NBA Portland Trail Blazers

Portland Trail Blazers’ LaMarcus Aldridge Should Be An All-Star Starter

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By @b2brennan

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The Western Conference All-Star team lost a third member for the game the other day, Anthony Davis. Since the team was chosen, Davis, along with Blake Griffin and Kobe Bryant, have suffered injuries and will miss the game. Reserves James Harden and Klay Thompson took the place starting for Griffin and Bryant, but Davis’ spot has yet to be chosen. Here’s why LaMarcus Aldridge should be Steve Kerr‘s first choice.

The current starting lineup for the West is Harden, Thompson, Stephen Curry and Marc Gasol. This leaves the forward spot open to one of the reserves. The candidates are Aldridge, Kevin Durant, Tim Duncan, DeMarcus Cousins and Dirk Nowitzki. I assume the spot will go to Durant, but Aldridge is more suited for it than any of the other reserves.

Nowitzki was named as Davis’ All-Star replacement. He was the third replacement chosen, behind Cousins and Damian Lillard, so I don’t think it would be fair to have him be the starter at all. Duncan is having a solid year, but his numbers are nowhere near as good as Aldridge or Cousins. Cousins is having one of the best seasons of any player, but he’s listed as a center, which the West already has; and since that doesn’t mean much, the Sacramento Kings are much worse than Aldridge’s Portland Trail Blazers. Durant seems like the ideal candidate because he’s the reigning MVP, but he’s missed too many games this year. I don’t even think he should have gotten into the All-Star game because of that, let alone start.

Aldridge is averaging 23.6 PPG and 10.3 RPG on the third-best team in the Western Conference. He is the only Western Conference frontcourt player besides Durant and Griffin to be in the last four All-Star games. Also, he hasn’t started one of them. From a lineup standpoint, it makes the most sense to have Aldridge in the starting lineup so he can guard the East’s power forward, Pau Gasol. Durant is the superior player, but this is just not his year.

Long story short, nobody deserves the final starting spot in the West more than Aldridge. He has put in his time and has been underrated for far too long. He’s the best power forward in the league right now and deserves the final spot more than anybody else.

Brian Brennan is a Portland Trail Blazers writer for www.Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter @b2brennan.

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