There has been some rather negative comments about Aldridge. Okay, not negative but a view point that he's a not a core piece and should be on the market. The argument has been, "but look at what he's doing! He sucks!"

The counter point has been "he's a big man and he'll develop. Give him a freaking break! This is basically his first freaking year!"

So, I decided to compare to Bosh. He's good, right? Good big men are hard to find and he's one. The college coach who coached both said Aldridge was better. Let's see what the stats say.

Chris: 1st season, 33 minutes of play, 77 games

11.5pts, 7.5 rbds, 1 ast, .8 steals, 1.4 blocks.

Aldridge: 1st season, 22 minutes, 63 games

9 pts, 5rbds, .4ast, .4 stl, 1.2 blocks

Chris: 2nd Season, 37.12 minutes, 81 games

16.8 pts, 8.9 rbds, 1.9 asts, .9 steals, 1.4 blks

Aldridge: 2nd Season, 34.17 minutes, 51 games (so far)

16.9 pts, 7.4 rbds, 1.3 asts, .7 stls, 1.4 blks

Note:aldridge has fewer turnovers and a better shooting percentage. I didn't really mention this in the above stats because of style of play.

Summary:
So, he looks pretty close to Bosh in his second season right now. Aldridge has had less minutes and less games played.

So I ask you this. Is Chris Bosh a Powerforward you'd like to have on your team? Do you consider him a good player?

Based on the above stats with less minutes, Aldridge comes pretty close to matching Chris Bosh.

Aldridges biggest weak point is rebounds. Dave has mentioned that rebounding is a will, but also, the Zone Defense can keep Aldridge out of position and thus lower his rebounding totals. Please correct me if I'm wrong here Dave.

Bosh is second in PF's with scoring this year. He's 8th in rebounding (yahoo pf and fc stats combined)

Yahoo ranks him as the fourth best PF in fantasy basketball in the league and the 11th best player all around. True, those are fantasy stats, but I think that's still telling.

So, questions for debate:

Do you agree that Aldridge can be closely compared to Bosh in terms of Development?

Does Bosh have the work ethic of Aldridge? (Serious question because Aldridge is a gym rat, and I don't know if Bosh is or not.)

Is Chris Bosh a PF (if aldridge wasn't here) that you'd want on your team?

Does the Outlaw or Frye in the PF position fill you with confidence?

How Common are good big men? (I'd be interested in the answer if someone wanted to compile stats of availability of good players at various positions each draft year. More work than I'm going to do right now, but I'm sure it'd be facinating.)

Can Aldridge and Oden coexist?

如果是,你认为他们可以繁荣吗?我问这个question because two players of the same style can be competing against each other, where players who compliment each other can raise eachother up to another level.

So after all this, are there still people who agree with Simmons and want to look at trading Aldridge? Is yes, why? If not, why?

Discuss! (AND SOMEONE PLEASE!!! I'd love to know the stats for big men, guards, and all that that end up doing well each draft. I think we'd need to book mark it.)