Player Watch: LaMarcus Aldridge

Earlier this NBA season SportsRoids talked about the success of LaMarcus Aldridge of the Portland Trail Blazers and how he looked to be growing into a potential all-star player. Now we want to revisit that topic to state we stand by our previous testimony.

Aldridge’s points average per game is at a career high 18.1 and his rebounds are at 7.4 which is only .2 less than last year. And what’s funny to say is that for a six foot eleven inch tall guy he has started to polish up his inside game.

In the first stages of his playing time he has been more of a jump shooter on the offensive end. But now he is combing that with more lay-ups, big dunks, and some short hooks.

Now look out, because Greg Oden seemed to have hit his offensive stride against the Philadelphia 76ers Monday night. Just keep imagining the potential that these two have as a big man tandem and it just may culminate in this year’s playoffs.

NHL All-Star Game Insignificant

Both NHL All-Star teams have been announced but you know what, who cares? The naming of the guys on the team is fun but it’s something that should be saved for the end of the season because it should be something to honor players for a full-season’s worth of work not half. They say the game is for the fans and it really should be but for the most parts fans could not care less! The game used to be fun, in the age before the internet, expansive cable/satellite TV, NHL Network, and NHL Center Ice packages the game meant something. It used to be a chance for those not in a particular sports market to see the league’s best perform on a big stage. If you lived more than 150 miles away from the Canadian border there were some players and even some teams you may see only once or twice a year when they played against your team if you saw them at all. That also held true for the different regions of the U.S. not seeing players/teams from other regions or even before the U.S. had a worthwhile national broadcast of the Stanley Cup Finals. Now things have changed a ton and anytime any fan would like to see a superstar perform from anywhere around the league/North America the outlets named above give fans that opportunity. The skills competition is enjoyable because it’s different and players do activities they would not normally do but is that enough to keep the weekend going? In closing, the game is not what it used to be, name an All-Star team at season’s end and do nothing more with it.