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He just seems to be sooo inconsistent right now. It's like he traded jump shots with Frye, now LMA cant hit the broadside of a barn and Frye is money. Also it's starting to really piss me off watching him try to rebound, most of the time he just nancies around like Richard Simmons doing the pee-pee dance. Then when someone else on the team gets the board he prances down court like Sea Biscuit takeing a victory lap. Dont get me wrong LaMarcus is a great talent and a hard worker, I just wonder if we are expecting to much of him to quickly. Do you guys think it's his confidence? Or maybe it's his role on the team? I dont know, I have really felt let down by a majority of his individual performances this year. Sometimes the numbers are there but it seems to me that they are inflated.

His game is mostly outside jump shots. When those don't go, the rest of his game suffers. He doesn't really have a post game yet and still isn't strong enough to be a big time rebounder. It will come....he's only 20.

Not to nitpick or anything, but LMA is 22. Either way your point is very valid He had a tough matchup tonight too.

he needs to add weight.
i think the scouts were right prior to the draft, that LaMarcus lacks toughness to match up with the bigs in the league.
hopefully, that will change once he realizes that spending time in the weight room will pay off.

(does anyone else get wet dreams thinking of Dwight Howard?)

lamarcus is aware of the weight room, you should have seen him in college. He is consistently putting on weight to his frame and he will continue to do so. Don't know why so many fans are hot/cold.

taufblazers33 wrote:he needs to add weight.
i think the scouts were right prior to the draft, that LaMarcus lacks toughness to match up with the bigs in the league.
hopefully, that will change once he realizes that spending time in the weight room will pay off.

(does anyone else get wet dreams thinking of Dwight Howard?)

Good God, I certainly hope not!

I think that's some unfair criticism. In the last two games, his first five shots or so have been in-and-out, rimming a couple times and not falling. He's basically barely missing, and then after he has a slow start he has trouble recovering.

His rebounding in the last two games has been nothing to criticize. He pulled down some really tough boards, and is VASTLY improved over his rebounding just a month or two ago. He also played great D on Bosh today, although his help D was weak.

I've been really impressed with Aldridge's ability to learn. Yeah, Roy makes him look bad because he's superhuman, but for a second-year player, Aldridge is doing great.

Papercut wrote:for a second-year player, Aldridge is doing great.

I agree with this. We can all hope Aldridge improves, but it's silly to expect him to be what he's not just because we wish the Blazers could rebound better or play tougher. He's just not that player... yet.

Tim Lehrbach wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



I agree with this. We can all hope Aldridge improves, but it's silly to expect him to be what he's not just because we wish the Blazers could rebound better or play tougher. He's just not that player... yet.

Let's also not forget that when Oden is in the game, teams will have to concentrate on boxing him out, which will take some of the pressure off Lamarcus. He should have a lot more uncontensted boards available to him because of this.

I think as fans, sometimes we have a tendency to get impatient and want to trade players that don't fit the team perfectly. That is part of what happened to Zach Randolph.

I have personally been bad about that in the past. And frankly, it's part of whats fun about the game as a fan. Also, in the current free agent market, teams don't always have the opportunity to develop their talent because they bolt in in FA.

The nice thing is that the Blazers should have time to develop LMA. Instead of trying to do a quick fix and bringing in a FA. Nate and his staff have time to develop LMA, let his body develop, and help him become an All-NBA player.

Bottom line, LMA is only in his second year. Nate will coach him up, and he'll get better, a lot better.

Please trade him. He has shown me nothing that proves he is a future starting PF on a championship team. Terrible D, terrible rebounding, the guy is just bad.

McGrady wrote:Please trade him. He has shown me nothing that proves he is a future starting PF on a championship team. Terrible D, terrible rebounding, the guy is just bad.

No need for that

McGrady wrote:Please trade him. He has shown me nothing that proves he is a future starting PF on a championship team. Terrible D, terrible rebounding, the guy is just bad.

18.1 ppg and 7.5rpg are hardly "just bad." He's hardly an all-star, but he's just as good as most of the PFs he's playing against. I'd say at the moment he is an average starting PF, which puts him right in with perfectly adequate playoff PFs like Rasheed Wallace, Lamar Odom, Udonis Haslem and Jermaine O'Neal, all of which he is better than offensively and on a per basis as good as on the boards.

McGrady wrote:Please trade him. He has shown me nothing that proves he is a future starting PF on a championship team. Terrible D, terrible rebounding, the guy is just bad.

I disagree. His D is excellent. LMA has an uncanny ability to stay in front of his man. He rotates incredibly well when we are in a zone and understands how to trap. He is soft however and can be overpowered by brutish big men who use their body to create seperation and negate his length.

Things will change when he has a 7'0 280 lb franchise
center to alongside of. Don't worry about LaMarcus
for he is what he is which is a skilled neatly 7' guy.

Imagine this team ten months from now with Oden, LA,
Webster, Roy and Blake as the starters with Outlaw,
James Jones, JP, JJ and Sergio as the bench. I can't wait
for November 2008....

Norm2953 wrote:Imagine this team ten months from now with Oden, LA,
Webster, Roy and Blake as the starters with Outlaw,
James Jones, JP, JJ and Sergio as the bench.

Don't forget Rudy, Rudy, Rudy!

Bosh knows Aldridge's game pretty well. I'm not really surprised at his bad performance today.

Props to Roy for stepping up. It sucks that I missed such a great game, though.

Oh and for the record:
LaMarcus 2nd season stats Vs. Bosh 2nd season.

LMA 18.1PPG 7.5RPG 1.2BPG 50.7%FG 34.2MPG
BOSH 16.8PPG 8.9RPG 1.4BPG 47.1%FG 37.2MPG

The Raptors record 33-49
The Blazers thus far 22-14

I know I started this thread by calling Aldridge out but saying he's horrible is just plain silly.

LMA needs to snap out of it!!

Mr Odd wrote:LMA needs to snap out of it!!

Exactly and when he does what kind of impact is he ging to have? I hate how soft and tentative he's been playing, but when he shakes this off what kind of an upswing are we going to see in his production?