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LaMarcus Aldridge expects Blazers fans to boo him
Posted On Jul 22 2015
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I had been in Portland for nine years.
LaMarcus Aldridge stated that whereas Gregg Popovich will attempt to handle his minutes in San Antonio, he’ll nonetheless see an analogous workload to what he noticed in Portland.
“The Blazers did a pretty nifty job of redirecting their priorities in the wake of LaMarcus Aldridge’s departure, not to mention the exits of Nicolas Batum, Wesley Matthews and Robin Lopez. Vonleh could turn out to be better than Aldridge someday, while McCollum, Leonard and Allen Crabbe should all benefit from expanded responsibilities”. That leaves plenty of time for Olshey to continue to bring more up-and-coming talent to Portland.
The Spurs persuaded Aldridge to depart Portland in free agency this summer, which immediately put the franchise back into title contention coming off of a first-round playoff elimination. During an appearance on The Russillo Show on ESPN Radio earlier this week, Aldridge said he wasn’t interested in what the Knicks had in mind for him. Me leaving had nothing to do with any of that.
“I think that city embraced me, and I embraced them”.
It’s understandable for Aldridge to want to play more of a finesse style than one with a physical, interior-oriented approach.
“We have no issue with each other, no animosity”, Aldridge insisted. I thought we played well off of each other. We went from a team that was called the “Jail Blazers” to actually being a team that everybody loved, a team that everybody wanted to cheer for. All of that stuff was just rumors I’ve dealt with before. We had a great transition period together I think both parties enjoyed. His decision was based on being close to home, his family and needing a change of scenery. I had been through a couple of rebuilds.
In his nine seasons in Portland, Aldridge averaged 19.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. It was just time to try something new. “I think my first time back I probably will be booed”. “It wasn’t anything toward Damian or the organisation”.
