LaMarcus Aldridge is a great player. For most of his career he has been a middle of the road player but for the past couple of years he has really become an All-Star talent. LaMarcus has always been a cool player. On and off the court. Some say he has never dropped a bead of sweat. That may be a myth.
Anyways. Aldridge is a star, he’s one of those players that is top 20 in the league. But is yet to get the recognition. Which is why Aldridge talked to The SportingNews about him not being recruited as much as the big stars.
But Aldridge smiled when the grind of, ‘Are you coming to New York?’ queries was mentioned. “You know it is coming when you come here, but really, it wasn’t too bad,” Aldridge told Sporting News. “I didn’t get hit with it too much. It was off and on, but it wasn’t too bad and I’m used to it by now. I am not in free agency so there isn’t much to say.”
Aldridge also said he was not really recruited all that much by players employed by teams with cap space this summer — and yes, that includes Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony. “Maybe I’m not good enough,” Aldridge said with a smile.
That, however, probably was of small comfort to his bosses back in Portland. Aldridge has said his preference is to simply re-sign in Portland, but he’s obviously keeping an open mind. The relative openness of that mind has weighed on the Blazers’ front office all year.
“It’s probably being paranoid, I think just about everyone expects him to stay (with the Blazers), but they’re very, very scared to lose him,” one league executive told Sporting News. “They’ve been reluctant to do anything with the roster as it stands because they want to stay in position to bring him back. For smaller markets, you’re always afraid of losing the stars you drafted and groomed.“
Now the Blazers would be stupid not to give Aldridge the max deal. And I think they know that. They have one of the best overall squads in the league. The combination of Lillard and Aldridge is deadly and with the supporting cast. That team is dynamite.
