San Antonio Spurs: LaMarcus Aldridge Or Paul Millsap?

The San Antonio Spurs are not spending the month of May like they usually do. Rather than grinding towards another appearance in the NBA Finals, they are presumably golfing, hanging out by the pool, or indulging in other leisurely activities to distract themselves from their current situation.

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While the players may be blowing off steam, I assume the front office is hard at work thinking up ways to improve the team next season. With the futures of longtime stars Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili uncertain, and several other players set to become free agents there could be some serious roster turnover in San Antonio

The most common name that gets thrown around in the same breath as the Spurs is Portland Trail Blazers big man LaMarcus Aldridge. Aldridge is set to become a free agent and has not definitively stated that he will re-sign in Portland, making him an intriguing option for the Spurs to fill any void left by Duncan.

Despite playing a large portion of the season with a mangled hand, LaMarcus Aldridge was still typical LaMarcus Aldridge this season. He scored 23.4 points and grabbed 10.2 rebounds per game on 46.6 percent shooting. His PER was at 22.85 and he even attempted to add a three-point shot to his arsenal. On 1.5 attempts per game, he shot 35.2 percent from outside.

That’s a solid number for a guy who traditionally makes his living on mid-range jumpers. If he signed in San Antonio I expect they would increase his three-point attempts to turn those long two-pointer jumpers into much more efficient shots. Aldridge with a potent three-point stroke would be a match-up nightmare for traditional power forwards.

Much like a talented player in Atlanta that has made a name for himself the last two seasons.

Aldridge would be an impressive haul, but would Paul Millsap be a better fit? Millsap has developed into an integral part of the Atlanta Hawks offense during his two seasons there, and is sure to demand some significant interest on the free agent market.

Millsap signed with Atlanta in the summer of 2013 for the bargain price of $19 million over two seasons. Millsap is very similar to Aldridge in that his most dangerous weapon is his jumper, let’s think of him as LaMarcus Aldridge lite with a better three-point shot. Though, that may be selling him short.

This season Millsap averaged 16.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game on 47.6 percent shooting for the 60-22 Hawks. His head coach in Atlanta is former Popovich disciple Mike Budenholzer, so he is very familiar with the ball movement oriented offense that San Antonio has popularized over the years.

During his time in Atlanta, Millsap has added a new feature to his game. During his time in Utah Millsap’s shooting range typically only extended into the mid-range. In Atlanta he has become a reliable three-pointer. Last season he shot 35.8 percent from deep on 2.9 three-point attempts per game.

This season, he upped his attempts per game slightly to three and he still shot 35.6 percent from outside.

Before coming to Atlanta, Millsap had never taken more than 4.5 percent of his shots from three-point range in any full season. This year that number has jumped to a career high 23.2 percent. That is the second highest percentage of shots Millsap takes, with the most being within three feet of the rim at 37.5 percent. He’s like a robot created in Daryl Morey’s analytics lair.

Budenholzer has help develop him into a true stretch 4, making sure that the free agent deal he signs this offseason will not be of the bargain basement variety.

In an era where the mid-range jumper is quickly becoming a relic of the past, would Millsap actually be a better addition to the team than Aldridge? It depends on the price. If the Spurs were able to land Millsap for less than the max deal Aldridge can likely command, then it is almost certainly worth going after Millsap instead.

If they both end up being max players, it gets a bit more difficult to decide.

Rk	Player	Season	G	MP	FG%	3P	3PA	3P%	eFG%	FT%	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	PTS
1	LaMarcus Aldridge	2014-15	71	35.4	.466	0.5	1.5	.352	.479	.845	10.2	1.7	0.7	1.0	23.4
2	Paul Millsap	2014-15	73	32.7	.476	1.1	3.0	.356	.518	.757	7.8	3.1	1.8	0.9	16.7

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/12/2015.

Either player would fit in well with the Spurs organization, what player wouldn’t? The answer to that question is clearly Dion Waiters, but that’s neither here nor there. Convincing a player to join Gregg Popovich and Kawhi Leonard in an attempt to build a new Spurs dynasty is easy in theory, but currently their salary cap situation has more questions than answers.

Like with any free agency period it will come down to the desire of the player and how much money the Spurs have to spend. If Millsap wants to continue building something special in Atlanta and Aldridge elects to remain in Portland the Spurs could be left with a Boris Diaw and Aron Baynes big man tandem.

Now there’s a disaster that even Dwayne Johnson can’t fix by jumping out of a helicopter, or whatever the heck is happening in the new San Andreas movie. However, until the Spurs machine proves to be broken I’ll keep trusting it.

Free agency season may be nerve wracking, but at least it’s never boring.

Next: Should the Spurs Trade Tiago Splitter?

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