San Antonio Spurs: The Blessing of LaMarcus Aldridge
By Shane Young
Spot-up Offense
With the NBA’s new regime of fostering a “stretch four” into offenses, you’re seeing more power forwards step away from the basket. These special power forwards that have a forte for knocking down shots from 16-23 feet are transitioning from the “aggressive” style of play we were used to in the 1990’s.
Instead, they’re not demanding the ball from the point guard in half-court sets. Each year, you see more and more power forwards just hanging back — often on the weak side, when the point guard runs action through the strong side — and waiting for a pass in “spot-up” situations. It can either come off quick pick-and-pops, or just by spacing the floor and diverting the attention away from you on the weak side.
As Aldridge’s game matured since 2006, sure he’s developed more confidence and capability with his isolation game. But, at the same time, he’s found it easier to spot-up and let the game come to him. Having a score-first point guard in Damian Lillard has helped with Aldridge’s spacing, since there are times where Lillard requires double teams and pulls certain defenders away from his teammates.
There’s a reason Portland finished the 2013-14 season by scoring 111.5 points per 100 possessions (2nd overall) and were on pace to finish the 2014-15 year in the top five as well, before Wesley Matthews tore his Achilles. It was because they had so many options in the offense, and had a power forward that could make you pay from anywhere:
While Aldridge is one of those players that makes it feel like he’s a better shooter when defenders are draped all over him, or when he’s fading away, he’s very reliable in open spot-up scenarios. His effective field goal percentage on “wide open” shots went from 48.3% in 2013-14, to 56.4% in 2014-15. A strong reason for the increase was the higher amount of 3-pointers Aldridge took last season.
Effective field goal percentage is different from regular field goal percentage due to the 3-pointer being heavily valued in the “effective” method. In the regular method, 3’s hold the same weight as two-pointers. Therefore, with Aldridge increasing his 3-point usage by 90 attempts last season (and making 35.2% of them!), he was boosted in effective field goal percentage.
As terrific as Aldridge is with just a little bit of space, guys still find ways to leave him open:
Above, you see Marreese Speights sliding over to cut off Steve Blake‘s drive on the left baseline. As a result, he leaves Aldridge with the intention to recover on him in just a few seconds. The only problem is, Speights must be dreaming if he thinks he’s quick enough to give a solid close-out on Aldridge:
In spot-up points produced per game, Aldridge was practically tied with Kevin Love last season. Love has garnered a stronger reputation for being a “spot-up shooter” than Aldridge has through the years, mainly because Love has attempted 897 3-pointers over his last 152 games.
Aldridge wasn’t as productive as Love in spot-ups last season, but it certainly says something about Aldridge’s growth as a player that he’s in the conversation:
* Rankings (in bold) are where each player ranks in terms of the power forward position only. It’s under a minimum of 200 spot-up possessions.
** rFG indicates a player’s regular field goal percentage, without adding more value to 3-pointers.
In terms of effective field goal percentage among these eight power forwards, Aldridge has the second-lowest (above only Ryan Anderson). That’s expected, since last year was truly Aldridge’s first gutsy season from the 3-point arc. He had never taken more than 28 outside shots in one season for his career, until he was encouraged to last year. For his first year at really taking 3’s, it was outstanding. You have to give him more time before you can deem him a “good” or “bad” 3-point shooter, but placing him under Gregg Popovich is likely going to make the results positive.
On the other hand, take a glance at his regular field goal percentage. He shot 46% from the field in all spot-up situations, which was higher than all power forwards listed above. Kevin Love only shot 39.9% in terms of the standard percentage, which indicates that he struggled in mid-range and close-range situations compared to his deadly 3-point shot.
Aldridge’s spot-up frequency was at a rate of 18.6% last season, significantly lower than Serge Ibaka‘s 24.5% and Love’s 24.3%. However, he’s packing his bags and heading to a team that can intensify his game in this area.
The Spurs may just be the most threatening spot-up team in the league.
Only one team had a higher spot-up frequency last season than the Spurs, and that happened to be the pitiful Philadelphia 76ers (who were just jacking up nonsense). San Antonio actually made their offensive sets count for something:
The Spurs’ 2,089 spot-up points made up 24.7% of their total points from last season, a proportion higher than Atlanta (23.7%), Dallas (22.6%), and Houston (21.7%). When you hear everyone compare the Hawks’ style to the Spurs, there’s a reason it holds validity.
San Antonio had six rotation players last season with at least a 1.0 rating in spot-up points per possession. No other team even came close to matching that. Those players were Marco Belinelli, Danny Green, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard, and Tim Duncan. They were also the only team with four players above 200 total spot-up possessions — meaning, they spread the wealth along the perimeter … a lot.
With small lineups on the floor, Aldridge can be deadly from anywhere. And, in some cases, it causes the defense to forget about him. When you have a lot of slashers and penetrators on the court, it’s hard to stick close to a big man that steps out to the perimeter:
Imagine the scenario above, except with Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard working off each other on the strong side. Even as old as Parker is getting, he still warrants a quick defender and sometimes a little “help” defense. When Leonard comes to get the ball, he’s already proving to be a human wrecking ball when he gets inside. Thus, Aldridge can stay on the weak side, with all eyes & attention facing the Spurs’ ball handlers.
The Spurs may have lost a valuable shooter in Belinelli this offseason, but the benefits of adding two power forwards (Aldridge and David West) that can both spot-up toward the outside will make life even easier.
Next: Aldridge as The Roll-Man