Huge guy. I prefer him over Greg Smith. Someone that can play limited minutes at Center without being a huge defensive liability.
The scouting report for Aldrich at Draft Express: http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Cole-Aldrich-1250/
Cole's defensive instincts are terrible. He gets abused and can't defend without fouling. You'd think he would have learned a little from watching Perk. Just because he's a total zero on offense doesn't mean he's good on the other end. The guy has been a total disappointment. Presti is a great GM but he struck out on this one.
Have you watched him play and looked at his statistics or are you just making assumptions because he's been stuck in the D-League instead of getting PT on a stacked team which was arguably best in the West? This guy can play defense, and he can help us. He's not a player who is going to wow you, but I think he can earn rotation minutes as an NBA player.
I prefer Smith. He was very impressive against Baby Davis, who weighs in at 290, and he can post up! Any player who can post up down low is a worth keeping at this moment.
I follow OKC probably closer than everyone on this forum. I've seen the vast majority of his minutes on the floor during real games, summer league and pre-season. So I'll ask you the same exact question about having actually watched him play. I don't know his stats because they are irrelevant for victory cigars like Cole.
Wasn't Aldrich pretty much a total bust for OKC? Eleventh overall pick in the draft, but has played in only 44 regular season games in the NBA, mostly garbage time. I'm not going to assume the Aldrich is any better than Greg Smith just because he was a lottery pick. Smith has shown that he has some ability playing in the paint, so I wouldn't count Smith out at this point. Aldrich does win on size, and that may be enough for him to win the backup center position. However, the fact that OKC decided to bring in Thabeet should tell us a lot about how OKC viewed Aldrich.
i'm torn on aldrich being a complete scrub or not now. on one hand, OremLK is a legit and insightful poster here. and on the other, A_3PO is imo one of our most reliable player evalulators here on the board. i almost can't wait to see aldrich play and assess his scrub level firsthand in order to determine which poster was right
Not saying Aldrich hasn't been a disappointment, but Thabeet was brought in as a third-stringer behind Aldrich. Just a random bench signing to fill out the roster and offer an extra six fouls. It doesn't tell us much of anything.
From Thunder beat writer. http://www.welcometoloudcity.com/2012/10/28/3565314/breaking-down-the-james-harden-trade
perhaps a Joel Pyrzbilla type? Not bad for a back up, another big body. Hopefully he can show more than what Greg Smith has shown. He will come in handy when Asik gets into foul trouble. We can easily play Aldrich and then continue with our usual rotation which might include having Donatas/Jones as the 5 and 4
I didn't get to watch a lot of the pre season games,but what in the world has people so high on Smith all of a sudden ? looking at his stats,no blocks,poor rebounding ... and I'm guessing he was probably playing against scrubs ? I just don't see Smith as the answer for our backup center.Aldrich doesn't look so bad in his projections,would really like to give this guy an opportunity and see if he can shine in a backup role.One thing I like is his 80% FT.Could help even out Asiks poor % in certain game situations ..Smith I think shoots below 60%
You can't teach height. That pretty much sums up Aldrich's value. We now have 3 legit 7 footers on our roster. I love Chuck Hayes but eventually in a game of basketball you have to have some tall guys. You think Will Perdue stuck around in the NBA because he was talented?
