Texas Notes: Aldridge, McCallum, Williams

Despite LaMarcus Aldridge‘s numbers being down from recent seasons, the Spurs are pleased with how well the power forward is adapting to the organization and its system, Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News writes. “It’s difficult to do in your first year,” coach Gregg Popovich said of Aldridge. “A lot of guys take a whole year to get used to us. He’s been remarkable in catching on this quickly.”

Speaking about Aldridge’s production in San Antonio, point guard Tony Parker told McDonald, “You can’t judge LaMarcus compared to his numbers from last year. It’s not fair. Any Spur, you can’t judge by their numbers. The way we play, it’s for everybody. We’re not going to have a guy who is going to score 30 points or take 25 shots. It’s just not going to happen with this team.” In 33 appearances for the Spurs this season Aldridge is averaging 15.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, down from his 2014/15 numbers with Portland of 23.4 PPG and 10.2 RPG.

Here’s more from the Lone Star State:

• Mavericks point guard Deron Williams has come off the team’s bench the past two games, a role that the veteran says he doesn’t mind, Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com tweets (ESPN Now link). “It doesn’t matter to me,” Williams said. “When I was out and missed those four games, we won all four and J.J. Barea was rolling, so you don’t want to shake up something like that. Coach said, Do you have a problem coming off the bench?’ I said no. I’ve done it a little the last couple of seasons. It’s not a big deal to me. If it helps the team, I’m all for it.“
• Montrezl Harrell‘s role with the Rockets will expand while Donatas Motiejunas deals with back issues, and despite the rookie being the leading scorer for Houston’s D-League affiliate, the power forward is willing to do whatever the coaching staff asks of him, Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle relays. “Every time I go down, I don’t focus anything offensive-wise,” Harrell said. “I know that will come. Those are great guys down there I played [with] in summer league. Every time I go down there I focus on playing defense and make sure my rotations are right. Going into the game, I have a scouting report on who I will be guarding and make sure I take great pride in making sure I do my job defending that person.”
• The Spurs have recalled point guard Ray McCallum from their D-League affiliate, the team announced. McCallum is averaging 17.1 points, 4.9 assists and 3.7 rebounds in 37.7 minutes of action through seven total appearances for Austin this season.