Tyrus Thomas is just as good as LaMarcus Aldridge (seriously)

Before you scoff at the (overly provocative) headline, bear with me for a minute.  Because he was a #2 draft pick and plays for a medium market team, LaMarcus Aldridge has been the recipient of a lot of hype.  And some of it deserved.  He's got a lot of potential as a player.  But I've been watching Portland play a lot this year (and last), and I'm not convinced that if Tyrus Thomas were to take over the starting PF spot for the Blazers, he wouldn't contribute every bit as much to that team as LaMarcus Aldridge does.  They are highly comparable players.  The only real difference between them may be playing time.

Let's start with the obvious.  Aldridge and Thomas are very similar physically.  Thomas is 6'10'', 225 pounds; Aldridge is 6'11'', 240 pounds.  They both have similar weakness as PFs.  Neither has establish himself as a consistent post player.  Indeed, Thomas's career 1.3 from BPG is superior to Aldridge's awful 1.06, and there's reason to believe Thomas's BPG will improve with more consistent playing time (Thomas is reportedly a good shot blocker in practice and was good in college).  Neither Aldridge nor Tyrus has demonstrated good court vision or distribution skills.  This has been a constant criticism of Thomas (he's a power forward trapped in a SF's body, etc.), but Aldridge isn't much better.  To quote Hollinger: 

One still wishes he were tougher on the blocks; his free throw rate remains unimpressive and Houston bulldog Luis Scola outscrapped him in the playoffs.

Despite his limited playing time this year and last, Thomas' points/rebounds per 40 minutes numbers are comparable to Aldridge's and would likely improve if he got sustained minutes at PF, as Aldridge has.  Aldridge's best skill, by far, is shooting from 12 feet out, something he did a lot every year.  This is also Thomas' best skill.(damn)  Indeed, there's reason to believe Thomas may actually be better at it than Aldridge.  Thomas is fearless and quite adept at blocking shots from the weakside.  Aldridge, on the other hand, is not particularly good at helping on defense.  As Hollinger notes, Aldridge "doesn't defend with great intensity and gets caught standing around a lot. He also has trouble matching up against the perimeter 4s who are spreading around the league like kudzu. " 

If Aldridge has anything over Thomas, it's a little more finess around the hoop and a more proven mid-range game.  But I see no reason to believe that, with comparable playing time, Thomas can't match Aldridge in these areas relatively quickly. 

My point in drawing these comparisons is not to suggest that Thomas is or will be a star in the NBA or that LaMarcus Aldridge isn't or won't be.  Rather, I think that differences in playing time and organization/coaches have led to a situation where two players of comparable current skill-level and potential (Aldridge and Thomas) have wildly divergent perceived values.  Aldridge has been over-hyped and Thomas under-hyped.  The jury is still out on both of them, but it would not surprise me at all if, when all is said and done, Thomas turns out to be the better of the two.  At the very least, I expect that they will have comparable NBA careers.

(I'm not trying to be a jerk...I"m completely(somewhat) serious.)