Portland Trail Blazers: What The Loss Of LaMarcus Aldridge Really Means

The Portland Trail Blazers are going to have to fend through the Western Conference without LaMarcus Aldridge for the next two months, here’s what his injury really means for this team

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Right now, the Portland Trail Blazers sit firmly atop the NBA’s Northwest Division, comfortably ahead of the second place Oklahoma City Thunder. However, these are two teams on completely opposite ends of the injury-bug.

The Thunder have recently seen their biggest stars return from lengthy stays on the injured reserve. They’re a relatively young team whose players have managed to remain healthy throughout the years. The Portland Trail Blazers however, have a very troubled past full of injury-prone players (some notables include Brandon Roy and Greg Oden), and their (now) unquestioned leader is now on his way to the inured reserve for a lengthy stay.

LaMarcus Aldridge will be out for 6-8 weeks with a torn radial collar ligament in his left thumb, per ESPN. Aldridge, a three time All-Star, was averaging 26 points and 10 rebounds per game on the back of 46 percent shooting from the field. Losing him for the foreseeable future means there are certainly rough times ahead for the Portland Trail Blazers.

To get a grip on exactly what Aldridge’s impact on this team is, we have to start on the offensive side of the ball. He isn’t just the team’s leading scorer, he is also the team’s leader in usage rate (29.6). That means he gets more touches and is involved in a higher percentage of plays than either star point guard Damian Lillard or this season’s leader in 3-pointers taken and made, Wesley Matthews.

It’s no secret that the 2014-15 Trail Blazers feature a heavy dosage of 3-point shooting; thus far Lillard and Matthews have combined for more long range attempts than even the Splash Brothers in Golden State. This deep ball mindset even remains true with Aldridge, who this season has the highest 3-point attempt rate of his career (about 1 per game).

However, the meat of Aldridge’s scoring comes from just inside that arc. While he has proven his ability to take and make shots from a wide range of spots on the court, his shot chart gets especially crowded between the three point line and 16 feet. That’s where roughly 39 percent of all of his shot attempts come from, and has connected on 41 percent of his shots from that distance.

In addition to all of that, he is also responsible for creating a majority of his own opportunities. This season, fewer than 50 percent of all of his made shots have come via an assist. That means he is creating more shots for himself than any of the Blazers’ guards were creating for him. It is very rare that a big man is able to create open looks for himself with such frequency, either in the post or off the dribble.

Dec 10, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) dribbles past Minnesota Timberwolves forward

Thaddeus Young

(33) during the first quarter at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

His impact on the defensive end of the floor is a bit harder to spot. He’s averaging 1.2 blocks per contest, and a little under a steal per game. His defensive win shares for this season however, are exactly the same as his offensive win shares. What that means is that both his offense and his defense are responsible for the same number of wins, it is estimated, that he has helped his team to.

On the rebounding front, the Trail Blazers are the premier team in the NBA. They’ve managed to pull down the most boards in the league (45.7) while also holding their opponents to the fewest rebounds against them. Lamarcus Aldridge is right at the heart of that effort, too. He is currently Portland’s leader in rebounds (both total and per game, at 10.2).

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The loss of Aldridge follows that of Robin Lopez, the team’s starting center. With both of the Portland Trail Blazers’ bigs out of action, the weight of their production falls onto the shoulders of Chris Kaman, Meyers Leonard, Thomas Robinson, and Joel Freeland. Kaman has assumed the starting center position in Lopez’s absence, and it is Robinson who will be stepping into the starting rotation while Aldridge is out.

Portland has dropped their first two games since Lamarcus Aldridge went down. On back-to-back nights, they faced the Phoenix Suns and the Boston Celtics. The Suns guard-heavy assault was the formula for their win, however, against the Celtics, the Blazers’ big men were completely outmatched and outplayed.

The Portland Trail Blazers need to step it up in the coming weeks if they hope to stand a chance against the Thunder and the rest of the West until Aldridge returns.

Next: Andrew Wiggins is separating himself from the rest of his rookie peers

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