This is the Al-Farouq Aminu the Blazers thought they were going to be getting this season after a career year last season. The Aminu who can shoot three-pointers and have them go in. I mean, the seven million dollars he’s getting isn’t just for his defense. It was for his nascent scoring ability, which has regressed on all counts from last season.
The first four months of the season, Aminu shot well below 30% on three-point attempts. Since February, he’s well above 40%. Forget about Jusuf Nurkic for a minute, this is the REAL reason that the Blazers are improving at just the right time: because they their stretch four type dude can actually be stretchy instead of just bricky and sucky. Okay, maybe Nurkic has something to do with it to. But don’t underestimate the power of an adequate big-man three-point shooter on a team whose only good three-point shooters are guards.
Also, I thought Aminu was definitely a small forward before, but now it seems like he’s exclusively a power forward? So he just sort of magically turned into a big man without actually getting any taller. Spooky.