A Complimentary Player

When LaMarcus Aldridge recently withdrew from the USA Select Team, it seemed almost fitting. Playing in the shadow of Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy last season and welcoming No. 1 pick Greg Oden earlier this summer, Aldridge often finds himself far from a main attraction with the Portland Trail Blazers. Hard to believe, since the Bulls selected Aldridge with the No. 2 pick in the 2006 draft before sending him to Portland.

If Aldridge had joined the squad assembled to prepare the national team for the Olympic qualifying tournament, his comfortable low profile could have disappeared. But Aldridge withdrew as a precaution, taking time to nurse a sore left heel. With the Blazers building for the future around a nucleus of Aldridge, Oden, and Roy, arriving for training camp healthy matters most.

"We know that LaMarcus is a very, very important piece to this puzzle," said Blazers head coach and national team assistant Nate McMillan. "He will be the guy that we run a lot of our offense through -- LaMarcus, Brandon, and Greg. We're going to expect him to score, defend, do a lot of things for us. He showed that potential last year and we're looking for a little bit more this coming season."

After starting his rookie year slowly as he continued to recover from right shoulder surgery, Aldridge did not log enough playing time to earn consideration for the Rookie-Sophomore All-Star Game. He made up for lost time during the second half of the season, earning first-team All-Rookie honors. Averaging 9.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, Aldridge took his spot on the squad alongside Roy, Andrea Bargnani, Randy Foye, Rudy Gay, and Jorge Garbajosa.

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source : boston.com