Aldridge and Lillard One of Top Duos in NBA
LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard in 2014-15 could be NBA’s top guard and forward duo.
With so many great individual players in the NBA the word team or teammates is often overlooked. However, to date no individual has won the NBA title.
As the 2014-15 nears, the Portland Trail Blazers are hoping to have another strong regular season and go deeper into the postseason.
Leading the way for the Trail Blazers will be the dynamic duo of Aldridge and Lillard arguably one of the best big man, small man duo in the league.
Other great duos come to mind as well including Blake Griffin and Chris Paul with the Los Angeles Clippers and Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose from the Chicago Bulls.
Do not forget the play of Dwight Howard and James Harden in Houston and the up and coming Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday in New Orleans.
A new one on the block will be Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving and new teammate Kevin Love that will likely cause severe headaches for opposing coaches and players.
Despite the talent that is out there on each team, Aldridge and Lillard have the potential to be the top duo of forward and guard in the NBA.
As it stands now the top duo is Griffin and Paul. Paul is the league’s top floor general with his myriad of skills on both offense and defense.
Griffin had a season that was worthy of an MVP and can play both inside and out and with his back to or away from the basket.
However, the full potential of both Aldridge and Lillard has not been see of yet.
Despite all the improvement, he has made since entering the NBA, Lillard has to become strong finishing, as he already is one of the league’s best shooters.
After just two seasons in the NBA, Lillard has recorded 403 field goals from three-point range.
Lillard is already a player of All-Star level. He is a clutch player converting 47% of his shots over the final five minute in a game when the final margin is within five points.
He handles the ball very well and had become a strong passer.
Aldridge was relied on heavily by the team on offense last season with a career high in points at 23.2 per game, rebounds at 11.1 per game and assists at 2.6 per game.
However, with Lillard continually improving the two together will form one of the best duos in the league.
While Griffin and Paul are nearly unstoppable on their pick and roll, Aldridge and Lillard could have a slight advantage due to the shooting talents of Aldridge and his high release that make his shots difficult if not impossible to block.
Aldridge at the defensive end is strong, but has not become a top big man known to smother his opponents. Nevertheless, his play on defense is ahead of Griffin.
This year the duo of Aldridge and Lillard should come into their own and be one of the top if not top duo on the offensive end of the court which will give the Trail Blazers that much more of an opportunity to go deeper into the Western Conference playoffs.
