FanShot

Pelton: Blazers F LaMarcus Aldridge Boasts All-Star Consistency

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As promised last night, here's Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus breaking down the remarkable scoring consistency of Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge. -------------------------------- Last season, a hobbled [Brandon] Roy was physically unable to produce consistent efforts, forcing Aldridge into the role of go-to scorer. Really, last year’s mark for Aldridge doesn’t do his performance justice. In this as in most everything else, Aldridge had two different seasons–a relatively disappointing start followed by an All-NBA finish. From Dec. 15 onward, Aldridge’s shake was 23.1, as compared to 28.1 over the full campaign. This year, Aldridge’s shake has dropped again to 18.1, making him far more consistent as a scorer than Roy ever was. ... The Blazers are a good team that has in practice been wildly inconsistent, alternating blowout wins and close losses. But that has been an issue with role players and can’t be blamed on Aldridge, who is giving Portland an All-Star effort every night. -------------------------------- The chart in the post really helps reinforce exactly how consistent Aldridge has been this year. It's an entire level of consistency better than Roy's best. Following Monday night's 39-point output, Aldridge is now No. 5 in the NBA in scoring at 23.7 points per game, trailing only Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kevin Love. I left this analysis thinking that PDXBuckeye hit the nail on the head in his FanPost: Aldridge, despite the fact that he has emerged as an All-Star lock, is not getting sufficient credit for his level of play this season. -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter