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Last night at different times both Doug KEVIN Collins and Barkley talked about how Portland had no post game.

I watch a lot of Portland, Aldridge makes a lot of jumpers, but, doesn't he make a fair amount of post plays?

I guess I'm wondering if in our eagerness to find a 'low post player' we are including people who aren't really primarily low post scorers.

There is a site I think where you can get percentage of inside points and jump shots, etc? Although some inside shots are on putbacks of course.

Thoughts? (By the way a jump shot shooting big man would do well on the Bulls, and not sure how much the Bulls would commit to non-jump shots anyway).

No Aldridge isn't a great post player. He is more comfortable from the high and mid post areas, still from watching Portland this year you can tell that Aldridge is improving his low post game. IMO he has good ability to develop a back to the basket post game, he has a soft touch and good footwork.

With time his back to the basket game will develop, still right now he loves the midrange jumper.

suckfish wrote:No Aldridge isn't a great post player. He is more comfortable from the high and mid post areas, still from watching Portland this year you can tell that Aldridge is improving his low post game. IMO he has good ability to develop a back to the basket post game, he has a soft touch and good footwork.

With time his back to the basket game will develop, still right now he loves the midrange jumper.

Aldridge has a great low post game, but he doesn't like the physical play. This was seen in college and now in the pros, against smaller players in college he looked like a scoring machine, against stronger players he didn't do well and often looked for his midrange shot which he's good at.

Nate McMillan has talked about wanting to keep Aldridge closer to the basket but he still floats outside, taking away their post presence but gaining another very good jump shooter. Right now he just looks like a little more athletic and younger version of Joe Smith. I don't think he'll ever be a superstar, but he'll be a guy who can get you 18 and 8 year after year as a starter, and when Oden comes back next year, his outside game will be a good fit for Oden's lowpost power game.

Aldridge, although a good player wasn't the answer for what we needed in Chicago so Paxson rolled the dice that Tyrus will be a great player a few years down the road.

AirP. wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Aldridge has a great low post game, but he doesn't like the physical play. This was seen in college and now in the pros, against smaller players in college he looked like a scoring machine, against stronger players he didn't do well and often looked for his midrange shot which he's good at.

Nate McMillan has talked about wanting to keep Aldridge closer to the basket but he still floats outside, taking away their post presence but gaining another very good jump shooter. Right now he just looks like a little more athletic and younger version of Joe Smith. I don't think he'll ever be a superstar, but he'll be a guy who can get you 18 and 8 year after year as a starter, and when Oden comes back next year, his outside game will be a good fit for Oden's lowpost power game.

Aldridge, although a good player wasn't the answer for what we needed in Chicago so Paxson rolled the dice that Tyrus will be a great player a few years down the road.

The problem with Aldridge is that he still needs a lot of work in is lower body. Being able to keep post position and back a player is the product of core and leg strength. This is something an off season or two can easily fix. He gained a ton of muscle this last off season and there is no reason that won't continue. The biggest attribute of Aldridge might not be his physical skills but his work ethic. He knows his weaknesses and is always working to better himself. On Christmas against the sonics he had a poor game and he ended up staying over an hour after the game was finished to work on his shot. In the end, I think he will make a few all-star games but will never be a superstar. Fortunately his game compliments Oden's and Roy's perfectly.

AirP wrote:when Oden comes back next year, his outside game will be a good fit for Oden's lowpost power game.

i was thinking this same thing last night.

There were times in that game where the most experienced Blazer on the floor was maybe a 4-5 year vet. What an exciting young team they are and their biggest draft prize isn't even on the floor.

I was talking to someone else and they mentioned that Aldridge likes to post up weaker/lesser players, which makes sense. He still has time to work on his strength and post game.

His mid range game and high post would actually fit in well with what the Bulls do I would think, although at this point yeah maybe he's not as fully developed a low post player as I had maybe thought.

Darn. A description I had heard was 'young Tim Duncan'.

LaMarcus has a decent post game, but although he is a lot stronger he still gets pushed around a little too much.


As he gains more strength he will be able to bang a bit more. Right now he is simply more valuable to the team playing mid range, and utilizing his turn around jumper.

LA does have a post game. He just doesn't like the physicality and contact involved that comes with it. This is especially true when he's going against stronger big men like Wallace or Kenyon Martin. Before Oden went down, LA was to be the high post threat, but he's had to adjust to being a banger down low, and I think it will come with strength. That, and he needs to work on boxing out.

Here's an example of his extensive repertoire:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nfjAtmJTCgQ

Good comments Jack and Trademachine.

And this was not to discredit Aldridge as a player, big fan here.

I think he's not the low post quick fix that some hear had envisioned and blame Paxson for trading him.

I'm very happy for LA that he is on the Blazers and not the Bulls. He'll end up making more money, and having more fun doing it.

He's good post player for a guy with his overall attributes and level of experience. He's better than anyone we have on our BULLS roster. But he's not all that, yet. He still got BULLIED around, hence the commentators kept saying they need their guards to rebound (esp. with LMA & Frye out there). Anytime analysts say the guards need to hit the boards, the power players up front aren't strong, good, or quick (or some combination of that following).

LMA does work well with the guys P.T.B.s have, esp. off the pick and pop, since thats how LMA got going after halftime.

He does have a good post game, but yeah, besides needing to gain more weight to do it more consistently, Portland's guards don't really look for him enough. Especially Jarret Jack. He's like the Nocioni of point guards.

I know this has been said before but I'd still rather have him on this team over Tyrus Thomas. Right now he's averaging 18 points and 7.5 rebounds.

That's better than any power forward we've had all year.

He might prefer mid range shots to physical/point blank ones, but he's still shooting .509 percent. That's not bad at all. Also....this is his second year so chances are he'll get better.

You can go to 82games, they break down a player's shot attempt selection. You'll find that you can count true low post players on one hand, and even the All-Star PF-Cs like KG, Duncan, Yao, Amare are all at least 50% jump shooters.

It's easier to find players who slash to the rim and score in the paint that way rather than low post...a lot of the better PGs and athletic slashers like Marion score a surprising amount of inside buckets.

For true low post, unless we have a package that can get Dwight Howard, i don't know where you'd go nowadays. Most all-star bigs are more hybrid inside/outside scorers, including Brand, KG, Bosh, Boozer, etc..

I've always vehemently argued with anyone who refers to Aldridge as a low post scorer. Last night was a rare opportunity to watch him so I harped on the subject yet again. He's a good scorer but he doesn't score with his back to the basket too often and when he does, it's more in the mid post than the low post.

kodo wrote:For true low post, unless we have a package that can get Dwight Howard, i don't know where you'd go nowadays. Most all-star bigs are more hybrid inside/outside scorers, including Brand, KG, Bosh, Boozer, etc..

Bynum also plays pretty much exclusively in the paint, but yeah, very few players do nowadays.

He has a alright post game, he just doesn't use it too much. Either way, he is something we lack, scoring from the center position.

Right now Portland's offence is predicated on the high-post pick and roll with Roy and Aldridge and working the ball around after that. Given Roy's ability to drive to the hoop you don't want a guy camping out down there with his back to the basket. You want him out of the lane facing the ball. Hence you see a lot of Aldridge shooting from the high-post and not being in position to grab offensive rebounds. Given his ability to shoot over anybody and great first step it's a good position to have him in.

Last year, when Portland's offence was Zachcentric, and Aldridge played the Randolph role off the bench he played a lot more in the low-post with his back to the basket.

He's no banger but he's perfectly capable of being successful operating with his back to the basket.

He's a solid player though who still has a lot of upside. He needs to get a lot more aggressive though and should be the type of player that wants to carry the team. With Roy being perfectly content in that role and Oden being the man who will demand the respect of opponents I doubt LaMarcus will ever develop into the dominating player he may be capable of becoming. He will probably be viewed as a great role player putting up very good numbers on a very good, if not great, team.

Another Aldridge thread, which is fine by me because he has really been on my mind all season and especially after our loss to the Blazers, which killed me.

Aldridge is going to be as much of an inside player as Sheed or Bosh-- only his second season so I expect him to develop some more moves because he is already skilled. LMA has a great turnaround jumper that can't be blocked, just like Sheed. The one thing I don't see LMA doing though is shooting 3's-- Nate won't be having that.

JeffJordan wrote:Another Aldridge thread, which is fine by me because he has really been on my mind all season and especially after our loss to the Blazers, which killed me.

Aldridge is going to be as much of an inside player as Sheed or Bosh-- only his second season so I expect him to develop some more moves because he is already skilled. LMA has a great turnaround jumper that can't be blocked, just like Sheed. The one thing I don't see LMA doing though is shooting 3's-- Nate won't be having that.

A young Sheed is the guy Aldridge reminds me of. He even has the same high release on the jumper. People see him in one game against our Bulls and say he will never be a post player. I saw the Utah game and he scored quite a bit in the paint. When he makes an effort to get position down low, all he has to do is shoot a short turnaround. With his length and realse point, it's unblockable. Give him time, he will do fine in the post.

20 PPG & 10 RPG

You can pretty much book that for the next 10 years from this guy.

I could care less if he's a true low-post guy, he's efficient & he's getting BETTER.

People kill me on Bulls boards talking as if he'd be half the player he is HERE cause of Skiles and co. but little do some of you realize that Aldridge didn't need HALF the development TT needs.