If you do not see Cole Aldrich is one of the best backup rim-defending, paint protecting, rebounding centers in the Association then you've simply not done your homework. If you think Aldrich is trash then not only have you not done your homework but you're ignorant about basketball altogether. If Aldrich stays healthy he's going to be a huge difference maker for the Clips and will see a lot of quality crunch time minutes because of his ability to knock down free throws while locking down the paint defensively. His offensive efficiency is going to spike upwards and his defense and rebounding are going to be on national display. Aldrich has been flying under the radar for the last year and a half. Mark my words, if healthy be will shine this upcoming season.
Why didn't the Rockets hand on to this defensive master-mind when they had him? Also... he's been on 4 teams in 5 years. Why does nobody want this beast?
And DMO couldn't even get off the bench VS Portland, and was hurt last yr. So at least jones has a playoff record
Very simply, he was not playing at the level he is now when he was with the Rockets. I already said he made a major move in his development about halfway through the 2013-14 season. It continued last season. He's not the same player he was. Why didn't the Rockets sign Hassan Whiteside when they had the chance? We coulda locked him up for 2 seasons like Miami did. And I was screaming for Morey to do it. I watch players. I know what I'm looking at. I can tell when guys are ready to go, when they're making progress in their developmental curves, and when they're lingering undeveloped. I'm not going to apologize for that. Aldrich's game has went to a higher level a year and a half ago. I saw it very clearly. Look..........there's a reason the Clippers signed him. Unless you think Doc is stupid.
Actually, I do have some comparison metrics that I've dug for and put together in spread sheet form. But I'm not about to share it with you. Because it took me a lot of time to dig out the formulas that help me verify what I already know I'm seeing on-court. I have watched well over 30,000 NBA games in my life. And I've studied players for over 35 years now. I know somewhat about what I speak. I can see things on-court. I can see things happening in players' games, see how they're playing, how they're hustling, how they're going through defensive progressions, how they're moving, how they're contesting. I can see what's happening out there on the court in detail. Cole Aldrich for the last 2 years has played for one of the worst if not the worst franchises in the league. He has played with crappy defensive players all around him, just letting guys go at the rim, go straight at him, having to take on multiple offensive players on the low blocks, etc. And he's been the single best defensive player the Knicks have had over the last 2 seasons. To verify that just go examine the Knicks DBPM for every player over the last 2 seasons. (I'm giving you the least amount of info possible. Shouldn't even tell you that because you don't do your own due diligence.) If you had been watching the Knicks game over the last season and a half you'd know that when Aldrich came in the games that the Knicks defense stiffened substantially. And you'd know there was a reason why he got taken off the court so frequently last season. That was by design. They couldn't leave Aldrich in there and stay at the top of the lottery. He was too good and too much of a difference maker defensively. He put them in the precarious position of winning the game if they left him in there too many minutes. They had to curtail his minutes to keep their Ping-Pong ball count high. I know what I'm talking about. If Aldrich stays healthy, he's going to make the Clippers 2nd unit defense a pain in the ... to deal with. And he'll be getting minutes at crunch time for them because of his defense combined with his ability to knock down free-throws, something DeAndre CANNOT do for them. You'll be seeing Aldrich and Blake closing out some tight games for them at the big man spots. The Clippers are much improved over the 2014-15 Clippers because of the additions of Aldrich and Smith defensively.
So he's played on the worst teams in the league and hes really good yet he's averaged 10.3 minutes per game. Doesn't add up. You can keep talking about how much you know but if you can't present a compelling case then it doesn't matter.
