Aldridge Playing Center?

[Wizenheimer]

He's not a C...I watched that game, and friggin Joe Smith abused him in the post.

considering that Outlaw and Frye were the ones guarding Smith for most of the game, your watching abilities might need some work

[GideonRapfan]

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Alridge's defensive efg% at the C position is .528.

Bargs, OTOH, has a defensive efg% .393 at the same position.

Thanks for that.

I believe that this stat should be a part of every players' line after each game.

Everyone looks at rebounds and blocks as defensive indicators, which, even combined, tell you little about defense.

Imagine how skinny that donut would be if we had both Bosh and LMA manning the middle. The hole in the middle would be so big, it would look like a bicycle tire.

[C Court]

This love affair with Lamarcus is quite funny. He does not play center. His game is on the perimeter. In fact, at one point the comment was made that Roy had room to drive because LMA had drawn Big Ben to the perimeter.

Last night Aldridge opened the game shooting 0 for 11, mostly jump shots.

Late in the game when he was in close and needed to power up to make a put back, he was rejected.

Then Doug Collins (former NBA all-star and coach) had this assessment of Lamarcus (paraphrase).

"He needs to finish those, but he's not strong enough to play inside. That was the knock against him in college. Too weak inside. And he struggles on the defensive end".

So there it is. Aldridge is a lanky power forward who is not strong enough to play inside and he's a weak defender. Last night I recall only one tip-in basket inside. The rest of his points were jumpshots from 15 to 18 feet out.

Now this board trashes Bargnani for his 'perimeter game', yet we're pining for Portland's guy who is also a perimeter oriented PF.

Makes no sense.

EDIT: btw, the guy I wanted pre-draft was LMA over Bargs ... I thought the Bargs thing was a smokescreen....

[Marvin!]

he could not have co-existed with Bosh... therefore we didnt select him PERIOD... lets try and move on.

why? people keep saying that but I still don't understand it.

[GideonRapfan]

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why? people keep saying that but I still don't understand it.

Based on CC's post above, I think it's a pretty valid assertion.

Too skinny guys who like to get the ball in the the same area on offense, and who are both below average defensively. Which would you prefer guarding Shaq, Yao, Dwight, and so on?

I know this isn't a AB vs LMA question, so I won't go into why what we have now works better long-term than LMA/Bosh would.

[Fairview4Life]

Chris Bosh is no longer below average defensively.

[AfricanSensation]

Bosh and Aldridge are too weak to coexist defensively, but Bosh and Bargs can

[GideonRapfan]

Chris Bosh is no longer below average defensively.

As a PF, I agree. What about as a C? Which of Aldridge or Bosh would you put on the opposing 5?

[Morris_Shatford]

Hindsight always seems to be 20/20 on the Raptors board.

If I recall prior to the draft didn't Aldridge make a comment to the effect that he was not interested in playing Center full time at an NBA level? Isn't that the issue we had with him? and in Portland with Pryz and Frye and next season Oden I wouldn't imagine he is getting loads of time at the five spot.

The knock as I recall prior to the draft with Aldridge was that he would not fill our need at the five, not to say that Bargs does as it is a little early to tell but at least he was willing to play the five.

As for Roy, I recall reading all the pre-draft reports calling him the most "NBA ready" player in the draft and many of those reports were correct but I think we are really heaping too much praise on Roy, as right now his numbers are not all that much better then Mike James season numbers as his last season as a Raptor.

I would be very surprised if in a few seasons Brandon Roy was still the best player out of his draft class. I think he just has the benefit of being the most ready for the league.

[Yuri Vaultin]

Bosh and Aldridge are too weak to coexist defensively, but Bosh and Bargs can

Well, actually yes.

Bosh is a good help defender but lousy man on man. Bargs is good man on man and okay on help. They can work well together. IMO if both of your bigs are good help but crap man on man defenders they'll get abused and posted up to much.

[Shaazzam]

Well, actually yes.

Bosh is a good help defender but lousy man on man. Bargs is good man on man and okay on help. They can work well together. IMO if both of your bigs are good help but crap man on man defenders they'll get abused and posted up to much.

Yuppers.

And I called that one early last year IIRC. Often times we got too caught up in what players cannot do, as opposed to what they can do. What you then need to do is put them in position to maximize their strengths and hide their weaknesses. AB is never going to be an exceptional rebounder, nor do I think he needs to be statistically. But he does need to be able to take care of his responsibilities.

AB is going to be a very, very good primary post defender. He is tough to beat 1v1 as he has decent footwork, a willingness to try and get to the right spot, a decent base and very good length.

CB4 is a decent help shot challenger and is excellent at taking charges. He's also a tough rebounder. That is a very nice combination.

What I think that needs to occur for the two of them to become very solid together is for AB to develop his upper body strength. He's got strong legs, but when he gets leaned on he gets bent at the waste and is knocked off balance, or he gets tossed aside. I don't think he's a pussy mentally, I just think he's weak physically.

[The Duke]

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why? people keep saying that but I still don't understand it.

LOL ... It was meant as a post to show the redundance of this thread.
It seems like everynite we have a post regarding Roy or Gay or LMA.

Do i think Bosh and LMA could have played together yes.

I mean LMA plays on the perimeter, and so does Bargs.. I hope Bosh stops playing on the perimeter and takes it to the hole and be more agreesive, thats how Toronto will be successful. Perhaps having LMA on this team, could have lead to Bosh being more interior oriented.. Its hard to extrapolate but i dont think, it would not have worked.

edit - I wanted Gay, LMA in that order... i could not advocate selecting Bargs but that was b/c I dont base my pick on youtube highlight film

[Charlie78]

As for Roy, I recall reading all the pre-draft reports calling him the most "NBA ready" player in the draft and many of those reports were correct but I think we are really heaping too much praise on Roy, as right now his numbers are not all that much better then Mike James season numbers as his last season as a Raptor.

I would be very surprised if in a few seasons Brandon Roy was still the best player out of his draft class. I think he just has the benefit of being the most ready for the league.

Are you seriously comparing roy to Mike James. Your talking about Mike james best season which came after six years in the league. He has not even come close to duplicating again. Maybe the most ignorant thing i have heard on realGM. If you actually had watched roy more than twice you would see how he impacts the game defensively and has essentially been the reason the blazers have put together this run.

Ill do a sig bet with you whose first to the allstar game Roy or James, anything you want

[candy for lunch]

Too skinny guys who like to get the ball in the the same area on offense, and who are both below average defensively. Which would you prefer guarding Shaq, Yao, Dwight, and so on?

Blazers fan checking in; did you watch when our teams played each other? LMA is noticeably bigger than Bosh. I vaguely remember hearing reports that he's in the 250-260 range now.

[AfricanSensation]

The Duke thanks to you sig I was able to re-live the good times of the A&F Lifestyle

[The Letter V]

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Blazers fan checking in; did you watch when our teams played each other? LMA is noticeably bigger than Bosh. I vaguely remember hearing reports that he's in the 250-260 range now.

Bargs is 250 as well- a little taller too.

[RapsVC15]

The daily Aldridge thread

[The Letter V]

The daily Aldridge thread

Personally I don't think it's enough, we need an hourly Aldridge thread.


8:00 AM
-LMA wakes up
-LMA poops
-LMA eats waffles

9:00 AM
-LMA showers
-LMA adjusts tampon
-LMA dresses


etc. etc.

[RapsVC15]

I heard Wade could play the 1, 2 and 3 spots.

[Yuri Vaultin]

I heard Wade could play the 1, 2 and 3 spots.

Well, that would make him 3/5 the player LMA is who is rumoured to be able to play all five positions.