WTH is this LMA nonsense?

[Johnny Firpo]

I can't imagine the Gasol/LMA duo to be good defensively, but then again, they have a great system and one of the GOAT perimeter defenders. They'll probably be top 5 at worst, though I would be shocked if they are as good on defense as last year.

[Peregrine01]

I never really thought LMA was that good, to be honest. IMO, his value to the Spurs last year ranked well below Duncan's.

With LMA/Pau replacing TD in the middle, expect a marked decline in the Spurs' defense this year.

[Phreak50]

As I said in the Spurs board, we got a franchise record in wins last year with LMA barely fitting in and struggling for most of the year. Once he settles we will only get better and there are barely a handful of teams that have someone of his quality in his position, that reliable.

Spurs are not giving him up.

[Pennebaker]

Spurs might trade LMA? He might not even finish the season there? He's clearly option 1b and has such a great cast around him! That team is destined to go to the WCF for quite a few years, and the Spurs are obviously one of the GOAT organizations with a GOAT caliber coach. What in the world is happening in San Antonio??
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/243650/LaMarcus-Aldridge-Could-Be-Traded-By-Spurs-This-Season

Aldridge has always been overrated.

[CnG]

I'm not a huge fan of Aldridge but some of the stuff coming out about his time in Portland stinks like some of the same stuff salty reporters like Royce Young wrote about KD as soon as he left.

Feels like as soon as any major free agent leaves a franchise, the local beat writers play on the fans' emotions/opinions of the player to curry favour.

[TheAlchemist]

They're in all likelihood not beating GSW but the Clippers? It took the Clippers playing better than they ever have to beat a lesser Spurs team in a seven game series with home court advantage...

You also exaggerate Gasol's defensive shortcomings. He can't cover the PnR but neither could Tim last year and we still had a historically good defense. Gasol is adequate when all he's asked to do is contest shots right at the rim. Aldridge was quietly a solid defensive player last year. And Green/Kawhi are the best perimeter defensive tandem in the league.

Gasol was a low risk signing to stay a top team in the league with an outside shot at winning it all. The only team I simply can't see them beating is GSW; its an awful matchup for us. I like their chances against Cleveland though, which is reason enough to stay the course.

This talk of trading LMA is almost certainly garbage but I frankly would be for it. I like him, but we'd be better suited with someone more in line with Kawhi's timeline. Can't think of a deal off the top of my head though

I'm a Bulls fan so I've seen plenty of Pau the last two years. His rim defense is indeed solid as you point out, but he's soft under the rim and on the boards (he's famous in CHI for the easy gimme's on the defensive glass) and not a good post defender unlike Tim. DeAndre Jordan literally eat hims alive on the glass. I also think Gasol and LMA duplicate each other offensively--both like that mid range jumper and pick and pop.

The Spurs are my second favorite team, so I don't want to appear to be a hater. I just think the Clippers are an awful matchup too, unfortunately. Gasol gets tossed around like a rag doll against big physical opponents thus DJ and Griffin are the worst possible playoff matchup for him. I see Parker as a huge liability against Chris Paul too. The Clippers beat up the Spurs two years ago with a very effective Duncan....Gasol is a huge drop off in the paint.

I think Boston is the best fit for an LMA trade. They don't have a great solution at PF but they have a ton of youth and picks available to trade. Ainge desperately needs to cash some of his assets in for a star via trade.

I understand your view; the matchup with DJ bothers me a lot as well. However, Blake isn't really a "big physical opponent." He's much shorter than LMA or Gasol and spends less time banging in the paint than he used to. As for his rebounding, yeah I know his stats don't actually reflect his ability. But LMA's solid in that department and Kawhi and Danny are excellent rebounding wings. I guess the general idea is that the rest of the starters mask Pau's deficiencies a bit. Also Parker wouldn't see much time on Paul, he'll be on whatever garbage third wing they trot out.

It's hard to think of a taker on LMA because it'll have to be a team trying to win now who thinks he's the missing piece. I'd like to get someone like Favors for him but thats probably pretty unrealistic. Maybe the Suns for one of their point guards and others since they wanted him in the offseason.

I was wondering, if San Antonio where to have shopped LMA, do you think a trade with Toronto for Jonas + picks/assets, would be something they'd look into?

I know Spurs have been linked to Jonas before, and where trying to trade for him. Just curious.

Spurs:
Jonas
Patterson
picks/etc.

Toronto:
LMA

[Clemenza]

Not saying he gets traded but where there's smoke there's fire

[Kurosawa0]

I was wondering, if San Antonio where to have shopped LMA, do you think a trade with Toronto for Jonas + picks/assets, would be something they'd look into?

I know Spurs have been linked to Jonas before, and where trying to trade for him. Just curious.

Spurs:
Jonas
Patterson
picks/etc.

Toronto:
LMA

It's not bad, but I feel like the Spurs would want an athletic guard. Maybe the Lakers could offer something built around a Jordan Clarkson offer. Not a lot of great offers I could see. Aldridge is good, but I'm not sure who gives up something really good to get him.

[red_power]

LaMarcus is a classic aging overrated drama queen, i just wonder how much time did he cry alone after Popovich put some of his army tricks as response to LMA's gimmicks. That kind of move is quite possible.
On other hand Spurs is going to have hard time to find resonable offer so nothing is imminent here.

[E-Balla]

It's highly unlikely, but to be honest, they should probably trade him. In my opinion, he is one of the most overrated players in the league. For example, most people thought he was better than Bosh - not right now obviously, but career-wise -, while Bosh had like 6-7 better seasons than LMA's best campaign. I always thought that he is the Iverson of power forwards, for some reason, he makes people think that he is an elite player, but there is zero empirical evidence that supports this notion, and he has mediocre, borderline bad advanced stats. I have a similar opinion of Carmelo, though he got more backlash in the last couple of years.

You say this every time LMA comes up then someone (mostly me) will actually post his advanced stats (where he's actually really good overall) and you bring up his TS% like it's not low as a result of his role and like he's not still efficient because he keeps his turnovers low. It's getting old. Just say you don't like him because his fg% is low and don't try to justify it with lies.

[Johnny Firpo]

You say this every time LMA comes up then someone (mostly me) will actually post his advanced stats (where he's actually really good overall) and you bring up his TS% like it's not low as a result of his role and like he's not still efficient because he keeps his turnovers low. It's getting old. Just say you don't like him because his fg% is low and don't try to justify it with lies.

How is his TS% low as a result of his role? What are you trying to say? Also, I don't care about FG%, it's a useless stat. I don't really remember many interactions like you just described btw.

[kabstah]

You say this every time LMA comes up then someone (mostly me) will actually post his advanced stats (where he's actually really good overall) and you bring up his TS% like it's not low as a result of his role and like he's not still efficient because he keeps his turnovers low. It's getting old. Just say you don't like him because his fg% is low and don't try to justify it with lies.

How is his TS% low as a result of his role? What are you trying to say? Also, I don't care about FG%, it's a useless stat. I don't really remember many interactions like you just described btw.

LMA takes a lot of long 2's by design, or at least he did on recent Portland teams. More importantly, he's good enough in the post to take advantage of a smaller defender, so the defense needs to stick him with a PF or C which in turn means he's drawing the most valuable rim defender out away from the rim.

That opens up his team's offense, at the cost of his own personal %'s. He could have a higher FG% and a higher FTr (and thus a higher TS%) if he just played in the post more, but force feeding the low post is a losing offensive strategy if your name doesn't start with Shaquille and end with O'Neal.

[lilswift01]

Spurs would look fantastic with an elite guard.

[Synciere]

Zach Lowe and Jackie MacMullen are pretty friggin good journalists. I'm not sure what basis people would have to say this is BS.

[RCM88x]

Trade him to the Bulls for Butler and Valentine or some other Guard.

EDIT: or even better, involve Boston and send picks to Chicago and one of Boston's guards, for LMA.

Chicago gets picks and am excuse to fire their Coach, SA gets a defensive SG/SF, Boston gets a PF in LMA and thins their perimeter rotation.

[DeezRaptors]

LaMarcus is a classic aging overrated drama queen, i just wonder how much time did he cry alone after Popovich put some of his army tricks as response to LMA's gimmicks. That kind of move is quite possible.
On other hand Spurs is going to have hard time to find resonable offer so nothing is imminent here.

How did you take this as an opportunity to take a shot at LMA. He isn't asking for a trade.. How is he even a drama queen. I bet you're a blazer fan so the sourness is expected. He had no gimmicks. The dude hasn't even said anything about wanting to leave. You're strange

[Smitty731]

It is crap and lazy reporting. Based entirely on a Zach Lowe article.

My thoughts exactly.

I really hate this type of article. Pure click bait.

Zach Lowe doesn't need click bait. And it was buried in the article. Not a leading headline.

Jackie MacMullen said it on a TV show, so that wasn't for anything either.

Neither of them throw random stuff out there. They are two of the most respected journalists in the sport. Calling it click bait is not only unfair, but entirely incorrect.

[DusterBuster]

The talk from the SA Express-News sounds like classic Aldridge. Him being unhappy that he's not being the focal point of the offense is something we heard for years upon years in Portland. As TSE laid out so well, even when he was made the focal point of the offense in Portland, he still wasn't happy because other guys (see: Dame) became more popular in the media than he was. The problem with his frustrations being that Dame was willing to go the extra mile to do ads and appearances in the public with fans, Aldridge wasn't because he was so private and closed off, so he had no one but himself to blame, yet he still blamed the team.

So yeah, everything in SA right now sounds like a complete repeat of everything we heard in Portland, which makes me think there's some fire to this smoke. Doesn't mean they'll trade him, but I don't see it as out of the question and I don't think it's crazy to believe he's unhappy.

What I do find funny is that he reportedly was interested in a trade to the Cavs.... LMA wants to be the focal point of an offense and he wants to be traded to a place where he'd at best be the 3rd banana (assuming the Cavs would have moved Love to get him)????

[DusterBuster]

Dame
CJ
Batum
LMA

shouldve stayed

I'm fairly glad he didn't tbh. The Blazers had to cater so much of their offense to LMA to maximize his talent and to keep him happy. They're able to play an actual style of team ball now, one they never could when every play had to start with a dump into the post for LMA to either make a play or pass out.

Granted, I would have rather they traded him instead of ending up letting him walk for nothing. In hindsight, that rumored Bulls deal would have been amazing for Portland, even though I hated it at the time.

[Senbonzakura]

I don't understand the people who say he doesn't fit on the team. Sure he isn't perfect, but the guy came in and improved the team by 12 wins. Even if he isn't a great fit, you're not gonna do much better without him.


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He also had arguably the best season of his career by a lot of advanced statistical measures:

Career high in TS%, WS/48, defensive win shares and net rating.