USA Today's blurb on LaMarcus

[Dakotah612]

Player he is most readily compared to: Jack Sikma. The 6-11, 230-pound Sikma, who also had the Pacific Northwest buzzing during his glory days, liked to turn and face up against defenders. Sikma was also an effective mid-range shooter.

Blazers coach Nate McMillan: "He's one of the few guys in this league that can actually dominate a game on both ends of the floor. Most NBA players are either an offensive player or a defensive player, LaMarcus can do both."

He's not there defensively, but he has the potential to become a defensive stopper. Also, I don't think Sikma was nearly the runner or athlete that LMA is.

[mojomarc]

Sikma also wasn't nearly as physically strong in the lower body as LMA. He did, however, have more options offensively than LMA seems to have at this point in his career.

[taufblazers33]

i have never heard of jack sikma in my life

[mojomarc]

i have never heard of jack sikma in my life

He was the starting center on the Sonics' NBA finalist teams in 1978 and 1979 (they won in the second trip) and a seven-time all-star.

[Wizenheimer]

the difference between them right now is that Sikma was a real good rebounder. He averaged 12.4 rebounds in his second year at 23 years old. He also had 8 different seasons in which he averaged double figure rebounds, icluding 7 in a row.

Sikma also averaged 3.2 assists in his 2nd year compared to LMA's 1.1. Sikma averaged 3.2 ast/gm for his entire 14 year career. The pace was definitely faster then, but still, LMA has a lot of improving to do to match Sikma in production.

Another aspect to Sikma was his durability. In 6 of his first 7 seasons he played in all 82 games. He only missed 7 games in those 7 seasons, all in the 6th. Of his 14 seasons, he played 82 games 8 times and 80 games 2 other times. He missed 41 games in 14 seasons...less then 3 a year.

[Goldbum]

Bill Russell and Jack Sikma We effin rule

[Tiggo Bitties]

Sikma isnt a perfect comparison as Wize note's, especially number-wise. But it's not too bad either. I think they'll have similar careers and both have comparable mid-range games.

Then again maybe I like this comparison just because they use a white guy. Seems like white and black players are rarely compared with each other.

IMO I still think Sheed is the best comparison. Shot looks the same and they dont rebound as much as they could. Sheed is more explosive around the rim but LMA will be a better FG% shooter and have more moves with his back to the basket. Sheed can play more aggressive on D but also gets lazy at times. Both block about the same number of shots.

He's a more mellow Sheed which is both a good and bad thing.

[mojomarc]

the difference between them right now is that Sikma was a real good rebounder. He averaged 12.4 rebounds in his second year at 23 years old. He also had 8 different seasons in which he averaged double figure rebounds, icluding 7 in a row.

It is really, really hard to compare rebounding statistics and making any definitive conclusions between that era in the NBA and now. To give you an idea, Golden State was the only team to shoot over 7000 shots last year, while the NBA league average was over 7500 shots in the season you referenced. Furthermore, there were about 3 extra FTs per game, a few of which undoubtably resulted in misses. There were simply a lot more rebounds to be had, and there was less contesting for rebounds because of the pace of the league. I'll grant you that Sikma was better compared to most the other players at the time given the style of play, but you can't say that Lamarcus, playing against players who were mostly built like him instead of built like Mack trucks, wouldn't have been a much more productive rebounder.

Sikma also averaged 3.2 assists in his 2nd year compared to LMA's 1.1. Sikma averaged 3.2 ast/gm for his entire 14 year career. The pace was definitely faster then, but still, LMA has a lot of improving to do to match Sikma in production.

A lot of the assists also have to do with the way coaches like Ramsey and Wilkens coached the game. The ball movement was paramount to them, and they rarely pounded the ball down in isolation like today. That tended to skew the assist numbers a bit, too. Remember--Bob Lanier wasn't considered a particularly great passing center (he was actually considered a black hole), but he was averaging three assists per game at that time. Heck, Wes Unseld averaged 4.5apg. It was just a different game then.

Of course, I'm hoping with Oden we go back to something more like that game and LMA's assist numbers go up accordingly, but the fact is that the two games are so different in terms of ball movement that it's really difficult to compare straight stats like that.

[Yadadimean]

Player he is most readily compared to: [i]Jack Sikma.

Really? this is the first time ive EVER heard that comparison.

[Wizenheimer]

-= original quote snipped =-



A lot of the assists also have to do with the way coaches like Ramsey and Wilkens coached the game. The ball movement was paramount to them, and they rarely pounded the ball down in isolation like today. That tended to skew the assist numbers a bit, too. Remember--Bob Lanier wasn't considered a particularly great passing center (he was actually considered a black hole), but he was averaging three assists per game at that time. Heck, Wes Unseld averaged 4.5apg. It was just a different game then.

Of course, I'm hoping with Oden we go back to something more like that game and LMA's assist numbers go up accordingly, but the fact is that the two games are so different in terms of ball movement that it's really difficult to compare straight stats like that.

yeah, I mentioned about the pace then compared to now and that definitely is a factor. I do remember Sikma pretty well, and I certainly think he was a better rebounder then LMA. Of course some of my memory of him was from his prime. LMA is a long way from that.

Sikma played a little closer to the basket then LMA does, especially on defense, but then Sikma played C, so that's to be expected.

LMA is definitely more fleet of foot then Sikma.

I just looked at the 1977 NBA draft to see when Sikma was taken. I forgot that they had 8 rounds of draft back then. Pretty funny.

http://www.databasebasketball.com/draft/draftyear.htm?lg=N&yr=1977

[mojomarc]

Your forgot to mention that Sikma definitely had a worse haircut than LMA has ever seen.