We know Knicks & Lakers will chase LaMarcus Aldridge come July, but at least two teams in Texas believe they have shot at him: Spurs & Mavs
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) April 23, 2015
It is no secret that free agent to be LaMarcus Aldridge will be highly sort after with lots of pursuiters. What was once a sure thing that Aldridge would resign with the Portland Trail Blazers has now become iffy at best with recent rumors of unnamed teammates estimating Aldridge’s return to be 50/50.
It is a given that Phil Jackson will pursue the four-time NBA All-Star, and two-time All-NBA Third Team Texan. The biggest question is, as with any potential free agent the New York Knicks are looking to sign, is would Aldridge’s game be a good fit with Carmelo Anthony’s.
On the offensive side of the floor, Aldridge favors the left side of the court over the right side of the court. Aldridge attempts 43.84% of his field goals from the left side/left side center location of the floor this season as per NBA Savant. Anthony also favors the left side of the court over the right side but not to Aldridge’s extreme, Anthony attempts 35.61% of his field goals from the left side/left side center location of the floor as per NBA Savant. Please note that all statistics for Anthony are from the 2013-2014 season because this season’s sample size was too small due to the season ending surgery.
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Floor spacing between the two players really should not be an issue, especially because Anthony has no problem shooting from anywhere on the court. Anthony’s offense is almost evenly divided from left to right, ranging from 14% of his offense to 19% (excluding the center). Whereas previously mentioned Aldridge heavily favors the left portion of the court, with 24.84% of his offense coming exclusively from the left side. With Anthony willing and able to take shots anywhere on the court, it should not be much of an adjustment for Anthony to take shots on other spots on the floor.
The largest area where both players take a majority of their shot is the center, with Aldridge taking 44.32% of his shots from that area of the floor and Anthony taking 33.6% of his shots from that area of the floor. This is not really an issue, since it is a normal thing for all primary offensive options to take a majority of their shot selection from the center range.
Aldridge this season is only second to Al Jefferson in the number of post-up possessions as per NBA.com. Aldridge was responsible for 618 post-up possessions, 41 less than Jefferson but 85 more post-up possessions than the third leading post-up player in Marc Gasol. Aldridge posts up 36.5% of the time as per NBA.com, with 37.3% of his field goal attempts coming in the restricted area or in the paint (non-restricted area) as per NBA Savant.
Aldridge’s post-up ability will not only be beneficial in a team concept, creating double-teams which leads to kick-outs around the perimeter for an open shooter, but also beneficial to Anthony health wise. With Aldridge, Anthony will see more one on one and less double-teams, also Anthony would not need to post up as much, both of which will be less taxing on his body. Anthony flourished in 2012-2013, when the Knicks won 54 games and finally passed the First Round. Anthony made and attempted the most threes in his career this season, making 2.3 three-pointers per game while attempting 6.2 per game. Aldridge’s post-up game would free up Anthony to be in this position to succeed once again.
April 3, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Jeremy Lin (17) shoots against the defense Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) during the first half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
The biggest concern for any big man joining New York is that they must be able to play defense to help compensate for Anthony’s average defense. Aldridge fits this billing, as per NBA.com Diff% which is defined as – The difference between the normal field goal percentage of a shooter through the season and the field goal percentage when the defensive player is guarding the shooter. A good defensive number will be negative because the defensive player is guarding the shooter. A good defensive number will be negative because the defensive player holds their opponent to a lower field goal percentage than normal. Aldridge has a -5.4 diff % shots within six feet of the basket, which is actually better than the third leading vote getter of the 2014-2015 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award (this year the first two leading vote getter were non-traditional big man) in DeAndre Jordan, who has a -2.9 diff% within six feet as per NBA.com.
Where Aldridge outshines Jordan (who received 32 first place votes for NBA Defensive Player of the Year) defensively is when being brought out to the perimeter. When being stretched out beyond six feet Jordan is not as capable as Aldridge, in fact Jordan has a diff% of -1.6 when guarding two-pointers and an -.8 diff% overall defensively. Aldridge on the other hand can guard in space, as evidenced by a -5.7 diff% within ten feet and a -.3 diff% when guarding 15 feet or greater from the rim, whereas Jordan is 1.6 diff% when guarding 15 feet or greater from the rim. Numbers show that Aldridge is more than capable on the defensive end, which was a major concern for New York this season, finishing as the tenth worst defensive team in the league, allowing 101.2 points per game.
It goes without saying that it would be great if the Knicks can steal Aldridge from the Trail Blazers this summer, Aldridge is a great offensive player that Anthony can mesh well with and a capable defensive player to clean up Anthony’s defensive messes. New York can only hope that with every crushing Portland loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in Round One that it makes Aldridge wonder if the grass is greener on the other side of the hill. Hopefully with every uncompetitive loss, it nudges Aldridge’s 50/50 closer to leaving.