LaMarcus Aldridge Is A Great Leader, But His Shooting Hurts Blazers

LaMarcus Aldridge has been the Blazers’ driving force this season, but one area of his game that been messy not just this season, but even last season, is his shooting

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LaMarcus Aldridge is having a terrific season. He’s putting up a career high in points per game and his defensive rating is at an all-time low (that’s a good thing, by the way). But one area of his game that been messy not just this season, but even last season, is his shooting.

Aldridge is shooting just 46% from the field, the 2nd lowest of his career. He has the 3rd lowest field goal percentage of all forwards who take at least 15 shots per game, and the worst out of the power forwards who qualify.

And it’s not a matter of good shots that don’t go in, but bad shots that don’t go in. Aldridge loves to take longs 2’s . The problem is, he’s not that good at them. He shoots only 41.9 percent on long 2’s, which puts him in the middle of the pack in terms of forwards who have taken at least 200 shots from that range.

At 29.9%, he has the highest usage rate among qualified NBA forwards, according to basketball-reference.com. He’s not even in the top-40 in field goal percentage among players with at least a 20% usage rate, as he comes in at 43.

At 6’11 and 240 pounds, Aldridge has the potential to bully dudes to the basket. He’s super long, and is quicker than the guys who guard him. But he loves long contested jump shots for some reason.

Take this play vs the Celtics:

Aldridge gets the ball above the free throw circle.Here, Aldridge has three good options: he could easily blow past his defender Brandon Bass and potentially kick it out for a 3 when one of the Celtics perimeter players help out, or pass it to Robin Lopez if Sullinger helps out. Or he can take it to the rim himself. But what does he do? He throws up a long 2 that’s contested well by Bass.

(If you were wondering, the shot missed)

Then take this play vs the Sixers. Aldridge begins the play with the ball in the high post vs Nerlens Noel:

He instantly recognizes that help won’t be coming and that Noel is too skinny to body up on him, so he drives it to the rim:

Which results in a pretty easy layup for Aldridge:

Aldridge is 2nd in the league in field goal attempts from the post, behind only Al Jefferson, who seems to live there. And out of the top-10 shot takers from that area, he has the best percentile at 82.1, barely ahead of Marc Gasol‘s 81.5.

Aldridge can be a high percentage shooter. But he has really bad shot selection at times, and it ends up hurting the Blazers, as they are in the bottom 10 in field goal percentage.

The Blazers are only 12-9 when Aldridge shoots at least 50% from the field, but those losses have come against great teams such as the Warriors, Hawks and Grizzlies.

The Blazers are a very good team. They’re in contention for home-court advantage in the playoffs, which they didn’t have last season.

LaMarcus Aldridge is a modern-day hero for delaying thumb surgery to keep the team intact. And while his shooting isn’t horrid, there’s lots of room for improvement.

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