The Portland Trail Blazers are expected to take a pretty significant step back next season after losing LaMarcus Aldridge in free agency and trading Nicolas Batum to the Charlotte Hornets. The biggest addition the Blazers made this offseason was Al-Farouq Aminu whom they gave a four year $30 million contract to. To help prepare for the season Aminu will reportedly play for the Nigerian National team in the upcoming months, according to Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype.com.
Aminu has previously played for the Nigerian team in the 2012 Olympics and 2013 Afrobasket and will now join the team as it is set to compete at the Afrobasket again in about a month. Afrobasket is the Olympic qualifying tournament for all of the African nations, and whichever team wins will play in the 2016 Olympics. Aminu is the most notable player on the Nigerian team, although he was born in Atlanta, and he will be a huge help to them in qualifying.
The Blazers are clearly expecting a lot from Aminu based on the contract he received. Aminu has been a very good defensive player since coming into the NBA but hasn't provided much offense to this point in his career, so the Blazers are paying him for his potential more than his past work. Aminu has played with three teams in five seasons in the NBA and is still just going to be 25 years old when next season starts.
So far in his career Aminu is averaging 6.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting 44 percent from the field. Aminu is a 6-foot-9 small forward who is more of a slasher than a perimeter player, as he is not much of a three-point shooter at 29 percent for his career and not showing signs of improvement.
Aminu is the likely starter at small forward for the Blazers going forward, and they will be expecting a huge leap forward from him. His defense has been a given throughout his career, now it will just be a matter of whether he can score the ball enough to warrant the huge contract he received. Aminu playing for the Nigerian National team in Afrobasket will give him a head start on a lot of guys heading into the 2015-16 season and will show if he has improved his offensive game in the offseason.
