While awaiting Oden, Blazers developing big-man star

Big man LaMarcus Aldridge (left) has drawn comparisons to former Blazer and current Piston Rasheed Wallace, especially because of his versatile offensive game. Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images

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• Debate about Zo's HOF prospects
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• An Achilles' heel for the Celtics

5 Reasons LaMarcus Aldridge will be an All-Star by 2010

5. He's the second coming of Rasheed Wallace. Though the 6-foot-11 Aldridge is averaging a prodigious 17.9 points and 7.5 rebounds as a 22-year-old NBA sophomore with Portland, his future became sharply focused when he was matched up against former Trail Blazer Wallace in November. "We have the same turnaround shot, the same high release, we both can spread the defense,'' Aldridge said. "We do the same moves. When he played here he did a move, and back to back I did the same exact move.''

That's when he heard it from his teammates on the bench: "They started laughing, 'Baby Sheed! Baby Sheed!' ''

Blazers coach Nate McMillan embraces comparisons between Aldridge and one of the league's most versatile big men. "They're very similar,'' McMillan said. "LaMarcus' range is 15-18 feet where he's comfortable and pretty consistent with it.'' Eventually, McMillan added, "He'll be able to shoot the three-point ball like Rasheed and be a mid-30-percent shooter, possibly a 40 percent shooter from that range. Because he can shoot it.''

Can Aldridge learn to defend as well as Wallace? He will if McMillan has his way. At the moment, a bigger difference between Aldridge and Wallace is measured in public relations. Wallace is a notoriously difficult personality, while Aldridge couldn't be more outgoing. Attitudes like his and Brandon Roy's are one reason why the fans have come back to Portland -- though the Blazers' talent is the biggest cause of all.

4. Hard work. When he learned while watching the NBA draft last June that the Blazers had traded power forward Zach Randolph to the Knicks to clear the starting spot for him, Aldridge headed to his high school gym in Texas for a midnight workout. "I stayed for about an hour, just got up shots,'' Aldridge said. "It was like a motivational workout, saying that I have opportunities now and I have to be ready for it.''

McMillan was sold on Aldridge during his initial predraft workout with the Blazers before they traded up two spots to take him with the No. 2 pick in 2006 (the Bulls drafted Aldridge for the Blazers while Portland selected Tyrus Thomas for Chicago at No. 4). "We'd heard about how hard he worked and what kind of character he had,'' McMillan said. "Our workouts are pretty hard, I think. Normally guys go right to the locker room, or they put some ice on, or they're sitting on the floor and they really can't move. But he came back out and did more shooting with the coach.''

Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard saw Aldridge play a half dozen times over his two years at Texas. At that time, "I think his ceiling's here," said Pritchard, raising his hand above his head, "and whatever his ceiling is, he's going to come to it because he works hard. Not many players get to it.'' Now Pritchard admits, two years into Portland's relationship with Aldridge, that the ceiling is higher than he imagined.

3. Speed. "We have a bunch of hard workers on this team,'' said small forward James Jones, who at 27 passes for an elder on what is the league's youngest team. "But for your big guy to be the hardest worker and probably your fastest guy ...''

A 6-11 power forward is the fastest player on the team? "I would say yeah,'' Jones said. "Pound for pound, he's the most athletic guy on this team, and to be 7 feet and to be as fast as he is and as well-conditioned as he is, you don't find that very often.''

The Blazers hopscotched into playoff contention way ahead of schedule by going on a recent 17-1 tear -- and yet did so without a scorching fast break. McMillan has focused on applying Aldridge's speed to seize position down low.

"The fact that he runs will allow us to get him deep post position,'' said McMillan, who wants Aldridge to develop a back-to-the-basket game as the foundation to his game. From there he may expand to the three-point line, and Aldridge agrees with the plan.

"I don't want to be a player that just hangs out on the perimeter,'' he said. "So this year I've been focusing more on being a presence down low, and trying to demand double teams. And that's making us better.''

2. His relationship with McMillan. "Each of our coaches is assigned about three players for individual work,'' McMillan said. "After games they go into the film room with the coaches, and we talk about the things that they're not doing. We had to learn how to play, so we went into the film room and now our basketball IQ is higher.''

So which coach has been assigned to deal with Aldridge?

"Me,'' McMillan said, and he winked.

McMillan handles the personal coaching for both Aldridge and Roy, and it would be no surprise if he takes on similar responsibilities with Greg Oden upon his return after this season. Aldridge was taken aback when he heard that McMillan was taking personal charge of him.

"Oh man, at first I was like, do I need more work than everybody else?'' Aldridge said. "But no, it's just that he knows that Brandon and myself have the ball in our hands a lot. And we have to know what he's thinking so that we can do things that he's putting us in positions to do.''

There's more to it, starting with McMillan's dream of coaching in Portland for a decade or more. "That's why I came here,'' said the 43-year-old McMillan, who is in his third season with Portland following five with the Sonics. "My thought was Jerry Sloan. That's what I looked at. I looked at something where I could get in and set a standard for how this organization operates. We're building it and laying the foundation for what we want to be in the future.''

Which in turn tells you that McMillan plans to build around Aldridge for a long time to come.

1. The Twin Towers. "We'll try to be like David Robinson and Tim Duncan,'' Aldridge said of his awaited partnership with Oden. "That's what we wish for.''

Do they talk in those terms? "Not yet,'' Aldridge said. "Because he's not playing right now, so its hard.''

Imagine, if Oden is healthy, the idea of two unselfish 7-footers, one more defensive-minded than the other yet both versatile and in their early 20s. "If you've got him and Greg that you can drop the ball to, that is a piece that you need to really win in this league,'' McMillan said. "Who are you going to double? Because if you're going to double one, then you're going to leave the other one over there open.''

In 2009, the Blazers will have cap space to fill out their team with a max free agent. "The analogy is that I got a cake when I came here, and I said, 'I don't like these ingredients, so let's redo these ingredients,' '' Pritchard said. "Right now, I'm putting the cake in the oven, I'm about to bake it, and in two years I'm going to pull it out and I'm going to see how the cake turns out. And at that point in time, I'm going to go, 'I want chocolate icing ... no, I want this kind of icing ... no, no, I want this kind of icing.' And that's when its going to be special. That's when you have a special cake. And the coach is going to be a big factor in how those ingredients play out, what he likes to do, how his philosophy has grown, and I have the best young coach in the business.''

This cake analogy is unhealthy news for the rest of the league.

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