Portland Trail Blazers: LaMarcus Aldridge Ready to Lead

This past week was a hectic week for the Portland Trail Blazers; their All-Star power forward gets vocal lessons, they had some injuries (what’s new?!) and the preseason wins kept rolling in. Let’s take a look back at the week in review.

LaMarcus Aldridge Gets Vocal

Aldridge has never been one to talk much when it came to his leadership style; he has always been one to lead by example and let his play do the talking. However, LA is seeing the added talent to this year’s roster and knows now that his voice holds some weight. Here’s what he had to say after a win against the Utah Jazz:

"“I can see that when I talk, guys listen. I feel like I go out and play hard every day and I’m going to practice every day, I’m going to block shots. I think because I do it, they listen. If I was one of those guys that just talked about it and didn’t do it, I don’t think it would carry as much weight.”"

You might think, “This is pretty standard for stars in the NBA to do this …” and you would be correct; however, this hasn’t been the standard for this NBA star and now it is, and it should yield positive dividends immediately. By the way LA is still letting his play do the talking as he is putting up 15.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and blocking 1.8 shots in the preseason while only getting 22.3 minutes per game!

Injury Scares Are the Norm

Hopefully Wes is able to return from this recent heart ailment. (NBA.com photo)

The Blazers have yet to play a preseason game with all five starters on the court — wait — what?! You read correctly. I am not a superstitious guy, but man it’s gettin’ hard NOT to believe that this team has some kind of injury curse following them. It has been one scare after another and while some were minor, there have been a couple worrisome ones. Most recently, Wesley Matthews had to leave practice Wednesday with an irregular heartbeat. Remember two years ago when Jeff Green had this issue? What happened? Oh, that’s right — he missed the entire season! Thankfully it was already announced Friday that Wes has been cleared by doctors to practice and he will be ready for opening night. Here is a laundry list of the injuries the Blazers have encountered so far:

Will Barton and Nicolas Batum (concussions), Mo Williams (sprained ankle), Dorell Wright (dislocated finger), LaMarcus Aldridge (sore knees — MRI negative) and Wes Matthews (irregular heartbeat).

Preseason Success

People will watch preseason and say winning doesn’t matter and for the most part that is a true statement. Ultimately staying healthy, gaining chemistry and finding a rotation are usually the things that are keyed upon. However, for a team like this that needs some early season momentum, wins are at a premium. The Blazers need good vibes (thanks Marky Mark) heading into this season and coach Terry Stotts has got to be thrilled with what he’s seen so far.

The new and improved defense is holding opponents to 90.6 points per game (would have put them second overall last season), 38.4 percent shooting from the floor and they are outrebounding opponents by more than 10 rebounds a game — all while going 5-2 and finishing with five straight wins to close out the preseason. Tell me these things don’t matter and I’ll be inclined to hand you a Snickers and say, “You’re not yourself when you’re hungry.” Changing cultures of a franchise is one of the toughest things to do, so these small victories carry a lot of weight with players by showing them that the hard work pays off.

News and Notes

Joel Freeland has improved so much that Stotts named him backup center.(NBA.com photo)

All three training camp invitees — Dee Bost, E.J. Singler and Richard Howell — were waived on Tuesday; you can expect to see them playing for the Blazers D-League affiliate, the Idaho Stampede, this season. The move didn’t shock anyone, as none of the three were expected to make the regular season roster.

Terry Stotts announced Thursday night after the win over the Golden State Warriors — 90-74 — that Joel Freeland has beaten out young big man Meyers Leonard as the backup center to Robin Lopez. Freeland has been receiving praise for his hustle and defense all camp long and Stotts said he earned that promotion to backup.

Damian Lillard is still quite amazing, posting 20.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists in his seven preseason games. Lillard’s personal goal this season is to be an All-Star — not sure I see that happening but he will certainly make it tough not to select him.

OPENING NIGHT: Wednesday, Oct. 30, at the Phoenix Suns!!

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