Former NBA star LaMarcus Aldridge appeared on the “All The Smoke” podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson and provided some advice for young players based on how he became successful:
Simplify your thought process when you need a bucket.
As a freshman at the University of Texas in 2004, Aldridge worked with Longhorns head coach Rick Barnes to define how he wanted to play. Rick Barnes told him to find one thing from three different players, and they would work to implement it into Aldridge’s game.
He chose the fadeaway of Kevin Garnett, the ability of Tim Duncan to face up and get to the middle, and the high release of Rasheed Wallace, which Aldridge considered unblockable.
After a solid freshman year of 9.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.1 steals, Aldridge broke out as a sophomore, posting averages of 15 points, 92 boards, 2.0 blocks and 1.4 steals per game. He was drafted No. 2 overall and then spent the next 16 seasons using the same things he learned from Barnes.
“Look at my game! I went middle like Tim, faded away like KG, and had a high release like Sheed,” Aldridge said. “It seemed too simple.”
Instead of digging deep into his bag and overthinking the best move to go to at crucial moments, Aldridge had a specific go-to action he could pull out when needed.
“Get a move that if it’s [the] fourth quarter — you can go to it. If it’s first quarter — like, my [expletive] was always my fade, beginning of the game and end of the game,” he said. “It helps you stop thinking so [expletive] much, like end of the game, you’re too skilled, you’re trying to think … get one move where it’s like, I don’t care who’s guarding you.”
Aldridge is one of the top 50 scorers of all time.
“I try to tell kids now: I got 20,000 points and I had three moves,” Aldridge said.
To that, Matt Barnes added: “Kobe said he had two moves.”
Aldridge made seven All-Star teams and five All-NBA teams over his career. He spent nine years with the Portland Trail Blazers and five-plus years with San Antonio before finishing his career with the Brooklyn Nets. Over those 16 seasons, he averaged 19.1 points on 49.3% shooting and 8.1 rebounds per game.
