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The Portland Trail Blazers exceeded everyone’s expectations this season. They deserve a lot of praise for that, and head coach Terry Stotts has gotten more out of this crew than any analyst could’ve predicted. Stotts probably should’ve won the NBA‘s Coach of the Year award; however, that honor went to Steve Kerr.
The Blazers will soon be eliminated from the playoffs by Kerr’s Golden State Warriors, but Stotts’ squad should feel good about how far they came this season. No one thought the Blazers would make the playoffs, but somehow they found a way to get there. They even advanced past the first round.
One of the players they must try to upgrade is Al-Farouq Aminu. He is a passable small forward, but he won’t get anything done against players like Kevin Durant or Kawhi Leonard. Aminu averaged 10.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game this season, and those aren’t great numbers from someone who played so many minutes. His PER is only eighth best on the team, and that isn’t what you would expect from a starter. He is a durable player, but that doesn’t necessarily make him effective.
The other reason the Blazers should move on is due to a social issue. Aminu tweeted some things about the LGBT community several years ago that recently resurfaced, and the city of Portland, in particular, isn’t likely to embrace someone like that. It would be more kind for the Blazers to let him move on. Aminu certainly never thought that his words would come up again, but he must still pay the consequences.
The Blazers would be crazy to keep Aminu around next season, and there will be plenty of options to get a better player than him either through a trade or free agency. He dug his grave, and he must now lie in it.
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