LaMarcus Aldridge's Looming Extension Puts Pressure on Portland Trail Blazers
LaMarcus Aldridge may be saying all the right things about his future with the Portland Trail Blazers, but that doesn't guarantee much for a franchise still attempting to find its footing in a perpetually crowded Western Conference.
Put simply, this organization still has something to prove to its centerpiece—even if the public love fest suggests otherwise.
"Me not re-signing [last summer] wasn't a sign I didn't want to be here," Aldridge told reporters at the team's media day. "It didn't make [financial] sense on my end. I'm not trying to hide from it. I just don't want that to be the focus. I want our focus to be to get better, to try to advance further than last year."
That's consistent with what the 29-year-old indicated in July.
He then told The Oregonian's Joe Freeman, "I'm happy to stay, happy to be here, happy with the direction the team has gone the last year or two. This has no impact on my interest in staying in Portland. I just want to get a five-year deal. I feel like that's the best decision on my part."
"It's just financially smarter to wait," he added, "and I'm looking forward to signing the five-year deal when the chance comes."
By waiting until summer 2015, Aldridge assures himself more years and significantly more money. While he runs some risk of suffering catastrophic injury in the meantime, odds are this is the rational way forward.
The eight-year veteran has a favorable injury history, and there's little risk his production takes a nosedive.
He's getting that five-year max deal next summer.
The obvious economics of the situations didn't stop Portland's brass from sending Aldridge a clear message of intent earlier this summer.
In June, Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reported, "Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen and general manager Neil Olshey formally presented the representatives of three-time All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge a maximum contract extension in Los Angeles...league sources told Yahoo Sports."
Though the gesture had little impact from a business perspective, it certainly confirmed the organization's intentions and left a mark on Aldridge in the process.
"Paul's never done that," Aldridge later told Freeman. "I think it showed that they value me being here and they want me to be a part of this organization for as long as I can. They even said: 'For my whole career. A lifetime Blazer.' That meant a lot and it made me feel better about my position in Portland going forward."
Mission accomplished.
"I just thought it was very important that we have a direct discussion with LA," Allen later told media on the first day of training camp. "It went great."
"It was just great to be able to sit down with LA and get a chance to really understand his thinking about the team," Allen added. "He's very excited about the team."
To be sure, the writing has been on the wall for some time—and made all the more explicit in comments Olshey laid out during exit interviews in June.
"The most important thing is everybody, including LaMarcus, knows he's the No. 1 priority in the organization right now," Olshey told media at the time. "When that business needs to be handled and the timing is absolutely right, it's clearly a goal of ours to keep LaMarcus here long term."
"LaMarcus knows that, his agents know that, we're aware of it," Olshey added. "I think the biggest thing is that LaMarcus wants to be here and clearly we want him here. That's the challenging part. The economics take care of themselves."
So that's that, right?
Well, maybe.
Much as optics suggest Aldridge indeed wants to stick around, it wasn't long ago that a far different narrative reared its head.
In June 2013, the Chicago Tribune's K.C. Johnson suggested that, "Multiple reports had Aldridge, whom the Bulls originally drafted and traded in 2006, vying to be traded to a contender unless the Trail Blazers significantly improve this summer. His agency has suggested Aldridge landing with the Bulls, among others, sources said."
That same month, The Oregonian's Jason Quick wrote that he wasn't "the least bit surprised" about the rumors.
"Not that I believe general manager Neil Olshey is looking to move the star power forward," Quick explained. "But I believe Aldridge wants out."
But with the 2013-14 season around the corner and no trade in the rearview mirror, Aldridge sounded like he was ready to go to work.
"I'm here, I'm happy, I'm looking forward to the season," Alridge told reporters at the September 2013 media day. "This team looks really good. We have a better bench. We have [Robin] Lopez, who's a true center. So I think this year should be good for us."
It remains unclear how much substance there was to claims of Aldridge's disaffection. At the very least, it wouldn't have been surprising.
The Trail Blazers had missed the playoffs for two consecutive years going into last season. Prior to that, they'd lost in the opening round of the playoffs three straight times. The franchise seemed caught between half-hearted attempts to build a winner and a de facto rebuilding process.
You could forgive Aldridge for having doubts.
And perhaps a 54-win season replete with an appearance in the conference semifinals can change all that. Every utterance to come from Aldridge and the organization alike suggests as much.
Unfortunately, it's entirely possible—and understandable—that we're dealing with a case of fair-weather loyalty. If Portland takes any kind of significant step back, Aldridge may suddenly be inclined to hear out other suitors.
That step back may seem unlikely, but there are too many good teams in the West for well-founded confidence to be conflated with certainty. Yes, emerging stars like Damian Lillard—and to a lesser degree, Nic Batum—are on pace to make this team even more formidable than the one that was swept in that second round by the San Antonio Spurs.
Adding Chris Kaman to the interior rotation could very well materialize as one of this summer's savvier moves.
And there's plenty to like about unsung heroes like Wes Matthews and Robin Lopez.
This is a good team.
But it's also a team that finds itself at a critical juncture, a team that remains largely unproven when one considers its ability to compete with the league's most elite contenders.
While Portland may indeed evolve into precisely such a contender, it could also go the way of the Memphis Grizzlies—a fine team that never quite shed its dark-horse label and now finds itself struggling to remain part of the postseason discussion.
Maybe young pieces like Thomas Robinson and C.J. McCollum. Maybe the rotation will miss Mo Williams' veteran presence off the bench. Things could do wrong.
The good news, however, is an awful lot of things could also go right.
Keeping LaMarcus Aldridge in town will require that they do.
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