Blazers Player Profile: Al-Farouq Aminu

With the preseason revving up Monday for the Trail Blazers, you may need to think twice about declining that ad-infested media guide that the yellow-vested usher offers you as you walk into the Moda Center. With the massive training camp roster at 18 strong, Blazer fans are currently being treated to 12 new faces on the squad, some of whom will sound familiar, while others are new to the NBA altogether.

Though many of those new faces will have that ill-fated conversation with Coach Terry Stotts and the rest of the Blazers brass that starts something like, “You’ve done a great job in your time here, but after evaluating the rest of the roster…”, it still is worth looking at everyone and seeing what they bring to the table.

I considered introducing one of those players that might not be around for long first, but after thinking again, a man who garnered a four-year, $30 million contract despite career averages of 6.4PPG and 5.3RPG on 44 percent shooting (29 percent from deep), seemed like a better idea. Al-Farouq Aminu’s signing was, depending on who you asked, anything from a bargin to desperate, but the truth probably falls somewhere in between. What should we make of this 25-year-old, 5-year NBA vet that was at one time a top recruit and now is a big question mark? Let’s take a look at his past and use that to formulate an idea of what he will look like in Rip City.

Note: Carlos Diaz covered some specifics on his numbers and how Aminu could fit in Portland here. This article is more of a look at his career path to Portland and you should absolutely give Carlos’ article a look for more details on the $30 million man.

Sep 28, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward Al-Farouq Aminu (8) poses during media day at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports

Pre-NBA

It seems like there are as many recruiting websites as there are actual recruits nowadays, but when I was growing up there were two: Rivals.com and Scout.com. Those sites had Aminu ranked 7th and 13th in the nation, respectively, coming out of Norcross High School, fresh off being named McDonald’s All-American in a season that saw him put up 23.1 PPG and 11.2 RPG while carrying his team to a 29-2 record.

He went on to play two seasons at Wake Forest, starting in 60 of his 62 career games played, alongside fellow current NBA players Jeff Teague, Ish Smith and James Johnson. Aminu averaged nice numbers at Wake, 14.4 PPG and 9.5 RPG, but the potential for a rude awakening in the NBA was always a real possibility. Shooting 49 percent from the field but just 23 percent from three told me one thing: this guy is a slasher who will struggle at the next level. How often do you see elite level players in high school and college flame out once they get to the NBA when they can’t simply slice down the lane for a slam? With his inability to be a consistent threat from deep, coupled with his iffy ball handling skills and thin-ish build (6’9, 215 lbs), Aminu’s subpar career thus far shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.

NBA

Despite the red flags, the Los Angles Clippers took a chance on the American-Nigerian with the 8th pick in the 2010 NBA draft. It is always a bit unfair, especially to the player, to retroactively look at who was drafted after him and hold him to that standard, but it’s hard to ignore names like Gordon Hayward, Paul George, Eric Bledsoe and many others that David Stern called after Aminu.

Coming off the bench for the majority of his rookie season, Aminu showed some flashes of real talent, scoring a still career high 20 points in just his 8th career game. Those flashes were just that though, as Aminu coasted to modest season averages of 5.6 PPG, 3.3 RPG while shooting 39 percent from the field and 32 percent from deep in about 18 minutes of action a night. Clearly LAC didn’t see enough from him to insist on keeping him on the roster as they packaged him with Eric Gordon and Chris Kaman in the now infamous Chris Paul trade with New Orleans.

Aminu played three seasons for NOLA, putting up improved numbers of 6.8 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 1 SPG, while shooting 45 percent overall (25 percent from deep). In the 2012-13 season, he bumped those scoring and rebound numbers up one each while shooting an impressive 48 percent from the field.

Jan 24, 2014; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; New Orleans Pelicans small forward Al-Farouq Aminu (0) during the first quarter against the Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

Following the 13-14 season, Aminu changed addresses again, this time heading to Dallas where he did nothing of note, until the playoffs that is. While the Mavs bowed out to one of the eventual Western Conference Finalists, the Rockets, in five games, Aminu raised a few eyebrows. After playing a modest 19 minutes per game during the regular season, the Norcross, GA native played 30 minutes a game, putting up 11 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 2 SPG, 1.8 BPG while shooting (get ready for this), 55 percent overall and 64 percent(!!) from deep. Now, 7-11 from deep over five games doesn’t rewrite history, but it is a reason for some level of optimism.

As free agency opened this summer, the Blazers made some sneaky-good signings/roster moves (Ed Davis, Noah Vonleh, among others, all of whom we will touch on at a later date), but Aminu’s deal certainly grabbed the most attention. With the impending mega-TV deal due to send cap space soaring, that $30 million isn’t anywhere close to being as impactful on cap space as it once was, so really you should be thinking of that as if it’s a veterans minimum contract under the current deal.

What to expect

The guy is no Nic Batum, but I think there are some similarities that Blazer fans can feel good about. Aminu does have the ability to guard both forward positions, a skill that comes in handy with all the stretch-four players littered around the NBA right now. The gaudy-for-him playoff numbers aside, he really put together some really nice performances over the last month and a half of the season, rebounding at a high rate and doing some nice things on the offensive end.

At what point do you say a guy “just is what he is”? At 25, is it too early to permanently declare that Aminu is always going to be what he has been to this point: a guy who hurts you offensively because he demands no respect outside of 20 feet but defends at an above average level? Maybe so. Though I wouldn’t expect him to suddenly become a lights out shooter from deep, it would be nice to see if he can make a DaMarre Carrol-like jump (Carrol was 7-for-26 from deep in his first five years in the NBA. Last season he shot 40%).

In addition to Davis, Vonleh and Moe Harkless, Coach Stotts could use Aminu to do some fun things defensively while crossing his fingers that he becomes, at least, a player who can hit a few open jumpers a game. Overall, realizing that the team is in rebuild mode and the $30 million is actually a good deal, I like this signing. Let’s see what he can do on both sides of the ball and hold off judgement until next summer.