THE NEXT SHEED
When LaMarcus Aldridge was forced to wear a headband due to medical reasons, it pushed him a step closer to his eventual transformation into the next Rasheed Wallace.
The comparisons have been there since he was playing at Texas.
But I see Aldridge becoming a more refined version of ‘Sheed. A ‘Sheed without the crazy. For better and for worse.
What the crazy did to Rasheed’s game, was to reign him in from stretches of detachment where he was kind of drifting along out there. He would get bumped a few times, and the refs would let it go. Then all of a sudden, he would channel that anger into three or four vicious post moves on consecutive times down the court. The moments when he would take out his frustration and aggression on his defender were among his finest. When his anger would simply turn into those trademark crazy eyes, verbal tirades and towel throwing moments, were his darkest hours.
LaMarcus is a gym rat.
A quality that ‘Sheed never really exhibited. A quality that would have morphed Wallace from being a passionate, albeit streaky star who could beat his man whenever the whim moved him to do so, into one of the game’s greatest players. Ever. A potential ‘Sheed never embraced.
The accounts of Aldridge’s late night shooting sessions at the Tualatin practice facility are encouraging and ominous. He seems to posses an internal drive, to better himself in the name of his team. He is not satisfied with ‘just ballin’ as Rasheed was so often satisfied with.
While Aldridge certainly doesn’t need any of the crazy of Wallace, he would do well to pilfer a bit of the raw passion. He could do to play outside the lines, outside the offense from time to time. The Blazers will go as far as Aldridge (not Roy, not Oden) will take them. He poses the most dire mismatch potential of any Blazer since Wallace. He needs to break free from over thinking his role in the set offense. At times he needs to pounce on his opponents and be able to dictate when his teammates should go through him exclusively. It’s a trait that Wallace had, at times. And one that the game’s elite, like KG show on a nightly basis.
He is seeming looser out there. It seems like he is realizing he can impact the game on both ends. Also something Wallace excelled at, in Portland, and elsewhere. Aldridge is a pure basketballer. In the mold of Rasheed.
As he realizes his potential, so will the Blazers.
As the second ‘Sheed goes, so go the hopes and dreams of Rip City.
