Hoops Habit
Fansided

LaMarcus Aldridge retires as one of the best offensive bigs in modern NBA history

By Will Bjarnar

HOUSTON, TX - APRIL 23: LaMarcus Aldridge #12 of the Portland Trail Blazers celebrates a play on the court in the second half of the game against the Houston Rockets in Game Two of the Western Conference Quarterfinals during the 2014 NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center on April 23, 2014 in Houston, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TX - APRIL 23: LaMarcus Aldridge #12 of the Portland Trail Blazers celebrates a play on the court in the second half of the game against the Houston Rockets in Game Two of the Western Conference Quarterfinals during the 2014 NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center on April 23, 2014 in Houston, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images) /
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New York Knicks
LaMarcus Aldridge Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images /

LaMarcus Aldridge’s resume may be missing the coveted championship ring, but there’s more to the game than that.

That his teams were never good enough to shatter their ceilings is a shame, because Aldridge most definitely always was. To note the specific numbers, he finishes his career with 19,951 points, 8,478 rebounds, 2,034 assists, and 1,140 blocks, a feat only 12 other players in NBA history have ever eclipsed. A quick run-through of the best big men of all time is all you need to do to make up that list; Aldridge belongs.

Even more of a shame is how his playing journey ends, given the conversations around it and the criticisms of the buyout market, particularly as they relate to Aldridge finally getting his chance at title contention. He gave $7.25 million back to San Antonio in an effort to facilitate his buyout – from a team that no longer had a use for him, and with which he’d never had the proper chance to contend for the ring missing from his finger – and joined Brooklyn on the veteran’s minimum.

When he did, the punditry – both the more esteemed and the more online – released the hounds and lamented the super team strategy he and the Nets were buying into. It didn’t help that Blake Griffin hopped on the bandwagon, too. If you look at a lineup of five (once-upon-a-time) All-Stars without context, you are undoubtedly staring at yet another reincarnation of the “Who’s stopping them?” meme.

But teams don’t sign current studs to a one-year deal on the veteran minimum; better yet, studs don’t enter those situations via the buyout market. Aldridge’s decision, at the tail end of his career and on the relative decline in terms of where he once was as a league-ordained force, was indeed made for him to, at the very least, contend for a title. Is that not his right? Furthermore, is this all that far off from Derek Fisher joining the Thunder in 2012, or Joe Johnson hopping on the Heatles tour bus in 2016?

Again: how quickly we forget.