Blazers’ LaMarcus Aldridge and Clippers’ Blake Griffin tied for Best Power Forward, NBA GM’s Say

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Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge was tied in voting with Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers for the league’s best power forward in the annual NBA general managers survey.

The NBA released the results of their annual general managers survey which asks the league’s decision makers questions from picking the NBA champs or which current player would be the best coach.

Aldridge and Griffin were also tied in the voting last year, but in 4th place. Tim Duncan won last year’s voting but in this year’s edition of the survey, Duncan was considered a center.

Anthony Davis was third behind Aldridge and Griffin in the power forward voting and is probably the most likely to leapfrog the two with Kevin Love taking on a less-featured role in Cleveland with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.

As far as other Blazers who were included on the list, it should be no surprise that Damian Lillard received votes for consideration of the league’s best point guard.

The designation went to Clippers guard Chris Paul who took home 71 percent of the votes among the GM’s surveyed while Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook was voted second. 2014 NBA Champion Tony Parker came in third place with Golden State’s Steph Curry, Lillard and Chicago’s Derrick Rose each getting votes.

Lillard was not on the ballot last year.

Other Blazers Survey Notes

• Back-up point guard Steve Blake was voted second behind Clippers point guard Chris Paul as the current player who would make the best coach by the league’s decision makers.
• The league’s top decision makers don’t think much of the Blazers chances to win the division, giving them 7.1 percent of the vote behind a strong 92.1 percent from Oklahoma City. With Durant being out at least 6-8 weeks, this could be a much tighter race. The Blazers also did not receive votes to win the Western conference finals.
• The Blazers unsurprisingly received votes for the league’s best home court advantage but Oklahoma City, Denver and Golden State all ranked higher in the survey.
• Blazers guard Wesley Matthews was tied with several other players for third in the voting as the league’s “best role player,” a distinction Matthews likely won’t enjoy. Boris Diaw of the Spurs and Kenneth Faried of the Nuggets were tied in the voting for that category.