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Canr say that about PJ Tucker.
Hes got to do it the right way though. Cant be mister turnaround jumpshot guy all the time. Open jumpshot when passed to....all day long but when he gets passed to in the post hes got to back his man down more and be more decisive.Agree. Now that he didn't get traded, and because he's a free agent after next season, he's cornered himself to have a great season and deliver in the playoffs. Anything less only hurts him in the FA market. If he doesn't deliver and runs to a sub par team, he will he labeled soft for the rest of his career...not sure that he even cares though.
Canr say that about PJ Tucker.
Bill with the goods per par
Good comments. I wasn't convinced by Jackie Mcmullan or the rumblings from last season bc I really preferred that things worked out, but the rumblings have only gotten louder the more time has passed and not less. There's something in that. And he acted like a crybaby deleting tweets and the like. I do believe he's going to be gone. How that happens and when is hard to tell bc Spurs weren't going to "dump" him to get worse as a team and they couldn't turn him into a young draft pick or some other desirable player... But it's a marriage of convenience in which the parties are stuck with each other, not a fun situation. He may have a change of heart but really, as you said in your post he already showed his stripes.
That would explain a lot!
Cheers guys.
Yep, SAG, you tagged it perfectly" "a marriage of convenience."
That would explain a lot!
Just show it on the court Aldridge. You have the talent, just trust the system and your teammates. That ring is not really far than anyone thinks.
Bill, you're awesome and all, but I think you're reading a lot into reports and jumping to conclusions. I was one of the first people to consider LMA's 2015 comments a red flag, even though most probably consider me a top Aldridge shill now. But I doubt LMA came here not knowing Kawhi was going to be at least as big of a star as he was. LMA had in bency going for him in Portland. Lillard came in, played no D, chucked up shots, and everyone loved him for it. Damien ed about not being selected to the All-Star game and got a lot of credit he didn't deserve. Kawhi was a DPOY and fMVP already, and LMA has still gotten about the same number of gigs as Leonard has gotten. Kawhi's a better player and thus a bigger star. But the spotlight is relatively equal.
I didn't think he'd be happy averaging 17 a game, and honestly, if PATFO truly expected that to be okay, shame on them. We all know he's not being used correctly. We just don't know how much of that is on him and how much is on Pop. He should be scoring in the low- to mid-20s with a game somewhere between Cousins and Splitter. But everyone gave up on that after a relatively successful post-ASB 2016. Then they bring in Gasol to try replicate Tim's role in that new LMA style, but they really never used Pau that way the whole year.
Entirely too many people ran away with speculation and (it needs to be stated again) a report for Stephen A Smith. LMA may well be unhappy, but if he is, he's probably used to it by now. It would make five years in a row that he's been this way, and the previous four have been playoff years with teams that have either overachieved or played right at their limits. So him being like this isn't destroying locker rooms or forcing teams to move on from him. Is really an issue here?
I actually agree with dabom on this topic.
he's got enough touches in iso, he is given his beloved pick&pop uncontested shots. he is not ok with playing too much time on the center? well I am sure it had been discussed before the contract was signed. he is asked to post up more than he was asked in Portland? what a shame for Pop!
lol this is what they write articles about these days?
In the playoffs Lamarsha is not even top 5 on the arena
Hopefully, with more time to reflect, he's either become introspective or had someone talk some sense into him and taken at least some of the responsibility.
No matter where he goes or how he's utilized, at his age/mileage, he has to realize the days of taking it relatively easy in the off season and coasting on raw talent, are over.
You plagiarized one of my go to, patented lines.
I don't think the relationship is as acrimonious, adversarial or vitriolic as has been portrayed either, but there's been too many reports of his discontent (and it's obvious from watching) to disregard it because of Smith's report.
Even at his peak, while being top 5-10 in mpg and usage rate, he still topped out at low 20's ppg. It's almost impossible to be more, when you're a low volume free throw and 3-point shooter. Coming to a better, deeper team, he was always going to see a drop in mpg and usage rate. More important than the volume of the counting stats, is how he ac ulates them.
Come on!
Its a common expression and the LMA rumblings have been going on for quite a while but to summarize it in succinct fashion, yes you have done that b4.
I think his meeting with Pat Riley in free agency is the one that sold him on coming to the Spurs. I recall Riley used Chris Bosh as an example about sacrificing and having lower stats for the good of the team, so I think LaMarcus came in thinking that it's all going to be great and that he'd win a ring straight away. I'm not sure if not winning it all the past two years has made him change his mind about giving up stats in exchange for wins?Hopefully, with more time to reflect, he's either become introspective or had someone talk some sense into him and taken at least some of the responsibility.
No matter where he goes or how he's utilized, at his age/mileage, he has to realize the days of taking it relatively easy in the off season and coasting on raw talent, are over.
You plagiarized one of my go to, patented lines.
I don't think the relationship is as acrimonious, adversarial or vitriolic as has been portrayed either, but there's been too many reports of his discontent (and it's obvious from watching) to disregard it because of Smith's report.
Even at his peak, while being top 5-10 in mpg and usage rate, he still topped out at low 20's ppg. It's almost impossible to be more, when you're a low volume free throw and 3-point shooter. Coming to a better, deeper team, he was always going to see a drop in mpg and usage rate. More important than the volume of the counting stats, is how he ac ulates them.
The questions is, is it the stats during the regular season that he's upset about, or is he mad about getting dumped on and criticized by the media for his lower scoring outputs in the playoffs and getting blamed for not showing up in crunch time? Is it mostly postseason criticism that he's upset about? If it is, I think instead of accepting responsibility, has he decided that it's the Spurs that are to blame for his poor performances due to the way they use him (this is something I disagree with completely if that is where he is coming from)?
I think he's a little mentally weak in pressure situations during big games (both in the regular season and playoffs). He also seems takes criticism too personal instead of using it to get better.
As far as the regular season goes, he was the one that was being passive. The Spurs were begging him to score more during the start of the 2016 regular season, and also last season they were also asking him to score more, but he was looking totally out of shape and wasn't up to it for a lot of the past two seasons. That more his fault than the Spurs' IMO.
Last edited by Ice009; 08-29-2017 at 10:36 PM.
Not in this context.Come on!
Its a common expression and the LMA rumblings have been going on for quite a while but to summarize it in succinct fashion, yes you have done that b4.
I doubt he thought "he'd win a ring straight away", but he probably thought he had a better chance than they've had. Despite Warriors having already won a (gift wrapped) championship, they went to another level the following season, then added Durant the next, eliminating any chance for anyone. Even he can't blame Spurs for that unforeseen cir stance.
He probably sees his counting stats and criticism as related and that's partially right. There's still a lot of antiquated analysis and casual fans, who evaluate players based solely on their averages and don't even factor in context.
I don't think they've utilized him properly (they've tried to turn him into prime Duncan), but some of that is due to personnel (sounds great to say turn him into a floor spacer/finisher, but they don't have a dynamic PG) and it should play into his ego. Ideally, he's Heat Bosh or Cavaliers Love on an elite team.
I ran into the old lady of lamarcus at whataburger. I told her that aldridge was a salty diva.
She queefed on my burger in response. So the moral of the story is there are at least two salty divas living in the aldridge household.
For the most part I think we agree. I gave LMA his due on defense and mentioned how efficient he was year 1 especially the back half of the season. And there's no doubt he wants his numbers (he's gone on record about that) and he resented Lilliard. So, I guess we disagree basically over whether he should be surprised that Kawhi was number 1 after he arrived in 2015-16. Well, remember, 2015 was Kawhi's first year being really given the reigns. And there was a perception (fair or not and mentioned often on this board) that Kawhi faded in the back half of the Clippers series. Also, at that time, Kawhi while DPOY, had yet to make an All-Star team. It is not unreasonable to think that LMA, with multiple All-Star and All-NBA selections and a corresponding ego, would think he could be ahead of the "kid" FMVP and all. It seems ludicrous in hindsight, and possibly even at the time, but probably not in LMA's world. Also, Pop and RC apparently were selling LMA on his being the successor to TD. While they may have left it unclear what that fully meant, its not a stretch to think LMA would assume he'd be the franchise star given that pitch.
So, if he did resent Lillard, well, he could easily end up resenting Kawhi for similar reasons. There are differences of course. Kawhi's personality for one. But these stars have huge egos, and I think it happened again. Throw in frustration on how he's used, lower numbers, criticism in the media and you can see a heavy negative ledger that has to be balanced out by the most team success LMA's ever had.
I actually think HIS PLAY is underrated on here. His D has become very impressive. And Year 1 LMA was really efficient. Even with Year 2's drop in production, he's a very useful player, the second best on the team, and almost justifies his salary.
But I think he sees his days as an Alpha dog slipping away, an understandable frustration. How he handles it will tell us a lot about him. Hope he rises to the occasion.
You know what's ed up? The coaching staff would love for Aldridge to average low to mid 20's per game. They would love to see him more aggressive on the offensive end so teams can't focus on Leonard as much. He just doesn't get it. This team is better when he is "on" and plays aggressively. Unfortunately, the coaching staff is at loss for how to motivate him to play. He had a chance in the playoffs (with no excuses about sharing the ball and trying to get his teammates touches) and he came up short. He shriveled up like a nut sack in a cold pool. He quit on the team, fumbled the ball, turned it over and pretty much stopped playing. That's his character.
He was fine when he was the second-option he was supposed to be. The problem with LMA isn't just that he doesn't go strong to the basket. That would only help a bit, with the way people can draw offensive fouls nowadays. The problem is where he gets the ball. It's a question whether he stopped getting duck-ins, high-lows and rolls because he didn't like doing it or because the coaching staff stopped running them. It's easy to blame it on LMA, but the entire offense outside of Kawhi devolved last year. Even if Aldridge is being passive, the staff is not getting the team to run the offense they used to.
LMA was doubled every possession after Kawhi went out. The reason why he had so many TOs is because he could never put the ball down, and GS jumped every passing lane. They desperately needed to be smarter about how he got the ball, but Pop gave up pretty early on. The team desperately needed to get a penetrating guard to compliment LMA and Kawhi this summer, and they reupped everyone instead. Guys like Green and Mills aren't bad at all in a vacuum, but they aren't supposed to be supporting a broken offense, and Pau only had one game in five where he carried his own scoring-wise. That's even more true given his new contract.
My mind is very much made up about Lamarcus and I don't favor him quite honestly. I don't think Spurs will win while he's in the team bc he has no spine when the going gets tough, etc. It's stuff that's been said b4
Anyways, I do agree with you in your point about playmakers and guards and I was emphatic that the Spurs needed to do something about their guards... to state it generally playmaking has been an issue and Lamarcus will never be confused for a playmaker. Let's ignore the GSW series without Kawhi. I didn't even like him against the Grizzlies.
But I agree that the spurs have issues with their guards and didn't do enough to get better in that area. Tony (the injury) and Manu (40).... then a bunch of kids. it's not about salary at this point, or leadership, or Tony and Manu's value etc, but about roles they still play and the fact that behind them there's minimum contract players, several of them untested and possibly one or two who won't even make it through the full season (just the odds and past observation). It's unsettling the Spurs have committed such a large share of the salary pie to players who are so old that injuries are likely, recoveries likely to be slow, etc, their minutes need to be cut short, rested even when healthy, etc. Danny hasn't been shooting at his elite level since Lamarcus joined the team quite frankly and Patty is fearless but he's so small that he will always struggle with size. Dejounte might be a season away (though I think he is likely to be better, he's still just too young to assume anything and will probably still be erratic).
I hope for some of the Spurs young guard prospects to play well. It will be interesting to see them develop. Maybe someone will surprise, but it still was an underwhelming off season.
This rocked the Spurs nation like nothing since the summer of 2000 when Duncan almost didn’t even get on the plane to return to San Antonio from his free agency visit in Orlando.
Pop used him perfectly in the playoffs. That LMA doesn't want to bang a smaller player on the blocks is on him 100%. Pops strategy vs Golden Showers was perfect in Game 1.
The diva pussy should not have been brought in. If anything Pop is wrong, not for how he used him but for cow towing to Aldridge. The last dozen games of the regular season where the offense was ordered to force feed Aldridge for soft pussy jumpers while Bertie, Murray, Dedmon and others sat on the bench. Along with taking Kawhi out of his groove when he was in that 30/10/7/4/3 MVP stretch. ing disgusting.
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