A torn meniscus has forced Al-Farouq Aminu off the court for the Orlando Magic. Not that he was making a big impact when playing anyway.
The Orlando Magic bet big on their returning core this offseason and so far that confidence has not been rewarded. Instead they have seen key guys like Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Gordon go down with injury. It is not all bad though, as Markelle Fultz continues to improve and is really efficient, while Jonathan Isaac looks like he is going to truly break out soon.
Even Evan Fournier, the subject of much negative debate for Magic fans, has lifted his game, turning in the kind of offensive performances they desperately need with Vucevic gone down. However, one area where things have gone even worse than planned is with their free agent acquisition, Al-Farouq Aminu.
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Signed to a three-year, $29 million deal during the summer after some impressive play with his former employers, the Portland Trail Blazers, Aminu has failed to really get it going coming off the bench in Orlando, struggling in his new role. So much so, that he may yet go down as the first real misstep of this front office’s time in charge.
How did this happen, and is there any way it can be fixed?
Starting with the positives, the fact is no matter what this won’t go down as a terrible signing regardless of what happens next. The nature of Aminu’s deal means that the absolute worst case scenario is that he is traded. The fact he can be moved at all is a plus; remember that only a unique set of circumstances allowed Orlando to move a guy like Bismack Biyombo off the roster.
Aminu is an above-average defender and on that kind of money teams on the playoff bubble can talk themselves into him around the trade deadline. He has to be healthy, of course, and in reality this isn’t likely to happen this season after Aminu tore the meniscus in his right knee.
Combine that with the front office’s eye for talent and reclamation projects and it is not silly to think they could get something small back for him in future.
Digging into why it has not gone to plan so far though — on paper it looked like the right kind of player joining a system and organization that fit his skills better than most. Aminu would have known he was joining the Magic as an enforcer off the bench, but the simple issue is that they were already pretty good on this end to close out last season.
Their bench was powered by Khem Birch on that end, while guys like Wesley Iwundu and Michael Carter-Williams chipped in. Putting Aminu with those guys is not only a luxury, but detrimental to their ability to score. It is not surprising then that the Magic currently rank dead last (102.5) offensively and their bench is a big reason for this.
Fournier is really the only person keeping the Magic in this one. He’s been their offense from the start. They struggled to create anything when he was on the bench late in the third. Still, Orlando finds themselves down one in the fourth.
— Zach Oliver (@ZachOliverNBA) December 2, 2019
There is nobody on that unit, with the exception of Terrence Ross, who looks capable of creating their own shot. More importantly, they don’t know how to get others going. Even Ross isn’t a brilliant creator, instead working really well off of screens and the movement of others. Only there isn’t any of that when the bench is in the game and it shows.
Adding Aminu to that group was like mixing cement and oil, a sticky situation. It is no coincidence that he has looked at his best and most comfortable when playing with the starters when Gordon was out with an ankle injury. But when everybody is fully fit, that will not be how he is used, which leads us to ask again: Did the front office mess up in signing him?
The so-called 3-and-D players are still highly sought after in this league and there’s no question that Aminu brings that D each time he plays. Both in how he defends opponents and within a wider scheme, it was clear in the limited run that he has had with the Magic so far that he is comfortable on that end.
The 3-point aspect however is a different story. Aminu is a 33 percent shooter from deep for his career, a number that is below bearable, but capable of being worked on. So far with the Magic he has shot 25 percent from 3-point range, his worst in years and not acceptable for a team that ranks last in this category (31.2 percent).
The problem here, and again this is something that should have been foreseen when he was signed, is there is little space for Aminu to work with. With the Trail Blazers he was given open looks because of the attention Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum command. Last season they had also had Seth Curry and even Rodney Hood got hot there for a short time.
The Magic should have realized that they have few such players capable of drawing attention away from guys like Aminu. He can do well as the fourth or fifth offensive option on the court at any given time. The problem is, beyond Ross the bench has nobody, meaning Aminu can be marked tighter. His poorer shooting reflects this.
This is also why he looked better and more free playing with the starters. Vucevic is their best offensive player, while Fultz spots passing lanes already that a lot of other players do not. He is also able to get into the paint extremely well, collapsing the defense so that Aminu can get to work if the ball winds up in his hands.
All in all this has been a bad fit so far for both player and team. The issue is that once he returns from injury in 2020, these problems are going to return. There is no quick fix for this pairing, barring a trade, and it will be interesting to see how the front office, which has done a wonderful job up to this point, manages to swing this one around.