"The New Orleans Hornets' free agent, Carl Landry, recently told SLAMonline that he thought he'd be a good fit with the Portland Trail Blazers and was interested in signing with the organization once the lockout ended.

LaMarcus Aldridge concurs with Landry and feels such an addition would drastically improve the Blazers' current roster.

"That's big of him to speak out and I'm glad he spoke out and said he wants to play with us," Aldridge told SLAMonline. "He's a good player and I definitely feel like he can help us immediately."

As the new face of the franchise, Aldridge finds himself in unfamiliar territory. He's now a player others look up to and want to play with. Seldom has an athlete voiced his desire publicly to play for the Blazers, and the emergence of Aldridge has a lot to do with that."