OT: For the LaMarcus Aldridge naysayers

[JeffJordan]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/w ... index.html

5 Reasons LaMarcus Aldridge will be an All-Star by 2010

5. He's the second coming of Rasheed Wallace. Though the 6-foot-11 Aldridge is averaging a prodigious 17.9 points and 7.5 rebounds as a 22-year-old NBA sophomore with Portland, his future became sharply focused when he was matched up against former Trail Blazer Wallace in November. "We have the same turnaround shot, the same high release, we both can spread the defense,'' Aldridge said. "We do the same moves. When he played here he did a move, and back to back I did the same exact move.''

That's when he heard it from his teammates on the bench: "They started laughing, 'Baby Sheed! Baby Sheed!' ''

Blazers coach Nate McMillan embraces comparisons between Aldridge and one of the league's most versatile big men. "They're very similar,'' McMillan said. "LaMarcus' range is 15-18 feet where he's comfortable and pretty consistent with it.'' Eventually, McMillan added, "He'll be able to shoot the three-point ball like Rasheed and be a mid-30-percent shooter, possibly a 40 percent shooter from that range. Because he can shoot it.''

Can Aldridge learn to defend as well as Wallace? He will if McMillan has his way. At the moment, a bigger difference between Aldridge and Wallace is measured in public relations. Wallace is a notoriously difficult personality, while Aldridge couldn't be more outgoing. Attitudes like his and Brandon Roy's are one reason why the fans have come back to Portland -- though the Blazers' talent is the biggest cause of all.

4. Hard work. When he learned while watching the NBA draft last June that the Blazers had traded power forward Zach Randolph to the Knicks to clear the starting spot for him, Aldridge headed to his high school gym in Texas for a midnight workout. "I stayed for about an hour, just got up shots,'' Aldridge said. "It was like a motivational workout, saying that I have opportunities now and I have to be ready for it.''

McMillan was sold on Aldridge during his initial predraft workout with the Blazers before they traded up two spots to take him with the No. 2 pick in 2006 (the Bulls drafted Aldridge for the Blazers while Portland selected Tyrus Thomas for Chicago at No. 4). "We'd heard about how hard he worked and what kind of character he had,'' McMillan said. "Our workouts are pretty hard, I think. Normally guys go right to the locker room, or they put some ice on, or they're sitting on the floor and they really can't move. But he came back out and did more shooting with the coach.''

Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard saw Aldridge play a half dozen times over his two years at Texas. At that time, "I think his ceiling's here," said Pritchard, raising his hand above his head, "and whatever his ceiling is, he's going to come to it because he works hard. Not many players get to it.'' Now Pritchard admits, two years into Portland's relationship with Aldridge, that the ceiling is higher than he imagined.

3. Speed. "We have a bunch of hard workers on this team,'' said small forward James Jones, who at 27 passes for an elder on what is the league's youngest team. "But for your big guy to be the hardest worker and probably your fastest guy ...''

A 6-11 power forward is the fastest player on the team? "I would say yeah,'' Jones said. "Pound for pound, he's the most athletic guy on this team, and to be 7 feet and to be as fast as he is and as well-conditioned as he is, you don't find that very often.''

The Blazers hopscotched into playoff contention way ahead of schedule by going on a recent 17-1 tear -- and yet did so without a scorching fast break. McMillan has focused on applying Aldridge's speed to seize position down low.

"The fact that he runs will allow us to get him deep post position,'' said McMillan, who wants Aldridge to develop a back-to-the-basket game as the foundation to his game. From there he may expand to the three-point line, and Aldridge agrees with the plan.

"I don't want to be a player that just hangs out on the perimeter,'' he said. "So this year I've been focusing more on being a presence down low, and trying to demand double teams. And that's making us better.''

Jeff- you cant copy the whole article. It's against Real GM Rules.
Post the link & copy part. I cut it off here & others can go to the link to finish the article.- bulls6

[Kneepad]

So which coach has been assigned to deal with Aldridge?

"Me,'' McMillan said, and he winked.

McMillan handles the personal coaching for both Aldridge and Roy, and it would be no surprise if he takes on similar responsibilities with Greg Oden upon his return after this season.

What's this? A former guard coaching big men?

Blasphemy!

[fleet]

to be fair, there weren't too many true naysayers. Pax may have sold us on Tyrus's superiority though.
In the spirit of the neverending debate thats actually starting to wind down

Hooo boy. On the Bulls front line we could have had young Ben Wallace -Noah and young 'Sheed -Aldridge if not for the lure of Russian hit man Vik Krap?

[Tommy Udo 6]

Doesn't it just KILL you, Jeff, that Paxson passed on him?????


I dont pay too much attention to LA. The decision was made & he will never be a Bull. Maybe the right decision - maybe the wrong decision. Time will tell.

[JeremyB0001]

LaMarcus Aldridge doesn't play for the Bulls.

[BobbyBulls]

I've said before on this board he reminds me of Sheed. Check out the release point on his jumper. It's the same. I would still take Roy though. Somehow they got both. That team will be sick.

[BobbyBulls]

Could the icing on the cake turnout to be signing our own Ben Gordon?

BG
Roy
Webster
Aldridge
Oden

[fleet]

I've said before on this board he reminds me of Sheed. Check out the release point on his jumper. It's the same. I would still take Roy though. Somehow they got both. That team will be sick.

'Sheed can still do more in the low post besides an elbow and baseline jumper. Yes LA is yet a baby. We'll see. Its nice to get comparisons like this though.

I'm going to say its almost more of a sin to miss on Rudy Gay, because if Pax was going to gamble, Gay was more polished already than Tyrus, with similar upside and size. Deng or no Deng. Missing on at least 3 better lotto choices with a #2 could be a franchise buster. This is devastating like choosing Andre Ware, Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, Akili Smith.
We will beat the dead horse of the many sad franchises in sports who zigged when they should have zagged at the worst possible moment of truth. At least the Bengals got Carson Palmer eventually.

[fuzion]

Could the icing on the cake turnout to be signing our own Ben Gordon?

BG
Roy
Webster
Aldridge
Oden

Gordon won't work there......he wants his shots...Roy will want his shots.....Aldridge wants his shots...... too many scorers. Who's going to get 20+ points to be an all-star

[BobbyBulls]

-= original quote snipped =-



'Sheed can still do more in the low post besides an elbow and baseline jumper. Yes LA is yet a baby. We'll see. Its nice to get comparisons like this though.

I'm going to say its almost more of a sin to miss on Rudy Gay, because if Pax was going to gamble, Gay was more polished already than Tyrus, with similar upside and size. Deng or no Deng. Missing on at least 3 better lotto choices with a #2 could be a franchise buster. This is devastating like choosing Andre Ware, Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, Akili Smith.
We will beat the dead horse of the many sad franchises in sports who zigged when they should have zagged at the worst possible moment of truth. At least the Bengals got Carson Palmer eventually.

I like Rudy Gay a lot. I would have taken him before TT. But Roy filled the need for a big guard who could create shots for others. The perfect guard next to a combo. We then trade the odd man out for our big. I agree though that the 2006 draft is really going to haunt us for some time. Hope I'm wrong though.

[JeffJordan]

Doesn't it just KILL you, Jeff, that Paxson passed on him?????


I dont pay too much attention to LA. The decision was made & he will never be a Bull. Maybe the right decision - maybe the wrong decision. Time will tell.

Time will tell... I just don't want to come across as trolling here. I saw this article and now am watching Portland vs. Miami.

Time will tell... but right now I am wanting to trade TT and someone else for Pau Gasol.

[logical_art]

LA is not the athlete Sheed was.

[Tommy Udo 6]

For those who remember, Rudy Gay was my choice & I knew they probably wouldnt draft him because we had Deng. I would have been Ok with Roy, but I knew he was out too because of paxson's love for Hinrich & Gordon

I would have preferred LaMarcus over Tyrus - but I'm not devastated by the choice. Nothing I can do about it....

[JeffJordan]

LaMarcus Aldridge doesn't play for the Bulls.

No because he was drafted by the Bulls and then traded. This topic is relevant.

[airjordanair]

even if we had aldrige, he wasnt playing on a winning side last year, and he'd be in the same boat tyrus is in.. we just dont play the kids.. plain and simple...

[Ben]

No because he was drafted by the Bulls and then traded. This topic is relevant.

Yeah, but you know what? We've had more than one, very long LaMarcus Aldridge tracking threads and people have talked about the swap ad nauseam. In the past we locked at least one of those threads b/c after the rest of us had talked ourselves out about it, the thread became nothing more than a troll magnet. We'd get Portland fans and/or Bulls bashers gloating after every good game that LMA had. That's about it.

If you don't fit into one of those 2 groups-- Portland fans or Bulls bashers-- it shouldn't be any skin off your nose to hear that the LMA swap has been talked to death here, and that lots of people (including me) wish that we had drafted him and many others are happy that we got Tyrus. It's all beyond our control, anyhow. Are you content to give it a rest or would you like to beat this dead horse still further?

[Friend_Of_Haley]

Oh Noes, the more polished player on the worse* team has prooved to be the better player a season and a half in.

*worse last year, which gave opportunity, which made him better, which made them better, so they are better than us

[Friend_Of_Haley]

we just dont play the kids.. plain and simple...

Comments like this just make no sense. Hinrich, Duhon, Gordon, Deng, Nocioni. All got big time as rookies. I wonder why. The team sucked maybe?

Roy, Alridge, and others got big time as rookies because their organization is committed to developing young talent or because their team sucked?

I'd venture to say that most playoff teams that already have 3 recent lottery players on the team struggle to find time for two additional lottery players. Well Most playoff teams don't continue to rake in lottery picks, so there's no one to compare us to, but whatever, I hope I've made my point.

[JeremyB0001]

No because he was drafted by the Bulls and then traded. This topic is relevant.

So if the Bulls hadn't been interested in Viktor and had therefore just drafted Tyrus at 2, you wouldn't be talking about LA nonstop? I somehow doubt that. In reality, Aldridge has no more to do with the Bulls than any other (good) player they passed on in the draft in the last decade. I mention that Aldridge isn't on the Bulls because unlike most posters on this board who obsess over the team you seem to obsess only over a player on Portland and the Bull he was "traded" for.

Also, I think the title of your thread demonstrates your insane bias on this issue. I don't think I've ever seen an Aldridge "naysayer" on this board, at least not recently. I'm as critical of him as anyone and I've repeatedly acknowledged that he's a good player. I merely argue with people such as yourself who claim that Aldridge is successful in the low post, draws double teams, and excels (or will excel) where he doesn't (namely, rebounding). Basically, you consider people like me naysayers because we point out that Aldridge does have some flaws in his game and thus isn't an All-Star or superstar caliber player (right now). The fact that you take offense to that shows ignorance about Aldridge's game, a serious lack of objectivity, or both.

[ChicagoChris]

i'm going to second the point that LA is not the athlete or talent that sheed was. sheed could jump and cram on people in traffic, finish on the break, and had some of the best low post footwork i've ever seen. probably the best since mchale. I think la will end up better than TT but he doesnt have sheeds game or potential.

on the other hand he's not crazy so he could end up just as productive.