San Antonio Spurs: Revisiting foolish preseason predictions at the midway mark

2. LaMarcus Aldridge hoists up 100 3-pointers

Prediction Counter: 1-of-2 (50.0 percent)

Prediction Comparison: a …. LaMarcus Aldridge 3-pointer, maybe?

I hope you can hear this smile through the keyboard. Predicting LaMarcus Aldridge would embrace the deep ball appears to have been right on the mark … after a slow-ish start.

Count me all-in on the legion of Spurs fans who came into this year with nerves in abundance after Aldridge came into his 14th media day as an NBA star and confidently declared this year we’d be seeing the “same old LaMarcus.”

Not because I wasn’t confident in his abilities, but every other factor: The changing of the guard in the NBA (ironically, a guard-aided game), the worry of the Spurs offense all of a sudden becoming a can of sardines, all its particles packed together for a lack of a spaced floor to work in.

The writing was on both the wall, but also the websites around the world, as it relates to the demise of the traditional, smash-mouth low-post big. And as the rest of the basketball scene wrote him off as a mid-range mutineer, a space-absorbing galoot, Aldridge reinvented himself.

So, the first order of business is done. Aldridge has already rocketed past 100 3-pointers (119 for the year); I’ll take my congratulations via check.

But now, take a look at this. Science has brought about cloned sheep and telephones, but they haven’t had much luck creating smooth-shooting big men who also excel at rim protection. This season, Aldridge is shooting 42.9 percent from 3-point range while also averaging 1.7 blocks per game.

Take those numbers through basketball history and add a few basic benchmarks (at least half a season and one 3-point make per game). Aldridge is one of only 14 players ever to hit those marks — a list that includes a ton of the league’s greatest floor stretching forwards and centers (Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce, the Spencer Hawes).

Aldridge is still the mid-range savant, but he’s also reinvented himself and loosed the telescope, figuratively speaking, on what this Spurs offense can do. He’s hit at least one 3-pointer in his last 17 games (on 49.3 percent) and the threat of it has created lanes for everyone else.

He’s also shown a willingness to drop them in above the break, without hesitation. Those pick-and-pop ones are special.

And we may never see Aldridge turn into Durant and develop a hesitation dribble. But a no-hesi off this fake handoff works all the same.

Perhaps the only negative is the Spurs seem to go away from those patient pick-and-roll feeds to Aldridge when they get into a hole.

Some would say maybe it was only a matter of time. Perhaps we could’ve gotten ballsy and suggested Aldridge would become the 10th professional player to join the 50-40-90 club — which isn’t too far off; he’s shooting 51.0 percent from the field, 42.9 percent from 3-point range, and 84.5 percent from the charity stripe with the requisite numbers.

But who would’ve bought that? Predictions walk a fine line between being just crazy enough that you can maybe imagine it happening with a few strings pulled and being just cautious enough that if it doesn’t happen, there’s no buffoonery.

Luckily for us, Aldridge stepped behind that “line” just enough times for us to save face. This time.