10, 2011 11:43 AM PST reply actions

Obviously, the family/health issues are a complete justification for staying home

but in LMA’s case (and any young player for that matter who is not an injury risk/needs the rest) playing and practicing against some of the best in the game is a huge opportunity for growth. Iron sharpens iron, imo

Kevin Durant won me over when he went Rocky IV on Russia this summer.

by blazeraddict on Jan 10, 2011 12:14 PM PST reply actions

(a strategy Coach McMillan had asked for for three years) ??

well, if that’s the case, who was in charge ? Roy ?
THAT is the “problem” with Brandon Roy. I don’t like a Roy coached team.
And, if/when Roy comes back, if Nate can’t get control of Roy, he needs to go. (he ? who ? either will do).
A coach should not be a helpless begger. If he knows what’s best (which he needs to do) he needs to demonstrate it and the team needs to respond. If not, get someone else.

If Oden does not give up on the Blazers, we should not give up on him.

by Berkeley on Jan 10, 2011 12:54 PM PST reply actions

I think you might be reading in something that is not there

Nate wants to play inside out and has all along/ But before this year LaMarcus wanted to stay outside. With Greg missing and LaMarcus outside we had no one to force double teams and free the outside shooters. This is not about Brandon but the lack (here-to-fore) of a true post presence. These are still young players developing their games.

by lee3022 on Jan 10, 2011 9:19 PM PST up reply actions

It depends on the situation...

It would have been a mistake for him to turn down the Olympic team so that he could spend the summer goofing off, but he had family issues, nagging injuries, and (most important of all) a plan to work on aspects of his game.

by AverageJon on Jan 10, 2011 1:06 PM PST reply actions

Aldridge would not have been able to bulk up if he was in laying mode

so it was a good thing. Btum needs to add a little muscle too so could use the time off to work on that. Same with Rudy so by and large I think it is generally a bad idea for our current players to play international ball in the summer since hitting the weight room at least a little is needed by those guys…

"Oh Yeah!" ~ Kool Aid Man

by PDXBuckeye on Jan 10, 2011 1:58 PM PST reply actions

it was a smart move

because of the minutes Aldridge is and will required to log this year. Whatever advantages he would have gained from playing in Turkey would have been mitigated by the extra miles he would have on the tread.

by Biph on Jan 10, 2011 2:40 PM PST reply actions