Aldridge ball is not winning ball

[duncan2k5]

The first 2-3 games of the Thunder series in 2016 he played amazing. Almost to what you saw last night. It was punk ass Kawhi and others who sunk that ship.

huh? LMA played like complete in the thunder series except for the first two games...he completely fell off a cliff...dude had games where he shot in the 20s in terms of percentage...and he couldnt box anyone out for ! the revisionist history on here is amazing

[duncan2k5]

all the kawhi drama makes us appreciate more LMA tbh... dude is a diva, demanded to be traded, complained about his touches etc etc but at least he never quit on his team, puts a lot of effort, cheers for the team. I've never been a big fan of him but I respect him

all is perception tbh...

he didnit quit? the guy took a dumb in the court during the playoffs, then demanded a trade without reason until he couldnt be traded...thats quitting...he just wasnt coveted by any team after his trash playoff stint

[SpursDynasty85]

he didnit quit? the guy took a dumb in the court during the playoffs, then demanded a trade without reason until he couldnt be traded...thats quitting...he just wasnt coveted by any team after his trash playoff stint

LMA had a legit reason to gripe. He handled it professionally by approaching the front office with the request instead of leaking it. The front office then sought out trades. At that point LMA's trade value and monetary value in the eyes of GMs were so low no one was willing to give up much for him despite being the most coveted free agent 2 seasons ago. Signed a 4 year friendly max before the jump and has been great to really good every year except the year when it was Kawhiso ball. Pop promised LMA that he would utilize him to his strengths. He didn't and it was only until everyone was scapegoating LMA that he had to say something. Pop even called him out in the media (it was a bit unfair not outrageous). Still nothing compared to what Kawhi did. He is doing so much damage and pr control because of his actions. Luckily this is dying down eventually.

[hater]

OP

[Hoops Czar]

LMA had a legit reason to gripe. He handled it professionally by approaching the front office with the request instead of leaking it. The front office then sought out trades. At that point LMA's trade value and monetary value in the eyes of GMs were so low no one was willing to give up much for him despite being the most coveted free agent 2 seasons ago. Signed a 4 year friendly max before the jump and has been great to really good every year except the year when it was Kawhiso ball. Pop promised LMA that he would utilize him to his strengths. He didn't and it was only until everyone was scapegoating LMA that he had to say something. Pop even called him out in the media (it was a bit unfair not outrageous). Still nothing compared to what Kawhi did. He is doing so much damage and pr control because of his actions. Luckily this is dying down eventually.

Actually, wasn't it leaked during the regular season that he wasn't happy and wanted to be traded? Also, LMA may not have sat out games like Kawhi but he was practically invisible/non-functioning on the court for long stetches of the season.

[SpursDynasty85]

Actually, wasn't it leaked during the regular season that he wasn't happy and wanted to be traded? Also, LMA may not have sat out games like Kawhi but he was practically invisible/non-functioning on the court for long stetches of the season.

He may have but I was pretty in tune for that season and I don't recall that and it definitely was not a distraction for the year. Everyone seemed pretty focused. I much more appreciate a guy who is clearly disengaged and frustrated not cause a stir. The Spurs were definitely focused on winning with Kawhi as our Jordan/Pippen combo in one. Once he got injured and LMA had to do his thing in a system that clearly didn't fit him then have Pop call him out and the media and fans saying he is washed up; he quietly and professionally asked for a trade. (That's how I saw it).

[Brazil]

he didnit quit? the guy took a dumb in the court during the playoffs, then demanded a trade without reason until he couldnt be traded...thats quitting...he just wasnt coveted by any team after his trash playoff stint

you are a ing moron

[DAF86]

lol OP is a got and massively failed. Again.

Oh look, one of the idiots that don't understand basketball and thought White was trash.

[Pavlov]

LMA played well.

[Ginobilly]

LA doesn’t get enough love from Spurs fans, especially in SA. It’s stupid heads like OP who are spoiled from watching the best PF to ever live be a hall of famer for 20yrs on our team and expect Aldridge to be just as good. News flash, LA isn’t Duncan dumbass. No .

Aldridge when engaged is a BEAST and we should be thankful to have a presence like him down low. 56pts on 60% what do y’all have to say about him now

Yea. Duncan is up there with wilt, bill, kareem, as being one of the best centers of all Time. Expecting Aldridge to somehow match that is a bit premature. We may never see another duncan for quite sometime.

[DAF86]

OP

Another one.

[Spurs Homer]

The first 2-3 games of the Thunder series in 2016 he played amazing. Almost to what you saw last night. It was punk ass Kawhi and others who sunk that ship.

lol

"poster" Lamarcus Bryant takes a hot wet on

"poster" hoops czar

[DAF86]

lol at the re s of The Starters saying that Aldridge doesn't deserve an All Star selection.

[DAF86]

LA doesn’t get enough love from Spurs fans, especially in SA. It’s stupid heads like OP who are spoiled from watching the best PF to ever live be a hall of famer for 20yrs on our team and expect Aldridge to be just as good. News flash, LA isn’t Duncan dumbass. No .

Aldridge when engaged is a BEAST and we should be thankful to have a presence like him down low. 56pts on 60% what do y’all have to say about him now

Saying he isn't a championship winning player doesn't mean I don't root for the guy. Why is that so hard to understand for some people?

P/S: you, stupid head.

[Collins21]

huh? LMA played like complete in the thunder series except for the first two games...he completely fell off a cliff...dude had games where he shot in the 20s in terms of percentage...and he couldnt box anyone out for ! the revisionist history on here is amazing

What about game 2 when Kawhi scored a whopping 14 points when LA carried the team? What about game 4 when Kawhi got raped by Durant in the second half? Or what about scoring only 4 points in the 4th quarter of game 5? The no show in game 6? when the only dude who showed up was old man Duncan. Oh and what about 2015 when Matt Barnes made Kawhi is the last 4 games?

[RC_Drunkford]

LA doesn’t get enough love from Spurs fans, especially in SA. It’s stupid heads like OP who are spoiled from watching the best PF to ever live be a hall of famer for 20yrs on our team and expect Aldridge to be just as good. News flash, LA isn’t Duncan dumbass. No .

Aldridge when engaged is a BEAST and we should be thankful to have a presence like him down low. 56pts on 60% what do y’all have to say about him now

Facts. Some idiots here want to trade him for Vucevic

[Chinook]

I do think this thread has fallen way off its original premise. Part of that was folks turning it into a referendum on LMA as a player rather than a LMA-style offense as a scheme. (EDIT: I forgot to say "And the other half is that the OP almost immediately turned it into a thread he'd bump when Aldridge played poorly, even though that shouldn't have affected the premise of this thread.) "Aldridge ball" doesn't refer to Aldridge being on the team. It refers to letting him post up and essentially iso all game. The question was whether the Spurs could rely on that sort of offense to contend.

Answer is that we're seeing something much closer to "Aldridge ball" this season than we saw last. The stable of shooters and Gay are all really good compliments to this style and having guards who can get Aldridge easy looks only helps take the pressure off him to iso. Replace DeRozan's desire to talk 20-footers with an equally successful three, and you get a really good roster to show off LMA's strengths. It's a defensive wing or two from being ideal, but we're seeing an offense that's nicely balanced around Aldridge's gravity causing the initial bend in the D that can be exploited later on the possessions. It highlights what I meant when I said the Spurs needed to use LMA as the first option this whole time. The team just has a better offensive iden y if it plays inside-out with the predictable rhythm that comes from getting a great scorer in his spot early on. Gay getting early post opportunities is just another wrinkle. It gives the same cadence with a faster tempo.

Kawhiso just didn't have this ceiling. Leonard is a superior scorer, but he's not as predictable. There's no rhythm to his play, so basing an offense around him as the first option means being at the mercy of his decision-making. It's much harder to move without the ball without knowing where the ball is going to be, because Leonard could go anywhere if he had possession. It made it impossible to play two bigs with him, because it hurt transition D. Had Leonard had a game more like DeRozan (but with superior three-point shooting) while with LMA and then a Gay-like game when Aldridge was on the bench, the team could have excelled. Offensively as well as defensively. Aldridge-ball is winning ball so long as you have a roster full of guys who are able and wiling to compliment it rather than doing their own things. The Spurs have that now, though they'll have to balance that out with DeRozan also having a star impact, and they're not quite there yet in that regard.

[RC_Drunkford]

first 50+ point game by a non-3-point shooter since SHAQ. Talk about complaining LA doesn't play close to the basket. Did that against the #1 defense in the NBA while being guarded by Steven Adams for most of the time.

[DAF86]

Facts. Some idiots here want to trade him for Vucevic

You would be an idiot not to trade Vucevic for Aldridge straight up right now. Better/similar contribution, 10 years younger and making 10 millions less per year.

Neither guy is a first option for a contender, but one accepts a lesser role while the other needs 1st option touches to be productive.

Please people, let's just celebrate Aldridge's historic performance and don't make me have to combat recency bias and homerism, tbh.

[DAF86]

Facts. Some idiots here want to trade him for Vucevic

You would be an idiot not to trade Vucevic for Aldridge straight up right now. Better/similar contribution, 10 years younger and making 10 millions less per year.

Neither guy is a first option for a contender, but one accepts a lesser role while the other needs 1st option touches to be productive.

Please people, let's just celebrate Aldridge's historic performance and don't make me have to combat recency bias and homerism, tbh.

[rudwick]

Aldridge did what he did, and we shoot a record percentage on 3-ptrs and we need overtime to win.

[Spurs Homer]

Hey Steven Adams:

Nice of you to do that "pretend I have a bad ankle"

on the night LMA lit you up for 56 pts!

[LaMarcus Bryant]

It was actually Donovan switching Ibaka off LMA and putting Adams on him that flipped the series on its head.

Yes. And when the attention was on LaMarcus after a great 2 games, the other star, aka Kawhi, blew it like the punk he was. Just like he was shut down by Matt Barnes in the 2015 Clippers series after adjustments, he faded on us.

[hater]

Saw Aldridges half time warmups the last 2 games. The dude does not miss unconcious

I think to start the games he is cold and does miss a lot more and that bodes bad for the rest of his game. He is a very psycological guy so when he starts missing reverts to Lamarsa

If somehow we could get Halftime Aldridge to come out to start of every game he would be an absolute beast and wed be top 3 seed

But this guy is a machine when his shot is on

[TimmyBuckets]

When he's Cuckridge we lose. When he's Godridge, we win.