Aminu is not a Starter!

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Labinot41

Labinot41

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Stotts has to let Collins start and Aminu coming of the bench, it's about Time. Like Dwight Jaynes said on Twitter: "You cannot give Aminu the ball unless he’s going to shoot it immediately. Otherwise, it’s disaster. Can’t handle or pass. Overrated defender. Would not start on a lot of NBA teams." I think he's 100% right, Aminu shouldn't be a Starter on a Playoff Team, i allways have a Bad feeling when he has the Ball in his hands, i close my eyes when he Starts to dribble, Zach has a 100 Time better bball iq than chief, is a great Defender for his 1st year and can also shot the 3!
 
But Aminu consistently ups his game in the playoffs even going back to his time in Dallas. Yes, Aminu makes some mistakes but he does more good than bad out there. Collins scores 12 points grabs 5 rebounds and makes a couple stops and that makes him better than Aminu all of the sudden?
 
Labinot41 said:
Stotts has to let Collins start and Aminu coming of the bench, it's about Time. Like Dwight Jaynes said on Twitter: "You cannot give Aminu the ball unless he’s going to shoot it immediately. Otherwise, it’s disaster. Can’t handle or pass. Overrated defender. Would not start on a lot of NBA teams." I think he's 100% right, Aminu shouldn't be a Starter on a Playoff Team, i allways have a Bad feeling when he has the Ball in his hands, i close my eyes when he Starts to dribble, Zach has a 100 Time better bball iq than chief, is a great Defender for his 1st year and can also shot the 3!
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We have won 6 games in a row. Now is not the time to start changing things up as the rotation seems to be working very well and Ed and Collins have learned to work together. It's also, not always about who starts, but who finishes and that can be adjusted as to how well players are playing. Aminu has shot very well this year and helped us win many games.
 
CupWizier said:
We have won 6 games in a row. Now is not the time to start changing things up as the rotation seems to be working very well and Ed and Collins have learned to work together. It's also, not always about who starts, but who finishes and that can be adjusted as to how well players are playing. Aminu has shot very well this year and helped us win many games.
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This. You don't switch it up now with less than 20 games left in the season, and riding a hot streak. It's really that simple right now. Maybe next season you think about it.
 
I don't know if it's just me or not but I think I've noticed something with Aminu's form on his shot. He obviously worked really hard to try and fix it over the summer. The times when he has been shooting the lights out his form is more normal looking with the ball in the correct shooting pocket and a good release/follow through. As the season goes on he seems to be reverting back more often to the old style where he puts the ball more to the side and it looks like a catapult being launched. It's really difficult to change your form on your shot but earlier in the year I remember thinking for many games that it looked so much better.
 
I don't care who starts, just who finishes. Right now Terry likes the combination of Davis and Collins in there together. Is it wise to mess with that? Collins will start next year, but right now he needs to just keep getting meaningful minutes.

I also think it was wise to bring him along slowly. Zach has now played in 47 games, some of which were just a few minutes, so he should not be hitting the "rookie wall" yet. But no reason to keep changing the rotation unless it is necessary.

Edit: oops looks like you guys already said this.....
 
Aminu's energy sets an example. Teammates look bad if they don't jump onto his bandwagon and imitate him. It's like the neighborhood rat race, keeping up with the Jones'. Freud called it Penal Envy.

Stotts' system sucks, but succeeds due to hero ball, which emanates from everyone imitating Aminu's energy.
 
I agree with Jaynes. I've said the same thing as recently as last night. So long as Aminu stays in his lane, and when he catches the ball he either shoots or passes right away, he's fine. When he has to make a decision with the ball, the only time it isn't a disaster is when it's blind luck. I don't want him benched as much as I just want him to not exceed his limitations while he's on the court. But yes, I can't wait until Zach replaces him as our starting PF. Until Mo is healthy, Stotts can either start Aminu or bring him off the bench, I don't care. But at some point, when Mo is back, Mo and Zach should start, and Turner and Aminu should come off the bench. That's a damn good bench duo, actually.

I totally get that riding a 5 game win streak is probably not be the best time to change up the lineup. Unless your playing a scrub team and/or the matchups are favorable to experiment with starting Zach. Could the Laker game be such a game? OTOH: That winning lineup already got changed when Mo went down and Turner started.
 
Aminu is like a platoon player in baseball. He does to of three things very well, the rest.... not so much. Still a passable 4, as long as you don't over expose him.
 
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As a huge Collins fan who is miscast as an "Aminu" hater, I disagree.

Aminu needs to not force things. If he plays within himself, he's a decent player that can hit the 3 at a better clip than Collins. Teams are no longer leaving him wide open to double onto Dame/CJ. With Harkless and Aminu in the starting lineup, you have good switch-ability between the two. Collins can guard the 3 as well but not as good as either of those two. Collins plays better with Davis too.

I'm all for having whoever is playing well finish the game though, like Stotts did last night.
 
BBert said:
I totally get that riding a 5 game win streak is probably not be the best time to change up the lineup.
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It's a 6-game winning streak, and definitely not the time to change the starters because Aminu struggled in a game where Collins had his best outing.

Collins and Davis are great fits together. They like playing with each other. Maybe give Collins more run if he's playing well but I still like the Harkless/Aminu starting lineup (until we can get someone better like Otto Porter Jr. this summer).
 
Collins probably should just play his solid 20-28 minutes that he’s been gettin recently and continue to grow. If he does what he did last night at a consistent rate this month, I’d be inclined to change my mind though. I just feel comfortable with the vet presence right now and then letting Collins start next year. Next year is Zco’s big come up.
 
hoopsjock said:
I don't know if it's just me or not but I think I've noticed something with Aminu's form on his shot. He obviously worked really hard to try and fix it over the summer. The times when he has been shooting the lights out his form is more normal looking with the ball in the correct shooting pocket and a good release/follow through. As the season goes on he seems to be reverting back more often to the old style where he puts the ball more to the side and it looks like a catapult being launched. It's really difficult to change your form on your shot but earlier in the year I remember thinking for many games that it looked so much better.
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Really? To me, it seems it has been the same all year. Right next to his head. If he did something different earlier in the year, I definitely didn't notice and I'm a big Aminu fan.
 
The more important conversation is, what is Aminu's trade value? I think it's obvious they try to trade him and pieces for a legit SF, start Collins at PF, and then get a backup 4 by either using the tax-payer MLE to sign Ersan Ilyasova, Trevor Booker, Kyle O'Quinn, or Amir Johnson, or using our trade exception+spare parts to trade for JaMychal Green, Jon Lueur, Dwight Powell, or centers that can shoot like Kelly Olynyk or DeWayne Dedmon (Davis could play PF next to them).

I could see us doing some sort of 3 team trade where Harkless goes to New York, New York sends a couple 2nds to a 3rd team which also gets Aminu and 1sts from us, and us getting back a legit SF. We could get back around $23M by doing that, with the 3rd team saving money from sending out a big contract for Aminu. We could also use our trade exception to save that team more money. For example:

NYK Gets: Maurice Harkless, Caleb Swanigan
POR Gets: Otto Porter Jr., Jason Smith*, Jodie Meeks*,
WAS Gets: Al-Farouq Aminu, Jake Layman, 2018 POR 1st, 2019 MIN/LAL 2nd, 2018 NYK 2nd, 2019 NYK 2nd, (maybe another future POR 1st?)
*Acquired using trade exception

Washington has Oubre at SF who could be their future. I have the feeling they'll want to save money this summer and saving $25M to clear a starting spot for Oubre while getting back a good rotation player and picks might make sense. For Portland we'd have Dame, CJ, Porter, Napier, Connaughton, and Turner on the perimeter. We could potentially add a future 1st to Turner's contract (if we only trade one in the Porter trade) and that would save a lot of tax money and Connaughton could be our backup SF. Just spitballing. I don't think Aminu will be here next year.
 
I do think Aminu will be here. Neil drafted him, he's on a great contract, he's a reliable three point shooter, he's versatile on defense, and he plays better in the playoffs. I realize what I just said makes him a valuable trade chip, but I don't see Neil letting him go. The Aminu contract is a highlight of Neil's work in Portland. All of that said, Otto Porter is a good player too.
 
KingSpeed said:
Hahahaha I know. Aminu has better games than that all the time and gets no such credit.
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He has more Bad Games than good Games, if this Team want's to take a Step to another Level, it needs another PF, because Aminu isn't a Starter or shouldn't see heavy minutes on a Playoff Team. Thats simple. It has nothing to do with 'loosing mind', the reality is Zach is the Future, and need as many minutes as possible at the 4
 
1) Agreeing with Jaynes is generally a dubious proposition, though he's not always wrong.

2) I love me some Collins, and have since we drafted him, but he hasn't showed yet. Stotts is bringing him on
slowly, but he deserved the PT he got last night. Let's let that process continue organically. He was pretty
good in January, but relapsed to extremely mediocre (stats-wise) in February. We're only 2 days into March.

3) We're on a streak, no need to change right now.

4) Wanna be pissed, I mean howling at the moon mad? Just watch the refs officiate Collins in the playoffs.
They already screw him over, regularly - it'll be worse in the playoffs, precisely when we won't be able to afford it.
 
Labinot41 said:
He has more Bad Games than good Games, if this Team want's to take a Step to another Level, it needs another PF, because Aminu isn't a Starter or shouldn't see heavy minutes on a Playoff Team. Thats simple. It has nothing to do with 'loosing mind', the reality is Zach is the Future, and need as many minutes as possible at the 4
Click to expand...

If this is the case, why was it reported last year.
Playoff teams looking to make a run in the playoffs were inquiring about the availability of Aminu?
Nothing has changed. Aminu for his faults, is a pretty damn good role player.

Zach might be the future but right now he's not clearly better than Aminu.
I'd also put big money on teams taking advantage of a rookie starting. Where it's a little more difficult if he's coming off the bench.

Stotts is making the right call by bringing Collins along slowly. Afterall Portland is 11 games over .500 for a reason.
 
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