Fast forward a year and a half. Team co-captain Brandon Roy has sustained injury after injury and his future is very much in doubt. The Blazers expect to be without him for the rest of the season, leaving them in dire straits in their quest to be a perennial playoff team. Aldridge had always been completely satisfied to defer to Roy, and seemed unlikely to be the primary solution to Portland’s franchise player problem. Yet this time around, with his teammates and coaches expressing their utmost confidence in Aldridge’s ability to lead the team, something just seemed to click.

Aldridge has been on an absolute tear since the news came that Roy would be out for the foreseeable future. Realizing his team’s fate was in his hands, Aldridge was one of the best players in the NBA in January, averaging 24.9 points, 10.0 rebounds and even 2.4 assists while playing center and power forward for the injury-riddled Blazers. The team went 8-6 for the month, far better than anyone expected, and then started the month of February with a big win over the NBA-leading San Antonio Spurs. Aldridge piled up 40 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two assists in a head-to-head match-up with Tim Duncan.

Not bad for a guy who was all but counted out some 18 months ago.

One thing is clear – it’s time for LaMarcus Aldridge to make his first All-Star appearance. No other player in the NBA has stepped in for an injured player of Brandon Roy’s caliber and kept his team above water. Going into play tonight the Blazers are holding strong in the West’s eighth seed, just 2.5 games behind the foundering Utah Jazz. That’s a tribute to the play of Aldridge, who is having easily the best year of his career, and in a Western Conference loaded with amazing power forwards, Aldridge deserves to be recognized for his eye-opening contributions.

NBA Commissioner David Stern has a tough decision to make when it comes to naming injured Houston Rockets center Yao Ming on the Western Conference All-Star team. There are plenty of deserving players, like the Suns’ Steve Nash, Minnesota’s Kevin Love and San Antonio’s Tony Parker. It’s unfortunate that the coaches opted to vote rookie Blake Griffin onto the team, as he already had a spot on the Rookie team and in the slam dunk competition. That’s a slot that could have and arguably should have gone to a deserving veteran player, as Griffin has many more All-Star appearances in front of him. Now, however, Stern can correct one injustice.

Aaron Brooks and the Timberwolves?

These days there are three prevalent stories circulating about Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio. The first is that he really isn’t excited about playing in Minnesota, and might opt to continue his career in Europe rather than make the jump to the NBA if it means playing in the Great White North. Of course, Rubio’s dream is to play in the NBA, so what we’re hearing is the marketing side of his camp talking. Would Rubio really stay in Europe and never even think twice about his NBA dream if it meant playing for the Timberwolves? Perhaps, but that seems unlikely.

The second side of the story is coming from Timberwolves GM David Kahn, who insists that talks with Rubio’s camp have been business as usual and that the team expects to have their 2010 first round pick in camp for 2011-12. Perhaps that’s true, as well, but behind the scenes the Timberwolves don’t seem to be as confident. They’ve had myriad offers for back-up point guard Jonny Flynn, but to date have been reluctant to part with him. They’ve also had some level of discussion with the Houston Rockets about Aaron Brooks, which seems strange for a team that expects to have a new starting point guard in camp next season.

Finally, there’s the story about what Rubio is doing right now as he plays out his contractual obligation to F.C. Barcelona. F.C. Barcelona won the Euroleague title last season while the increasingly ineffective Rubio largely looked on from the bench, and now he’s shooting 32% from the field and struggling to compete in Euroleague play this season. The Euroleague is not like the NBA, where one player can take over a game with regularity (see: Brandon Jennings), but Rubio looks like anything but a top five pick in the NBA draft these days. 

One way or the other, it seems the Ricky Rubio story is not going to play out as expected in Minnesota. He may choose not to come over for a while, hoping the Timberwolves will trade his rights to the New York Knicks or perhaps the Miami HEAT, or he may come over and not be as good as everyone thought he would be. Either way, the Timberwolves would do well to explore a Plan B, and it sounds like, no matter how good a face the organization tries to put on the Rubio situation, they are planning to move forward without him.

That’s probably a good plan.

As for Aaron Brooks, there is no shortage of interest in last year’s Most Improved Player, but the Rockets have thus far been unwilling to entertain offers outside of including him in a deal for Carmelo Anthony. The problem is, he also isn’t the ideal point guard for their system. He can put points on the board, sure, but being in the final year of his contract he’s much more interested in his own stats than in helping the team win. He also has a hard time scoring in the clutch, which makes it hard to keep him on the floor when the defensive-minded Kyle Lowry will at least shut down his opponent and look for open teammates. The general consensus is that Brooks is a new incarnation of Steve Francis, who could put up nice numbers but lacked the ability to make the right plays when it mattered most.

It will be interesting to see how Brooks evolves when he’s not playing for the opportunity to be a restricted free agent. He could potentially help a team like Minnesota, which has a plethora of good offensive weapons to put around a dynamic point guard. The issue for Houston is they like his potential quite a bit, too, and aren’t ready to part with him just yet unless the deal returns a superstar. The Timberwolves are noticeably short on superstars.

The Battier Perspective
 
HOOPSWORLD recently sat down for a lengthy retrospective interview with Tracy McGrady, who waxed nostalgic about what might have been in Orlando and Houston. Shane Battier shared the court with McGrady during his time as a Houston Rocket, and has a little bit different take on the disappointing outcome of the Yao Ming/McGrady years in Houston.

Beyond that lies a great deal of uncertainty, not only in terms of Battier’s future, but also in terms of what will happen as the NBA and its players try to hammer out the details on a new collective bargaining agreement.

"Who knows," says Battier of the future. "I don’t know what the landscape of the NBA will be, what the landscape of the Rockets will be. My job this year is to play well enough this year to give myself options next summer. I’ve got to do the best I can, and hopefully a few teams out there will desire my talents. We’ll go from there. Who knows, though, the financial landscape after the CBA will get settled, but who knows what it will look like."

One thing Battier is sure of, even after nearly ten years in the NBA he still has plenty to prove.

"The second you don’t have anything to prove is the day you get out of this game," says Battier. "That’s the way I feel about life. You’ve got to prove yourself every single day. This is a pretty amazing league, and you’re lucky to be here, but you’ve got to pay respects and earn that title by proving yourself every single day. That’s the way I’ve played every day of my career."