LaMarcus Aldridge Officially Retires, So Let's Talk About His Hall Of Fame Candidacy

David Berding. Getty Images.

One of the weirdest parts about getting older is seeing players who you watched basically during your entire adolescence start to retire. In a blink of an eye, LeBron is in Year 20. Chris Paul is a billion years old, and players who on some level still feel "young" are in like Year 6 or 7 of their careers. Time truly does fly.

For me, LaMarcus Aldridge is one of those guys. It seems like just yesterday he entered the league as a 21 year old rookie in 2006, and for my money he might be one of the most underrated PFs of his era. If you close your eyes and think of the dominant bigs during the early and mid 2000s, do you picture LMA? Unless you're a Blazers or Spurs fan, I'm not sure you do, and that's crazy considering what he was able to accomplish over his career

The 2006-07 all rookie guy, a 7x All Star, and someone who made 5 All NBA teams (6 w/ all rookie), there is no doubt LMA had a tremendous career. He never managed to win that ring, but that shit happens. 

The question now becomes, is Alridge a HOF player?

Basketball Reference has it at a 50.9% chance, and his case is pretty interesting. If you look at the career totals, here's how LMA ranks

Points - 20,558 (50th)

Rebounds - 8,736 (66th)

Blocks - 1,187 (66th)

Now upon first look, maybe you think there's no way these are HOF worthy. I'll just say this. If you look at NBA history and all the players that got in, the first 49 players who broke the 20k plateau all either made the HOF already or are about to once they retire.

It's not a total lock though, as 3 different players hit 20k and didn't get in: Joe Johnson, Tom Chambers, Antawn Jamison

The main difference between LMA and those guys is he made way more All NBAs (3x more) than the next closest (Chambers, 2). So, could it be possible that his 20K points + All NBAs/All Stars is enough?

Or, is he the poster child for the Hall Of Very Good? An absolute force and one of the best players at his position during his era, but not quite HOF worthy. That's what makes the debate fun because you can make a case either way.   

The more I think about it, I think he ends up in the Hall Of Very Good. There's certainly no shame in that. The good news is everything is OK health-wise when it comes to his heart issues, and he made well over $200M in basketball money alone, so I think it's fair to call his career a success.