Report: Al-Farouq Aminu to Sign with Blazers
Former Wake Forest forward Al-Farouq Aminu has agreed to a four year thirty million dollar contract with the Portland Trail Blazers according to reports from Ken Berger of CBS Sports. Aminu spent last year with the Mavericks.
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Aminu is seen as a good defensive player which takes advantage of his great wingspan and frame. He has never fit comfortably either at the small or power forward, since he is a true tweener. He averaged six points and five rebounds per game last year for Dallas.
Portland likely sees Aminu as a building block on their post LaMarcus Aldridge team. Aminu can now join Duke veterans Mason Plumlee and Gerald Henderson on that roster. Portland also just locked down Damian Lillard. At the moment Lillard is surrounded by a number of good defensive players, but no obvious scorer with the exception of Henderson.
Another thing to remember is that Aminu is only twenty-four. There is still a chance that his game will develop to match his athleticism. If not, he is only sitting on $7.5 million a year in a League where the salary cap is about to take a big jump next year.
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Aminu is a reminder that there are a fair number of former Deacs running around the NBA. While Tim Duncan and Chris Paul are the most notable they are not alone. Ish Smith captained the Philadelphia 76ers offense for parts of last season, while James Johnson was on a playoff team in Toronto. Hopefully new coach Danny Manning will send more prospects into the draft from Winston-Salem.
Just a reminder that no deals are official until July 9th. Currently we are only in the window for talking to players. Until then this is just a report, nothing more.