I’ve read many an article that explained away the problems that plague the Portland Trail Blazers. The reasons range from “simple as that” to “conspiracy theory,” and there’s even a little bit of “woe is me, curse you injuries” peppered in somewhere. In a way, all of them are right. And in a way, none of them are.
Let’s recapitulate, for argument’s sake:
- Raymond Felton is not playing well and is out of shape (he’s fat)
- Wesley Matthews can’t shoot
- Management is mishandling Nicolas Batum
- The lack of a true Center still looms large
- The ghost of Brandon Roy still haunts the locker room
All of these are sound arguments, but we’re forgetting one very important one:
LaMarcus Aldridge is not a franchise player.
Don’t get me wrong. Aldridge is a fantastic player, top 5 Power Forward, and a true professional. He’s just not a franchise guy. If you’ll stop cursing at me for just a second, I promise that I’ll explain.
When the Blazers were stockpiling talent in 2006, 2007, and 2008, we all thought they were the team of the future. The roster they assembled by the latter year rivaled the Lakers’, who were the best team in the West at the time, almost pound-for-pound, and was built in similar fashion. Andrew Bynum? I’ll raise you a Greg Oden. Pau Gasol? Give me a LaMarcus Aldridge. Kobe Bryant? How about the first Yellow Mamba, Brandon Roy. Derek Fisher? Don’t make me laugh.
Portland was competitive enough to be at least a second round out, and all the while young enough to potentially contend for a championship. Unfortunately, things took a sour turn.
Oden required knee surgery for the 18 millionth time, Roy battled degenerative knee issues until finally calling it quits, Joel Przybilla slipped in the shower, and Rich Cho was unceremoniously canned after reports that he held Roy in contempt for his complaints about playing time.
In the span of only 3 years, the entire Blazers future hinged on the draft day steal they acquired via trade with the Chicago Bulls. Aldridge was never supposed to be the franchise guy; Oden was. Aldridge was never supposed to be the finisher; Roy was. Aldridge was never supposed to be the face of the Trail Blazers. It wasn’t supposed to happen that way.
Sadly, I think Portland fans forget that fact. Aldridge is implicitly saddled with the expectation to raise the level of play of his teammates. Because people think he is a superstar, they are surprised that the Trail Blazers are a mere 18-18. The blame gets batted around to his teammates because they aren’t holding up their ends of the bargain while he, on the other hand, has managed to outkick his coverage. The reason they think he is a superstar is because of how well he’s progressed, but his development is not, and was never intended to be, enough to mitigate the losses of their would-be franchise player and would-be premier two-guard.
As currently constructed, the Blazers are a first round out, if they make the playoffs at all (it’s hard to say after watching them play recently). As ideally constructed, with Aldridge as their third best player, the Blazers are a Conference Finals denizen.
Aldridge is in a purgatory of sorts. The man is talented enough to be considered a superstar by some while being absolved of any of the expectations that come with it, and he’s overrated because he was underrated. He’s stuck in a classification that has no name.
The answer is so simple, yet it’s muddled in confusion. After it’s all said and done, Aldridge is a little better than the player they expected him to be. Instead of the third best player on a championship caliber team, he’s the first best player on a team whose playoff hopes are on life support. As it stands, LaMarcus is, for my money, a guy who can be the second best player on a championship team.
There are two things the Blazers didn’t account for when assembling their team:
- The career-threatening injuries of their two best players.
- The advent of the super team.
It’s hard for anyone to predict that two of the top 5 players, and three of the top 25 players, would join forces and forge one super team. We can’t fault the Blazers for not foreseeing that one, as hardly anyone has built a team that can contend with the Miami Heat. Yet even on that team, the one guy who’s most similar to Aldridge is their third best player, Chris Bosh.
Bosh is clearly not a bad player, but he’s a guy who is in the realm of Aldridge and Amar’e Stoudemire, and only a notch above David Lee and Zach Randolph. Do any of those guys strike you as the best player on a championship team?
I didn’t think so.
My point is simple: if you’re going to strap Aldridge with a superstar label, then he should receive at least some of the blame for the Blazers’ subpar season so far.
After all, it is the superstars who get evaluated the most. If Kobe got criticized for shooting too much, LeBron James got condemned for waiting too long to develop a post-up game, Kevin Durant took heat for weighing as much as a cardboard cutout of himself, Blake Griffin took flack for not having a consistent jump shot or the ability to make a free throw, Dwight Howard for the same thing in addition to having only one move offensively, then shouldn’t Aldridge at least be critiqued for not blocking enough shots, getting enough rebounds, taking less jump shots, or not being tough enough?
I’m just saying…
Till next time.
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