Who is more over-rated than Lemarcus Aldridge?

[Forte IV]

Ehh he's solid. I don't think I've ever considered (or even heard of someone saying he is) to be overrated.

[darkse1d]

Off the top of my head

Jokic
Westbrook
Lillard

[Colbinii]

Off the top of my head

Jokic
Westbrook
Lillard

How is Jokic overrated?

[AwkwardBoogaloo]

This will be an unpopular opinion, but I think Anthony Davis is one of the most overrated players in the NBA. 7 seasons in the league and only 2 playoff appearances. The 5 years that they didn't make they playoffs, their record was under .500. Only been out of the 1st round once. Off the top of my head I can't think of another player who consistently loses and is still considered a 'superstar'.

As for LMA, he isn't overrated... if anything he's underrated. The amount of times he's made the playoffs in the Western conference speaks for itself.

[BNM]

I remember many POR fans being pissed when the Blazers traded Zach Randolph to make room for LaMarcus Aldridge at power forward. They complained that Aldridge was soft and would never be a 20 and 10 guy like Z-Bo.

Ironically, Z-Bo's best season in POR was Aldridge's rookie year and Z-Bo scored his career high in points (43) in the last game he played next to Aldridge.

Truth is, Z-Bo was a relentless offensive rebounder, but a terrible defender, an inefficient scorer and a total black hole during his time in Portland. His last season in Portland was his best there, by far: 23.6 ppg, 10.2 rpg.

After struggling with the Knicks and Clippers, Z-Bo finally redeemed himself with the Grizzlies, but Aldridge is, was and always will be the better player.

Aldridge's final two seasons in POR he went for 23.2/11.1 and 23.4/10.2, and he did so while actually playing solid defense. Plus, he's become more efficient on offense and plays better team defense since joining the Spurs. For the last 9 seasons, he's been a guy you could depend on night in and night out to give you 20+ points and 9+ rebounds. There haven't been many guys that consistent for that long. Other guys like Blake Griffin and Kevin Love peaked higher, but neither have been nearly as durable or consistent as Aldridge. The guy just shows up, night after night, year after year, and does his work, in a completely unspectacular fashion, at both ends of the floor.

Not sure how you can overrate a guy like that. It's not like he gets MVP chants every time he goes to the FT line or is ever mentioned as a first ballot Hall of Famer. He's never been considered "the best" at his position, or at any particular statistical category. He's just been damn good and damn solid for nearly a decade.

[ILOVEIT]

Low post buckets mean chit in todays NBA. A ball stopping low post none defense non passing big guy is a dinosaur. It's similar to the Joker's value. His abilities are great....but just not as valuable in today's NBA.

[Doctor MJ]

I don't get the love for LA. An All-Star (IN THE WEST) last year. I just got out of a thread where he was called a defensive anchor.

To my eye he is a mid-range shooting albatross that doesn't play much defense. ESPN RPM has him ranked as the 20th center in the league. I agree with ESPN. I don't see why he was an All-Star last year, and I don't see why he's on the list of potential guys for the top 25 players in the league here on the general board.

Must be something to do with counting stats.

Anyway, Who do you think is the most over-rated player in the league? Less deserving of being an All-Star or on an all NBA team?

Who you got?

In practice I'm on the same side of Aldridge as you are: I think he's become overrated.

I do think though it's really interesting looking at a guy like Aldridge and see how his stature has evolved.

Early Career
When Aldridge joined the NBA as a rookie he was immediately upstaged first by a guy drafted lower than him (Brandon Roy), and next by a guy who should have been much better than him if not for health (Greg Oden). There was a time early in his career where I felt he got very underrated because of this. He seemed like a star-prospect who would likely never become an all-star and would instead be relegated to be a sidekick whose all-star opportunity would come from being on a team so good people start looking to give more and more guys all-star nods.

What was particularly interesting about all this is that Aldridge didn't have a bad start at all. It was fairly easy to see that if he had been on another team he'd have been a serious ROY candidate in a lot of years, and he was doing some of the good subtle stuff that contributed impact that oftentimes young guys miss out on.

The only one left

After all of Portland's serious hopes were crushed by injury, Aldridge kept going and led the team to decent enough performances that Portland was in the category of "Anyone on Portland we should consider for all-star?"

At this point Aldridge moves from being underrated to properly rated. The type of guy who it would be fine if he wasn't named all-star, but also someone no one thought it was crazy for him to be an all-star. This is how prime Aldridge should be seen.

Lillard shines, Portland gets good

When Portland got good, while people saw the new arrival Lillard as a worthy all-star, he never moved past Aldridge in the pecking order, and this is where Aldridge becomes overrated. He was seen as the offensive anchor of the Blazers, which made sense because he scored more than anyone else and the offense was good. He must be the guy driving it, right?

I thought that was pretty absurd. Literally the entire league is seeing offensive success with guys who play more like Lillard than Aldridge, did we really think the Blazers couldn't have a good offense without Aldridge?

I'll tell you that the answer for many was "No, they'd fall apart without Aldridge." We soon learned the answer: The Blazers have been better at offense every single year since the year Aldridge left. Turns out Portland wasn't finding something miraculous building around an inefficient volume scoring big man who can't shoot 3's, they were just holding Lillard back.

Even worse, Aldridge's behavior in his Portland swan song was a classic case of a big ego caring more about himself than his team. It wasn't just that he didn't like the idea of playing as Lillard's sidekick, dude said crap about Portland too.

This was the point where the NBA's sense of him shoot have become "overrated" but it didn't for most people because:

San Antonio decided they really, really wanted Aldridge

General rule, if Pop wants you, you must be really good right?

Add in that the Spurs were great with Aldridge, this must say great things about Aldridge, right?

I would say that most of the basketball populace is still misguidedly say "Yes" to this.

For me his time in San Antonio has only made him look worse.

Why?

Because Aldridge wasn't happy being Kawhi's sidekick either. Dude freaking asked for a trade after his first season when the Spurs won 67 games and became the ONLY contender he had ever been on.

The real secret to Aldridge's continued success in San Antonio? Kawhi decided he didn't want to be there any more. This force the Spurs to abandon all hope at being a serious contender, which of course made them Aldridge's kind of team.

He's right where he wants to be now: The best player on a team good enough that they get an all-star spot but not good enough to challenge great teams because they have no true superstar players like LIllard or Kawhi.

You can see then I'm really frustrated with what Aldridge has become and the fact that people don't seem to see it. I'm not even saying it's crazy he keeps getting all-star spots, but if I were looking to build a contender, I literally would not want Aldridge because the dude wants to be the man, and he's just not good enough to be the man on a team that matters.

I got into this on the PC board a while ago when I rated Horford ahead of Aldridge. Aldridge is obviously the better alpha, but if you want to build a real team neither guy should be your alpha. If you're seriously looking to contend, Horford is a guy you want (age permitting), Aldridge isn't.

So it's clear: I was shouted down. The vast majority of people think Aldridge is better than Horford.

I'll tell you though that it didn't surprise me when multiple teams really wanted Horford this summer and he ended up with a huge contract.

My prediction? When Aldridge comes off the books in 2021, he gets nothing like the demand that Horford did. And yeah Aldridge will be older then, but just talking about annual salary for the next year: The amount of money Aldridge makes the first year of any new deal Aldridge gets, he's going to be making considerably less than Horford will get at the same age, and Horford is going to end up making more money in his career.

Why? Because Horford accepted a niche and skillset designed to make him as valuable as possible to a good team, while Aldridge insisted on being the man and fought to get out of any situations that might doom him to play second fiddle in the NBA, while not having the talent to be more than second fiddle on a real team.

Aldridge's career should be a case study in what not to do with your ego, but because Pop has embraced "good enough" in the wake of Kawhi's departure, people don't think of him that way.

[nedleeds]

Rudy Gobert.

[Yuri Vaultin]

Donovan Mitchell?

Seems to be an inefficient chucker.

[G R E Y]

Read on Twitter

The steadily consistent Aldridge ranked sixth in total points scored for the decade while starting more games than any other frontcourt player.

https://www.nba.com/all-decade-team-best-players-2010s?cid=nbatvsocial_tw_sf216999100&sf216999100=1

6. LaMarcus Aldridge (15,213)

https://www.nba.com/2010s-decade-stat-leaders
DeMar is seventh, by the way.

And yes, if you watch you see LaMarcus really is a defensive anchor down low for us. He's taken on the responsibility to improve on that end all the while keeping up his O numbers well. He's shouldered the team and kept things steady through some turbulent times. His even keeled demeanour perhaps contributes to his being underappreciated at least outside of SA, but these last couple of years especially he's really risen to the anchor role and appreciation for his value has as well. He got a mural and everything.

[rapstarter]

Chris Bosh who's not a better player than LMA, but will be regarded as such

[Doctor MJ]

In terms of the question: Who is more overrated than Aldridge currently?

Well let's remove someone like Andrew Wiggins from the conversation. It's understandable to call Wiggins more overrated because he's on a huge contract and doesn't even know how to be a valuable starter period...but I think we all know that Wiggins sucks and is overpaid.

I"m going to say Kyrie Irving based on the way he was able to take his pick of max contract offers and get Kevin Durant to follow him like a puppy dog to Brooklyn after he just spent an entire year just crapping on a team that literally was one superstar away from from being a serious contender. Kyrie was supposed to be that superstar, he's still getting treated like he's that superstar, but he isn't that superstar.

[Doctor MJ]

Chris Bosh who's not a better player than LMA, but will be regarded as such

Bosh chose to go play with a superior teammate and adapted his game until he was really valuable and the team had great success.

Aldridge chose to go play with a superior teammate and then go insecure and petulant because he wasn't the man.

You can argue that Aldridge's skillset is more impressive than Bosh's, but Aldridge's decisions and the mental limitations they show us make his career much less of an achievement.

[Dupp]

He’s up there. Klay is by far the most overrated player in the league though... on both ends.

He's become the DeMar DeRozan of Power Forwards.

No one rates Demar.

[Doctor MJ]

And yes, if you watch you see LaMarcus really is a defensive anchor down low for us. He's taken on the responsibility to improve on that end all the while keeping up his O numbers well. He's shouldered the team and kept things steady through some turbulent times. His even keeled demeanour perhaps contributes to his being underappreciated at least outside of SA, but these last couple of years especially he's really risen to the anchor role and appreciation for his value has as well. He got a mural and everything.

Aldridge's defense was originally the key reason why he was underrated. He's a good defender who should simply approach offense differently. I could quibble about just how good his defense is (good but not a defensive star) but my bigger issue is the notion that he has an even-keeled demeanor. Dude demanded a trade from your team a year after being unhappy on his previous team.

I have no doubt that when he feels the right kind of fawning from those around him that he can play the part of the noble leader, but when the wind blows the other way, he's got a very different track record.

[GeorgeMarcus]

I don't get the love for LA. An All-Star (IN THE WEST) last year. I just got out of a thread where he was called a defensive anchor.

To my eye he is a mid-range shooting albatross that doesn't play much defense. ESPN RPM has him ranked as the 20th center in the league. I agree with ESPN. I don't see why he was an All-Star last year, and I don't see why he's on the list of potential guys for the top 25 players in the league here on the general board.

Must be something to do with counting stats.

Anyway, Who do you think is the most over-rated player in the league? Less deserving of being an All-Star or on an all NBA team?

Who you got?

In practice I'm on the same side of Aldridge as you are: I think he's become overrated.

I do think though it's really interesting looking at a guy like Aldridge and see how his stature has evolved.

Early Career
When Aldridge joined the NBA as a rookie he was immediately upstaged first by a guy drafted lower than him (Brandon Roy), and next by a guy who should have been much better than him if not for health (Greg Oden). There was a time early in his career where I felt he got very underrated because of this. He seemed like a star-prospect who would likely never become an all-star and would instead be relegated to be a sidekick whose all-star opportunity would come from being on a team so good people start looking to give more and more guys all-star nods.

What was particularly interesting about all this is that Aldridge didn't have a bad start at all. It was fairly easy to see that if he had been on another team he'd have been a serious ROY candidate in a lot of years, and he was doing some of the good subtle stuff that contributed impact that oftentimes young guys miss out on.

The only one left

After all of Portland's serious hopes were crushed by injury, Aldridge kept going and led the team to decent enough performances that Portland was in the category of "Anyone on Portland we should consider for all-star?"

At this point Aldridge moves from being underrated to properly rated. The type of guy who it would be fine if he wasn't named all-star, but also someone no one thought it was crazy for him to be an all-star. This is how prime Aldridge should be seen.

Lillard shines, Portland gets good

When Portland got good, while people saw the new arrival Lillard as a worthy all-star, he never moved past Aldridge in the pecking order, and this is where Aldridge becomes overrated. He was seen as the offensive anchor of the Blazers, which made sense because he scored more than anyone else and the offense was good. He must be the guy driving it, right?

I thought that was pretty absurd. Literally the entire league is seeing offensive success with guys who play more like Lillard than Aldridge, did we really think the Blazers couldn't have a good offense without Aldridge?

I'll tell you that the answer for many was "No, they'd fall apart without Aldridge." We soon learned the answer: The Blazers have been better at offense every single year since the year Aldridge left. Turns out Portland wasn't finding something miraculous building around an inefficient volume scoring big man who can't shoot 3's, they were just holding Lillard back.

Even worse, Aldridge's behavior in his Portland swan song was a classic case of a big ego caring more about himself than his team. It wasn't just that he didn't like the idea of playing as Lillard's sidekick, dude said crap about Portland too.

This was the point where the NBA's sense of him shoot have become "overrated" but it didn't for most people because:

San Antonio decided they really, really wanted Aldridge

General rule, if Pop wants you, you must be really good right?

Add in that the Spurs were great with Aldridge, this must say great things about Aldridge, right?

I would say that most of the basketball populace is still misguidedly say "Yes" to this.

For me his time in San Antonio has only made him look worse.

Why?

Because Aldridge wasn't happy being Kawhi's sidekick either. Dude freaking asked for a trade after his first season when the Spurs won 67 games and became the ONLY contender he had ever been on.

The real secret to Aldridge's continued success in San Antonio? Kawhi decided he didn't want to be there any more. This force the Spurs to abandon all hope at being a serious contender, which of course made them Aldridge's kind of team.

He's right where he wants to be now: The best player on a team good enough that they get an all-star spot but not good enough to challenge great teams because they have no true superstar players like LIllard or Kawhi.

You can see then I'm really frustrated with what Aldridge has become and the fact that people don't seem to see it. I'm not even saying it's crazy he keeps getting all-star spots, but if I were looking to build a contender, I literally would not want Aldridge because the dude wants to be the man, and he's just not good enough to be the man on a team that matters.

I got into this on the PC board a while ago when I rated Horford ahead of Aldridge. Aldridge is obviously the better alpha, but if you want to build a real team neither guy should be your alpha. If you're seriously looking to contend, Horford is a guy you want (age permitting), Aldridge isn't.

So it's clear: I was shouted down. The vast majority of people think Aldridge is better than Horford.

I'll tell you though that it didn't surprise me when multiple teams really wanted Horford this summer and he ended up with a huge contract.

My prediction? When Aldridge comes off the books in 2021, he gets nothing like the demand that Horford did. And yeah Aldridge will be older then, but just talking about annual salary for the next year: The amount of money Aldridge makes the first year of any new deal Aldridge gets, he's going to be making considerably less than Horford will get at the same age, and Horford is going to end up making more money in his career.

Why? Because Horford accepted a niche and skillset designed to make him as valuable as possible to a good team, while Aldridge insisted on being the man and fought to get out of any situations that might doom him to play second fiddle in the NBA, while not having the talent to be more than second fiddle on a real team.

Aldridge's career should be a case study in what not to do with your ego, but because Pop has embraced "good enough" in the wake of Kawhi's departure, people don't think of him that way.

Excellent post

[Bornstellar]

What a weird thread. Most posters and analysts have the Spurs missing the playoffs (again) this year and I see him getting little respect or talk overall by anyone.

Nevermind the fact he is the single reason the Spurs made the playoffs last year. You can point at analytics and metrics all you want and while that helps tell a story nothing supplants watching someone play every game every season. He has carried the Spurs on his back the last two years when most had us missing the playoffs.

And I don't think he's some top 10 player or anything. Top 25 most likely. And I think that's a pretty fair rating. Like I said, I never really hear him discussed at all so this is a weird thread to make. I guess because some writers had him 3rd team on an arbitrary "all decade team?"

[GreatWhiteStiff]

Jazzfan: Aldridge is overrated and takes a lot of long jumpshots, puts up counting stats, and appeals to casual filth.

Some poster: actually he shoots a pretty efficient 53% from 2pt land as a volume scorer.

Jazzfan:

[israelfirst]

aldridge is the kyle lowry of pf. overrated

[Prokorov]

I don't get the love for LA. An All-Star (IN THE WEST) last year. I just got out of a thread where he was called a defensive anchor.

To my eye he is a mid-range shooting albatross that doesn't play much defense. ESPN RPM has him ranked as the 20th center in the league. I agree with ESPN. I don't see why he was an All-Star last year, and I don't see why he's on the list of potential guys for the top 25 players in the league here on the general board.

Must be something to do with counting stats.

Anyway, Who do you think is the most over-rated player in the league? Less deserving of being an All-Star or on an all NBA team?

Who you got?

Tatum?