Aldridge doesn't get the credit for it, but he is a damn good defensive player, and blocks shots quite easily.
The defense has the potential to be the best in the league next year with two excellent defensive bigs.
Spurs coaching will also transform him into a much better player.
Duncan doesn't have close to Aldridge shot and athleticism. Finally Aldridge will learn how to play championship basketball.
West also is going to be a better player. This team is scary!
With Tiago we were a pretty darn good defensive team. It just happend that Tiago was injured most of the season.
I saw this on twitter too. But aside from Tom Ziller, some nba writers are now saying that a new warriors player, Jason Thompson is the biggest threat to LaMarcus Aldridge. Has anyone read this yet?
http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2015/8/3...arcus-aldridge
But the biggest factor here is Thompson's history of defending a certain Western Conference power forward quite well. Over the past three seasons, Thompson has held new San Antonio Spur LaMarcus Aldridge to 44 percent shooting (88-199) over 11 regular season games. (Aldridge shot 47 percent overall in that time period.) If the Warriors are expecting a battle with the Spurs at some point next postseason, Thompson is a nice tool to use. (J.T. has also had some success marking Blake Griffin, especially as the Clippers star has transitioned to a face-up style.)
If they want to hamstring their offense by playing JT 30+ to check LMA, be my guest.
We needed a big that can actually play well outside of duncan and diaw and we have that in aldridge. Tiago was ok but aldridge will do better imo. Season can't start soon enough
You think that makes him a compe or? I guess Tim, Manu and Tony don't compete, then.
That's your own horrible take.
His type of compe iveness is a good sight to see. The Spurs have needed a tougher persona for awhile now. West and Aldridge feisty ways motivated their team. Everyone who plays with them loves to play with them.
Everyone likes to play with Timmy and Manu , too. Compe iveness has little to do with posturing.
Oh guys he held a jump shooting big man to 44% over 11 games on a totally different team and system. LOOK OUT
I like Thompson. Wanted him on the Spurs for a couple years. The thing that will make him less effective at defending LMA is that the Spurs could instantly go back to their 2014 offense. They're not like the Blazers who really had no answer for LMA getting shut down. Put all your energy into stopping Aldridge and watch Tim turn back the clock, Leonard post up, Parker run off screens or Danny go supernova.
The thing about aldridge is that he can easily be defended if he plays in a two way star dependent system like the Blazers. This is the reason why he was god awful last year and in many other playoffs years..He just hasn't really had the luxury to play in a team that play off his talents. Sure, he'll probably not score as much given the diverse defensive personel the warriors have in Thompson, Green and Bogut, but with an offense that relies on ball movement, he won't need to consistently be main focal point. He doesn't need to. The offense will rotate.
If you look back at Portland's playcalling and how they run their Horns, variations of loops and general off ball movement..there's a huge focus on getting him the ball. For example, they run a loop set to give aldridge an open sideline two point shot with a couple other option in Mathews and Lillard, but generally he's the guy that's going to receive the pass and play stops there..if they don''t get the shot, he ISO's.
With the Spurs it' going to be a little different. There's less stoppage, less broken plays because of continuous motion and passing...This allows the offense to rotate and with a guy like Aldridge, it's just makes things easier for a Leonard drive or post, a green three or parker drive..
Honestly, I don't even think you can really shutdown Aldridge from a value standpoint. If he's not scoring, he's still as valuable.
All I can say is 4down 2.0 with LMA on board(that turn around fade-away is $$). When all else fails in the playoffs and nobody could buy a bucket, look for LMA,TP/Manu pick n roll with Leonard and Duncan waiting for offensive rebounds if there's a miss.
If anything, LMA is a passive player - certainly a passive basketball personality.
^This tbh.
Main difference here are Spurs' sets. With SA's motion offense, LMA doesn't need to be the main offensive focus as he was in POR and players move so much that we create lots of mismatches. Tiago because of injuries, failed to capitalize on many of them, missing lots of shots and getting stripped near the paint.
Thompson may play well against LMA, bunch of stars has those scrubs who play well against them, but if that means (obviously not) they'll play JT for over 30 min? WIN.
Not necessary
Maybe put KA (nearly a 7'3" wingspan) at PG?
Parker has an 9'3" waistspan
Watching highlights of Aldridge, I'm not surprised at how many mid-to-long range jumpers he takes (we all knew that was a big strength), but I am surprised at how early in the shot clock he took them; many times it was with 15+ seconds left on the shot clock.
While I don't think he should take that shot out of his game (far from it), I hope the fact that he is in a higher octane, team-focused offense will help him pick his spots. Perhaps a big reason he was taking 18 footers with 18 seconds on the clock was because he thought that open jumper was the best shot he'd get.
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