B-Roy

Question: Would you trade LaMarcus Aldridge for David West straight up? (Since everyone seems to be talking about Roy vs. Paul)

1.) David West
-Good at penetrating off the dribble.
-Stronger, finishes better at the basket.
-More experienced low post player.
-Luxury of Paul.
-Better free throw shooter.

2.) LaMarcus Aldridge
-Better finnesse moves. (Hook shots, fadeaway jumpers, etc.)
-Long arms and taller body.
-Quicker and runs the floor better.
-Younger

Rebounding gives West a slight edge. He averages 8.5 per 36 mins, and Aldridge averages 7.9 per 36 minutes. In fact, when you line their stats together, they're remarkably similar. Their blocks, steals, turnovers, and fouls are almost identical. As are their points and rebounds.

Maybe it's just the homer in me, but I would take Aldridge simply because he's 5 years younger.

PorterIn2004

I would stay with Aldridge primarily because I'm not interested in thinking about it from a fantasy league perspective. If you're asking who's better right now or even who do I expect will be better five years from now, those are different questions.

B-Roy

Then ignore all the stat crap. Who do you think is better?

wastro

Right now, It's West > Aldridge. In five years, it's Aldridge > West.

rocketeer

i would keep aldridge. i expect them to be equals offensively, with aldridge having the edge on defense(and that is next season).

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Driew

Ugh...why don't we just swap teams? Allen can move the Blazers to NO and NO can move to Portland. There done. We get CP3 and West.

ODiggity

To me it feels like West has the same skill set as Zach Randolph. We got rid of Randolph to give Aldridge a chance to grow. I think it'sChris Paul that makes West better than just good. It's clear a point guard would make the biggest difference and we're better served by Aldridge's length and open court savvy.

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Driew

I'm predicting a bunch of outside people coming in here whining about "homerism" LOL.

HispanicCausinPanic

West is nowhere near the player LA is! Screw that!

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Darkwebs

No. Keep Aldridge because he is almost as good as West, but is much younger and fits our team better in the long run when we are contending for championships with Oden and Roy.

Oldmangrouch

While West is a darn good player, it does seem he and Chandler benefit from playing alongside Paul. Factor in the age difference, and I'm not sure the deal makes any sense for us.

OTOH, I doubt NO would make the deal either. They are a play-off team *now*, and benefit from West's experience.

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alext42083

Would you trade Josh McRoberts for Chris "Birdman" Andersen?

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Entity

I wouldn't take West over Aldridge. Aldridge is still 22 yrs old. He's longer, he has better defense, and he'll be getting much better than he is now.

PorterIn2004

Just to be clear, it's not the stats that bother me -- I'm happy to compare stats all day. It's more Driew's point -- why not just swap teams? I'm not interested in rooting for jerseys -- one of the main reasons I follow sports at all is the emotional attachment to the players. It's not that I'm completely unwilling to ever move a player but when it's as close as it is with two guys like that, why do it?

To answer your question though, I do think West might be the better of the two players right now. As you and others have suggested, it seems likely that Aldridge will clearly be the better player 5 years from now.

More than that, I think Aldridge is a much better fit with both Oden and Przybilla, such that, even from a "fantasy" perspective, by next season I expect to prefer Aldridge to West for this team.

B-Roy