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

LaMarcus Aldridge represents a turning point in the game of basketball, alongside big men like Tim Duncan, and arguably, Dirk.

At his peak, Aldridge was one of the single most devastating bigs to ever play the game of basketball. He made moves and shots and angled his body in ways that most players his size (6-foot-11, 250 pounds, not fit but certainly not unfit) can hardly fathom. His release — somehow simultaneously choppy like waves crashing on a beach and smooth like the water cascading back off of the shore — was deadlier than that of most guards, even those designated as “shooters.” His having the ball on the low post was the stuff of nightmares. Two points were inevitable; more if he could get you up in the air before he released, or extend you out to the arc.

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He represented a turning point in the game, one where, before Tim Duncan, no big could really thrive as a solo creator and shooter. Aspects of the games of Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns, and dozens of others don’t survive on the NBA level — nor make it there — without watching Aldridge and players like him, and subsequently tailor their shot-making abilities to reflect the new normal. The words “revelation” and “revolution” are certainly thrown around far too often when it comes to describing athletic talents, but a revelation Aldridge was; a revolution, he most certainly helped start.

“I don’t want this to come off like I’m whining,” Aldridge told Michael Pina for his Vice profile, “but if someone else had done the things that I’ve done, it would be talked about more.” Aldridge goes on to note that since he didn’t appear for the media all that often – Aldridge is a self-described introvert, lending more context to the unassuming imposition of his game – it gets overlooked. “I’m not out there on red carpets and things like that.”

He wasn’t because he never needed to be. While Lillard rightly suggested yesterday that LaMarcus Aldridge’s number should be retired in Portland, I don’t imagine it’s something that Aldridge would openly push for. Perhaps he cares, but it was always about more than that. He did his job, drained his shots, and exploded when teammates made theirs. He was the first to begin sprinting toward Lillard after his Rocket-killing triple fell in 2014, but unlike his teammates, he never turned his attention toward the crowd. He never insisted that the Moda Center was his house, or stretched his jersey toward those in the front row to remind them that they were in Portland. He celebrated, but not manically or with an abundance of hysterics.

He cheered, hugged, and retired from the insanity toward the safety of the locker room. He had another series looming, after all, another opportunity to dominate like the quiet giant he was.