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Are The Los Angeles Lakers A Landing Spot For LaMarcus Aldridge?

By Jackson Sanders

Apr 15, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) warms up prior to the game against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 15, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) warms up prior to the game against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 25, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) shoots over Memphis Grizzlies in game three of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at Moda Center at the Rose Quarter. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 25, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) shoots over Memphis Grizzlies in game three of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at Moda Center at the Rose Quarter. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports /

The Good: LaMarcus Aldridge Can Perform In The Lakers’ Brutal Offense

Look, we know the Los Angeles Lakers were not a good basketball team in 2014-15. One glance down the roster, and it’s clear that talent was a commodity unavailable for head coach Byron Scott last season. Still, there are some statistics that show that not only was this team bad, but they made questionable decisions in the way they went about their offensive attack.

  • The Lakers led the league in mid-range field goal attempts with 29.2 attempts per game.
  • The Lakers were the third-worst team in converting from that range, with a field goal percentage of 36.8 percent.
  • The Lakers shot 36.5 percent from the paint (all areas in the paint, but outside of the restricted area), “good” for 26th in the NBA.

So really, this team decided to frequently attempt shots they were no good at, and struggled to convert in the paint a great deal. That’s not an inspiring identity if you want to contend for the playoffs, but adding LaMarcus Aldridge could certainly help the team; even if they want to continue with the strategy they used last year.

It all starts with giving the Lakers a player who is a reliable scorer from multiple areas of the floor, and a guy who has done so when given a great volume of shots.

Here is a look at the shot chart of the Lakers’ leading scorer, Jordan Hill (no, this is not a typo, Jordan Hill led an NBA team in scoring).

JordanHillChart
JordanHillChart /

Compare that to the shot chart of LaMarcus Aldridge.

Shotchart_1430929707465
Shotchart_1430929707465 /

Though Jordan Hill has his hot spots, LaMarcus Aldridge is a much tougher cover due to his ability to be consistent from anywhere inside the three-point arc. He hits at a decent rate from the mid-range point on the court (bonus: he takes the most mid-range shots per game at 11.1), and can step into the paint and do damage that Hill simply couldn’t last season.

While nobody is going to argue that Hill is superior to the All-Star Aldridge in any facet of the game, it’s still worth noting just how big of an improvement Aldridge would be simply by looking at the volume of shots he converted at a 40 percent rate or higher.

When Aldridge gets the ball inside the three-point line, he’s a threat to score from almost every angle, and he’s proven it with a big-time workload for the Trail Blazers.

So, if the Lakers are going to continue to shoot mid-range jump shots, something that they chose to do a lot despite their poor success rate, LaMarcus Aldridge seems like a pretty good fit at surface level. He’s comfortable with taking shots from midrange, he converts them at a decent clip, and he can do it from pretty much any position on the floor.

Next: The 'Chris Bosh Effect'

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