An anonymous NBA scout gives Sports Illustrated his take on the 2012-13 Trail Blazers:
Where are they going? For a young team that everybody liked not so long ago, this has been an amazing drop. If I'm LaMarcus Aldridge, I'm thinking I got a bum deal. He was thinking he would have Brandon Roy and Greg Oden around him and now they're both gone.
If you're trying to win a championship, then I think you can get there with Aldridge as your No. 2 or No. 3 player. Put it this way: I'd take him over Chris Bosh. Aldridge has improved a lot. He keeps getting better and better, and he has improved his consistency. He's fine in the post, but what he does best is shoot the crap out of it. If he has a size advantage, he turns around and shoots it over people. His shot is what makes him special.
Aldridge is not a great rebounder and he doesn't block shots, but he's tougher than I thought he was. I thought he was going to be soft coming into the league and he's proved me wrong. There are certain guys you can be physical against -- you hit them one time, and they're done. That's not the case with Aldridge. He's put on some good bulk. He's not going to beat you up, but he won't let you beat him up, either.
I won't say his post game is a strength, but he's better than most big men down there. His passing out of the post doesn't stand out as a strength, either. I don't view him as the kind of star who is going to elevate his team. He'll win you some games because he's so good, and he'll even dominate some games, but on a night-in-and-out basis, you'd have a lot better chance if he's your second or third option.
