The Portland Trail Blazers have been hovering around .500 for
almost a month now. Despite all the talent this team possesses they have
struggled in a major way this season, especially on the road. LaMarcus Aldridge
has played well but for this team to have a shot at the playoffs he has got to
raise his game.
Aldridge went to his first All-Star game this year despite
putting up virtually the same numbers he put up last year. Part of the reason
may be because the condensed schedule has made it harder for some players to improve
on their statistics from last season.
Many players are playing fewer minutes which has also been
the case with Aldridge. His minutes are down by nearly four minutes-per-game. He
also has to share the ball with Gerald Wallace who was brought in at the trade
deadline last year and Jamal Crawford who signed with the team during the
offseason.
While it has to be a relief to Aldridge that Portland was
able to acquire those two players to ease the loss of his buddy Brandon Roy,
neither has filled the leadership void that Roy left when he retired from the
team.
As a matter of fact, Aldridge is the only current starter
who has more than three years tenure as a starter with the team.
Raymond Felton was brought in via a trade during the offseason,
Wesley Matthews is only in his second year with the team and Nicholas Batum is
in his fourth year with the team but hasn’t been a consistent starter. He has only
started 11 of the 36 games he has played in this season.
Although Aldridge isn’t the most outspoken player he is the
team’s most talented player and needs to take a bigger role in leading this
team. Wallace, Crawford, Matthews, Batum and Felton are good players but none
of them has the ceiling that Aldridge possesses.
Aldridge has the ability to play in the post and shoot all
the way out to three-point range. Coach Nate McMillan needs to make sure
Aldridge gets the ball more and push him to assert his self more on the court.
Aldridge also has room to grow on the defensive end. There
is no reason he shouldn’t be able to average at least ten boards per game.
Kevin Love shoots as well and as much as Aldridge does away from the basket but
still manages to bring down over 13 rebounds per game.
Aldridge is averaging under a block per game which is
totally unacceptable, especially when you consider how tough of a time Portland
has had keeping some of their other post players in the lineup. Instead of
stepping up his game though Aldridge is blocking shots at half the rate he
blocked shots last season.
So Aldridge needs to get it in gear if this team wants to
make the playoffs. The Minnesota Timberwolves, Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz
are all ahead of the Blazers for the eighth playoff spot and there are only
27 games left in the season.
The good news is that Portland is only a game and a half
behind eighth-placed Minnesota.
If Aldridge can raise his game and get his
teammates in gear then the Blazers could make their fourth straight
appearance in the playoffs under Coach McMillan. If not then Aldridge may be
saying goodbye to his coach as well as a couple of his teammates once the
regular season ends.
Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and is also an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist and add him on Facebook Roosevelt Hall Thesportmentalist.
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