Aldridge Playing Center?

[RapsVC15]

We beat the Spurs, even though Duncan was good anyways. It was the rest of the team that sucked. And he had a good shooting performance against New Orleans.

Yep, that's pretty much it.

More like, Bargnani's been our best 1 on 1 defender all year.

and no, this is not a "overreaction".

[The_Hater]

More like, Bargnani's been our best 1 on 1 defender all year.

and no, this is not a "overreaction".

It isn't? While he's been solid, let's not get carried away here just to make a point. Moon, Delfino and Rasho have been our best 1-on-1 defenders this year from where I sit.

[Fairview4Life]

2) He's a much better rebounder than Bargs and last time I checked, defensive rebounding is an important part of team defense.

The Raps are 6th best team in the NBA on the defensive boards. The Blazers are 29th.

Bargs' personal defensive rebounding % is 13% (team wise the Raps are at 71% with Bargs on the floor) and Aldridge's is 14.3% (Blazers are 69.8% with him on the floor). That's hardly a big difference on the defensive glass. What those personal and team numbers might indicate is that Bargs has more competition for defensive boards on a good defensive rebounding team, as opposed to Aldridge who is one of his poor defensive rebounding team's best defensive rebounders, yet Bargs is still pulling down a relatively similar % of defensive boards.

[Morris_Shatford]

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Excellent point. Although I would still call Brand the best player fro the 99 draft.

But the thing about Roy is that he's has shown a ton of improvement after winning his ROY award and most importantly, he's currently putting up those improved numbers in a winning environment. And most would agree that counts for something.

And while we can't assume that Roy will continue to improve, making any argument that says a 22 year old Bargs will show considerable improvement over the next few years while the 23 year old Roy has pretty much peaked can't be considered a balanced one.

Point taken about Brand, although there are players who may be considered very close who were not so close after the first or second season,

I am not knocking Roy, and I don't want to take away from the improvement he has shown or the season he is having, all I am trying to get across is that its early and while Roy is having a great statistical season early in his career its not a stellar all star worthy season, and while he may end up being a perennial all star year after year its far to early to be hyping him as the best player of the 2006 draft.

All I am saying is that its a little early to say that any player in 2006 is a bust or any player is a hall of famer in the making.

The comment is not so much Barg's related as it is in general, Roy may be the best player out of the draft class but even if we go back to 2004 if we evaluated the draft 1/4 of the way through the 2005/2006 season we would have ranked the players far differently then we would if we are evaluating the draft and those players today.

Who knows? Tyrus Thomas could go down as one of the greatest forwards in NBA history...

Point is its far to early to tell.

[The_Hater]

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The Raps are 6th best team in the NBA on the defensive boards. The Blazers are 29th.

Bargs' personal defensive rebounding % is 13% (team wise the Raps are at 71% with Bargs on the floor) and Aldridge's is 14.3% (Blazers are 69.8% with him on the floor). That's hardly a big difference on the defensive glass. What those personal and team numbers might indicate is that Bargs has more competition for defensive boards on a good defensive rebounding team, as opposed to Aldridge who is one of his poor defensive rebounding team's best defensive rebounders, yet Bargs is still pulling down a relatively similar % of defensive boards.

Pick the right stats, and sping and you can make them say just about anything you want.

Aldridge isn't a great rebounder by any stretch, but he's still better than Bargnani who is the worst rebounding big man in the entire league right now. Bargs doesn't even try to compete for boards.

[Fairview4Life]

Aldridge isn't a great rebounder by any stretch, but he's still better than Bargnani who is the worst rebounding big man in the entire league right now. Bargs doesn't even try to compete for boards.

He is a significantly better rebounder on the offensive glass. But not on the defensive glass which you brought up in the context of playing defense. That's not really spinning anything. Joe Smith of all people out jumping Aldridge for the offensive rebound and then getting fouled in the second OT last night was pretty sad. I don't know what's happened to Aldridge this year, but Bargs has been a better man defender, significantly, all season. Aldridge's defensive rebounding is only slightly above Bargs'. Not enough to make any sort of dent in Bargs' man defense advantage.

[AZ BLAZER]

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He is a significantly better rebounder on the offensive glass. But not on the defensive glass which you brought up in the context of playing defense. That's not really spinning anything. Joe Smith of all people out jumping Aldridge for the offensive rebound and then getting fouled in the second OT last night was pretty sad. I don't know what's happened to Aldridge this year, but Bargs has been a better man defender, significantly, all season. Aldridge's defensive rebounding is only slightly above Bargs'. Not enough to make any sort of dent in Bargs' man defense advantage.

During the 13 game win streak Aldridge missed five games due to planar fasciitis. I am sure that he will be back to 100% soon, but he probably could have used two weeks off vs. the one week that he missed. His leaping ability and defensive rotation footwork is not where it normally is right now. But at this point of the season everyone is working through injuries and various aches/pains.

[C Court]

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He is a significantly better rebounder on the offensive glass. But not on the defensive glass which you brought up in the context of playing defense. That's not really spinning anything. Joe Smith of all people out jumping Aldridge for the offensive rebound and then getting fouled in the second OT last night was pretty sad. I don't know what's happened to Aldridge this year, but Bargs has been a better man defender, significantly, all season. Aldridge's defensive rebounding is only slightly above Bargs'. Not enough to make any sort of dent in Bargs' man defense advantage.

I agree. I like LMA, but he is a bigger version of Charlie V in a lot of respects. So I don't see him as the answer to the Raptors needs in the middle as was suggested by the OP.

[RapsVC15]

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How about overall?

Overall I'd still take Bargnani.

He's proven that he's capable of guarding the 5 spot effectively, which Aldridge hasn't. Offensively speaking, Aldridge plays a little more like a big than Bargnani does, but not by much. He still, like Andrea, relies heavily on his ability to make the jumper. Obviously, Aldridge is the better player right now but Andrea is a better option at the 5 spot for the Raptors.

[dagger]

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During the 13 game win streak Aldridge missed five games due to planar fasciitis. I am sure that he will be back to 100% soon, but he probably could have used two weeks off vs. the one week that he missed. His leaping ability and defensive rotation footwork is not where it normally is right now. But at this point of the season everyone is working through injuries and various aches/pains.

If we don't allow that excuse for our own players, why should we accept that for Aldridge? (And believe we, some here won't cut Bargnani any slack whatsoever for playing with a hyper-extended knee.) Don't you know that injuries are supposed to have no effect whatsoever on a young player's play?