San Antonio Spurs: What can past greats in the Summer League teach us about the future?
Aldridge: A small taste of potential
Hardcore fans know about it and casual fans have heard about it: with nearly a decade-and-a-half under his belt, LaMarcus Aldridge has long established himself as one of the absolute elite power forwards in basketball.
Basing what we’ve come to see from Aldridge now to what we saw in the 2006 Summer League would’ve been a difficult correlation to connect. Aldridge was solid, yet unspectacular from a box score standpoint.
By tournament’s end, his numbers stood as follows: 11.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.8 blocks (ranked second among all players) on 47.9 percent shooting.
All told, Aldridge has carved out the type of career that likely puts him at the very top of the 2006 NBA Draft. In fact, the six-time All-Star leads the class in games played, points, rebounds and win shares, per Basketball Reference.
Still, it took Aldridge a bit to find his footing. That summer, NBA.com ran a list, ranking the top rookies during a Summer League special, and the former Longhorn just narrowly cracked the top-10.
Aldridge’s example resonates closest with fans who look at the box scores of 2019 draftees Luka Samanic and Keldon Johnson, and hold skepticism on how their games will transform at the next level.
Samanic, for example, scored 31 points across a 3-game sample size, but needed 26 field goal attempts to do it (34.6 percent as a whole). Johnson — after wowing in the Salt Lake City Summer League — struggled to produce as effectively from there on out.
Fans can look at Aldridge’s performance and apply it to the 2019 draftees. There were enough positives to build on. The Spurs have long considered the Summer League as a “testing ground” for their prospects.
Duncan was given a list of demands on what to do and practice on during the exhibitions, and Parker made similar remarks, centered around improving his shooting.
Like Aldridge, whose last game in the 2006 tournament was called by far his best. In his final game against Phoenix, Aldridge had 19 points, nine rebounds, and four blocks.
Samanic and Johnson made strong impressions in their final games. Samanic, in particular, had a double-double and a +18 plus-minus in just 22 minutes of action, also against the Suns.
As for the rest of Aldridge’s run in his first year, he rebounded from a torn shoulder ligament to make the All-Rookie second team, before turning the corner in year two.