Though many signs indicate that LaMarcus Aldridge will leave the Portland Trail Blazers, it’s still far from a sure thing. According Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, the Blazers are still in contention to retain Aldridge, as they can offer him the most money and an extra year.
Everyone wants to count out Portland w/ Aldridge — don't do it yet. Blazers still make a compelling basketball case, still pay most money
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 1, 2015
The Blazers have already signed Al-Farouq Aminu to a long-term contract, and if they re-sign Aldridge, there’s one more piece that they’ll pursue to complete their “Plan A.” As Jason Quick of the Oregonian reports, the Blazers plan to offer both Aldridge and Greg Monroe max contracts.
Blazers Plan A: Sign LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Monroe to max contracts, according to source. They have the resources to pull both off
— Jason Quick (@jwquick) July 1, 2015
The strategy here isn’t exactly clear. Monroe is a talented player, as is Aldridge, obviously. But pairing them together would suffocate the Portland’s pristine spacing (though that’s already in danger of happening with Aminu). Aldridge can play center, but has been loath to do so in the past. Monroe can play the four and the five, but he’s not a good defender, so any configuration of Aldridge and Monroe would lack rim protection.
As for the offense, it’s hard to see two ball-dominant forwards operating well together. One of the reasons Aldridge and Robin Lopez worked so well together is because Lopez never demanded the ball in the post, or really at all. He could focus on put-backs and offensive rebounds while Aldridge would go to work either on the block or at the elbows. With Monroe, Aldridge’s touches would decrease (as would those for Damian Lillard, who didn’t sign a $120 million extension to have the ball taken out of his hands.
Until the injury plague came for them, the Blazers were one of the best teams in the league precisely because of how each player complemented the others. Greg Monroe would be an upgrade in talent, but he wouldn’t necessarily make the Blazers a better team.