Former Trail Blazer star LaMarcus Aldridge turns 35-years-old today. While the back half of his career is yet to be decided, here’s why his Hall of Fame candidacy should be.
The right-shoulder turnarounds that have made him the most prolific midrange savant of his era have been a joy to watch. As has the consistent, almost silent dominance that’s made him the No. 5-ranked pure scorer in the NBA over the last 13 seasons. But perhaps what’s been the most entertaining development in the career of LaMarcus Aldridge has come in how he’s produced at an all-time great level with nary the discussion to follow.
Today, the former Portland Trail Blazers star turns 35-years-old. And while there almost certainly won’t be a Kobe Bryant-esque retirement tour or even the hubbub of a jersey swap — as Draymond Green would say, “They don’t love you like that” — there does deserve to be some sort of commentary on the legacy he’s built.
If his career were a bingo game at a senior citizen’s hall, Aldridge would have enough chips to fill out his board and then some. Take this for instance:
The list of Hall of Fame-eligible players to make at least seven All-Star appearances and not be inducted in Springfield?
The list stops at one player: Larry Foust, an eight-time All-Star. That was in 1959.
That in itself is inspiring; in NBA history, only 81 different players have amassed that plateau of seven All-Star games. But what about what that means on a larger scale?
To have done so, a player needs to have a remarkable, year-to-year consistency. We’ve addressed the topic before, but during this past season, LaMarcus Aldridge joined LeBron James as the only players to score 1,000 points in each of the last 13 seasons.
And as it stands today, Aldridge ranks No. 53 on the all-time scoring list (19,599) and No. 72 on the all-time rebounding list (8,360).
You don’t need a map to know where this is going: over the next few seasons, the silky-smooth shooting big will be poised to join an exclusive, 18-player fraternity of all-time greats in the 20,000-point, 10,000-rebound club. And each of them (sans Pau Gasol) have been enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
But, maybe Blake Griffin’s SportsCenter alley-oops and Kevin Love’s gaudy Minnesota numbers caught your attention a bit more.
Players with résumés of this caliber don’t grow on trees. If the Basketball Hall of Fame wants to send a message that production without theatrics and full-scale excitement means anything, they won’t beleaguer Aldridge’s Hall of Fame candidacy when he retires.
Classifying Aldridge alongside other similar Hall of Fame-type forwards was of interest. There’s something of a “checklist” of questions that we often associate with all-time greats. Did he change the game in some way, be it on-court or culturally? Was he among the best at his position for a sustained run of time? Does he do enough on the remembrance scale?
Aldridge ensconced his Hall of Fame-level body of work a bit differently than most. He didn’t advance the game as a do-it-all, passing big like Chris Webber, or even one that connects with many on a visceral level the way Kevin Garnett did.
But becoming the most prolific midrange scorer of his generation is pretty damn good, is it not?
History and society loves the anti-conformist. And as the game drifted further and further beyond Aldridge’s patented long-two point focus, he did what so few bigs were willing to do, and remained true to what worked. And still tacked on accolade after accolade. Consider the NBA’s most productive midrange scorers since 2009-10:
No. 1 — LaMarcus Aldridge (2,843 FGM)
No. 2 — Dirk Nowitzki (2,545 FGM)
No. 3 — DeMar DeRozan (2,305 FGM)
No. 4 — Carmelo Anthony (2,276 FGM)
No. 5 — Kevin Durant (2,022 FGM)
Other Notables:
Chris Paul (1,797), Russell Westbrook (1,733), Kobe Bryant (1,295), CJ McCollum (966), and Kawhi Leonard (963).
We’ve discussed how Aldridge’s turnaround fadeaway is an all-time great move before, and on how successfully it translates to the Playoffs. And season-after-season, he’s churned out elite percentile finishes as a post-up player, with league-high frequency to boot.
The one caveat is that LaMarcus Aldridge likely falls a bit short in the memorabilia aspect for less hardcore fans. The breakout that made him a perennial All-Star was overshadowed by the loss of Brandon Roy. And the greatest Playoff run of his career — 26.2 points, 10.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game on 45-67-80 percentage marks in 2014 — became more of a footnote with Damian Lillard’s series-winning shot.
But since becoming a starter in 2007-08, here’s how the 5-time All-NBA selection has performed compared to his peers:
— No. 6 in the NBA in win shares
— No. 3 in games played
— No. 5 in points
— No. 4 in rebounds
— No. 9 in blocks
— No. 22 in net rating (min. 10,000 minutes played)
That’s 13 years of play. That’s an entire childhood. In my eyes, that’s also a Hall of Famer.
If we’re poking holes, he’s yet to have appeared or even played in an NBA Finals. But that doesn’t diminish what he has done in the postseason. He ranks No. 40 in Playoff minutes since entering the NBA (2,668), higher than surefire Hall of Famers like Kyrie Irving (2,228) and Carmelo Anthony (2,047), and prospective ones such as Kevin Love (1,958) and Blake Griffin (1,870).
And when he has played, he’s made the most of it, as one of just 19 players to average at least 20 points and 8 rebounds in at least 50 Playoff games.
In his time in the NBA, Aldridge has been a model of consistency. And whether or not the chatter of him wanting to return to Oregon to finish his career comes into fruition, there’s reason to believe the Portland Trail Blazers have another Hall of Famer on their Mount Rushmore.
And that’s a hill I’m willing to die on.