A great Power Forward combined with an excellent Point Guard and a wing player that came from a different country. Yes, this is the San Antonio Spurs, but if you look harder you'll find another team. This team is called the Portland Trail Blazers, meet the modern day Spurs.
Tim Duncan took five years to reach the top of his game. On the other hand, LaMarcus Aldridge took seven, but in the end he's still there. He uses his jump shooting ability very similar to Tim, but he has learned how to create space in his own way with a beautiful turnaround jumper that is as graceful as Dirk Nowitzki's swan shot. He, also, finally has a great supporting cast with a combination of Damian Lillard and Nic Batum.
To go along with that, there's the fact that Portland isn't the biggest city in the world, it is similar to San Antonio. If you look at it, this makes us under appreciate the greatness of The Big Fundamental and LA. LaMarcus is supposed to be an MVP candidate, but yet, he wasn't voted an All Star starter. This is because fans don't appreciate LaMarcus' pretty turnaround jumper as much as a backboard breaking slam dunk.
Lucky for the Trail Blazers though Portland has acquired the license to Lillard, possibly the best young point guard in the NBA, excluding Russell Westbrook. He is Portland's version of Tony Parker, another competent scorer who has the ability to move the ball around. The best part for the NBA is that Lillard will only get better and, right now, he is already putting up very similar numbers to Parker at Tony's peak.
With talent like that in the post and roaming the perimeter you might wonder how much better they can get, but then there's Nic Batum. He only averages 12.8 points per game, to go with 5.7 assists per game, and 6.7 rebounds per game, but if you think about that, those numbers are quite impressive. With two 20 point scorers, the Blazers don't need another guy that can put the ball through the hoop, but what they could use is an overall player and Nic Batum is that guy. He essentially has the potential to be a triple double every night and can score 20 when in a pinch.
After a quick inspection, you look at the Trail Blazers' starting line up and the talent just keeps piling on with a 17 point per game scorer named Wesley Matthews. This is something the Spurs didn't have, however, one thing that Portland is missing is the bench that San Antonio possesses. From Danny Green to Gary Neal, there seems to be a player that pops up every year on the Spurs. Unfortunately, the Blazers only have Mo Williams coming off the bench as well as rookie C.J. McCollum.
So, when you look for the next San Antonio Spurs, you could point to a team like the Oklahoma City Thunder, or the Golden State Warriors, but the real truth is that Portland is the most similar to San Antonio and will dominate in the near future. However, if Portland wants to continue their run of dominance, they will have to find more of a bench and young talent to go along with Damian Lillard and McCollum. Though Aldridge seems like an MVP candidate right now, he has peaked at a later time than Tim Duncan and he is already 28 years old. However, like wine, LaMarcus might get better with age, similar to Duncan, because he doesn't really own power like Amare Stoudamire, but finesse more like Duncan. Either way, as a fan, we should learn to enjoy him more instead of disrespecting him in subtle ways like not voting him as an All Star starter.
Tim Martin II
Tim Duncan took five years to reach the top of his game. On the other hand, LaMarcus Aldridge took seven, but in the end he's still there. He uses his jump shooting ability very similar to Tim, but he has learned how to create space in his own way with a beautiful turnaround jumper that is as graceful as Dirk Nowitzki's swan shot. He, also, finally has a great supporting cast with a combination of Damian Lillard and Nic Batum.
To go along with that, there's the fact that Portland isn't the biggest city in the world, it is similar to San Antonio. If you look at it, this makes us under appreciate the greatness of The Big Fundamental and LA. LaMarcus is supposed to be an MVP candidate, but yet, he wasn't voted an All Star starter. This is because fans don't appreciate LaMarcus' pretty turnaround jumper as much as a backboard breaking slam dunk.
Lucky for the Trail Blazers though Portland has acquired the license to Lillard, possibly the best young point guard in the NBA, excluding Russell Westbrook. He is Portland's version of Tony Parker, another competent scorer who has the ability to move the ball around. The best part for the NBA is that Lillard will only get better and, right now, he is already putting up very similar numbers to Parker at Tony's peak.
With talent like that in the post and roaming the perimeter you might wonder how much better they can get, but then there's Nic Batum. He only averages 12.8 points per game, to go with 5.7 assists per game, and 6.7 rebounds per game, but if you think about that, those numbers are quite impressive. With two 20 point scorers, the Blazers don't need another guy that can put the ball through the hoop, but what they could use is an overall player and Nic Batum is that guy. He essentially has the potential to be a triple double every night and can score 20 when in a pinch.
After a quick inspection, you look at the Trail Blazers' starting line up and the talent just keeps piling on with a 17 point per game scorer named Wesley Matthews. This is something the Spurs didn't have, however, one thing that Portland is missing is the bench that San Antonio possesses. From Danny Green to Gary Neal, there seems to be a player that pops up every year on the Spurs. Unfortunately, the Blazers only have Mo Williams coming off the bench as well as rookie C.J. McCollum.
So, when you look for the next San Antonio Spurs, you could point to a team like the Oklahoma City Thunder, or the Golden State Warriors, but the real truth is that Portland is the most similar to San Antonio and will dominate in the near future. However, if Portland wants to continue their run of dominance, they will have to find more of a bench and young talent to go along with Damian Lillard and McCollum. Though Aldridge seems like an MVP candidate right now, he has peaked at a later time than Tim Duncan and he is already 28 years old. However, like wine, LaMarcus might get better with age, similar to Duncan, because he doesn't really own power like Amare Stoudamire, but finesse more like Duncan. Either way, as a fan, we should learn to enjoy him more instead of disrespecting him in subtle ways like not voting him as an All Star starter.
Tim Martin II