LaMarcus Aldridge didn’t want to be here anymore. It’s as simple as that.
It’s been more than a week since Portland’s best player declared his intentions to sign with the San Antonio Spurs, and in the process issued a referendum on the city and fan base that deified him for the better part of 9 seasons.
That’s right, he spoke directly to his desire to win, be closer to home, and play for a great coach like Gregg Popovich as reasons for “exiting Stage-Left,” but while doing so he indirectly said you and the Trail Blazer organization aren’t good enough. And that’s how you should take it, because while you considered him one of your own, he considered you a necessary evil until a better, easier solution came along.
I know, his agent…errr…LaMarcus penned that heartfelt, two paragraph “thank you” to the Blazers, media, and fans, but 9 years of love and adoration from a city who lives and dies with every game deserved better than a concisely put-together blurb designed to simply cushion the blow, and veil the fact he was quitting on this team.
Dear Rip City, Thank you!
Those two words on a page don’t begin to express the gratitude I have for the opportunity the entire Trail Blazers organization, my teammates, the media, and you fans gave me. The past nine years have been a blessing, and I will take all of the valuable memories with me as I head back home.
As I’m sure you can respect, my decision was a very personal one but not one I took lightly. Although I will be wearing a different uniform the next time I come back to Portland, please know that I will always hold my time in a Blazers uniform near and dear to my heart.
If you’re really “thankful” and want to express a level of gratitude unbefitting “those two words,” do so prior to ingratiating yourself to your future team and fan base. Shortly after coming to an agreement with San Antonio, Aldridge took to Twitter with the following:
I’m happy to say I’m going home to Texas and will be a Spur!! I’m excited to join the team and be close to my family and friends.
Oh, and Portland, thanks for the memories.
How difficult would it have been to tweet something along the lines of; I’d like to thank the Blazers organization and great fans of Rip City for 9 great years, but I’m happy to say I’m going home to Texas and will be a Spur.
Yes, that falls under the 140 character Twitter umbrella, and also at least creates the illusion of respect I feel the Blazers and their fans deserved.
Wesley Matthews spent roughly half the time LaMarcus did in the Rose City, and while a fan favorite due to his tenacious play night-in-and-night-out, he was never the all-star anchor Aldridge was through the eyes of Blazer fanatics. But Wesley’s departure in the wake of Aldridge’s decision led the 5-year Blazer veteran to compose a 470 word letter to Portland via the Players’ Tribune, thanking the city – citing specific instances and special moments involving the fans – for 5 great years “…and friendships I am truly, truly grateful for. To the fans — thank you! I know this is overdue, but I wanted it to be right. You all were amazing to me from the moment I landed in Portland to my last moment as a Trail Blazer, and I can’t tell you what that means to me. I gave everything I had every night and I felt the same from you.”
You tell me, does that sound like a player communicating genuine appreciation? Or more so like the cookie-cutter dribble released by San Antonio’s newest Spur?
It’s very “Portland” to thank LaMarcus for his tenure in a Blazer uniform and wish him well in his endeavor for a championship ring, but it’s also a natural reaction for fans to be angry at a player they’ve invested in for nearly a decade, leaving for a ready-made situation and starting the timer on a bomb beneath the Trail Blazer franchise on the way out.
It’s been suggested that no one in his position would do differently, and “who wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to be a part of the Spurs?” But one needn’t look beyond Marc Gasol to see that player, who re-upped with a Memphis Grizzlies team who is arguably no better off than who Portland would’ve had on the court last year minus the rash of injuries. People forget the Blazers won 51 games last year without a healthy Aldridge, Robin Lopez, Chris Kaman, and Nicolas Batum missing significant time, and the aforementioned Matthews being lost for the last quarter of the year. This was a good team and had Aldridge returned, likely would’ve been a good team next season.
True, LaMarcus had every right to leave. He did spend 9 years in Portland and as a free agent earned the opportunity to exercise that right. But Blazer fans invested in those 9 years as well, and due to such earned the right to express displeasure in LaMarcus turning his back on people who backed him when he wasn’t making the All-Star team, wasn’t a household name, and wasn’t a hot commodity in a league full of them.
Yes, it’s a business, but they teach Ethics as part of a business curriculum and in a world with a diminishing level of such, a proper tweet, a proper letter, and a proper good bye would’ve gone a long way as part of a departure that was never going to be easy.
Will you be rooting for LaMarcus Aldridge next year? Or will you be hoping that injuries, age, and time finally catch-up to a Spurs team in the twilight of a historically fortunate run? I won’t tell you not to do the former, but I won’t blame you if you choose to do the latter. Like Aldridge, you’ve earned that right.
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