Alade Aminu Shines in the Desert Heat

By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

Former Georgia Tech forward Alade Aminu is still seeking his fortune in the world of professional basketball. While his younger brother, Al-Farouq, has entered the NBA with much fanfare after being a top-10 draft pick this summer, Alade was undrafted coming out of college in 2009. And he toiled in the NBA’s developmental league last season, although he did achieve All-Star status in that league. So, the summer league presented another important opportunity to shine in front of NBA personnel. He played for the Atlanta Hawks’ entry in the Las Vegas Summer League this past week and he did do his best to stand out.

The first impression of Alade is that he is incredibly long, with good height at 6’10” and very long arms. He was very active in all five games, consistently in the middle of the action on both offense and defense.  He averaged 10 points per game, with 4.4 rebounds per game, and 1.4 blocked shots per game. He was much more effective on defense, demonstrating good jumping ability and shot-blocking prowess. He ran the court like a gazelle, and jumped like a jackrabbit. He was a little more raw on offense, doing a good job of following shots for put-backs but without demonstrating a polished post game. But the most important thing may be that he demonstrated his ability to play not only power forward but also the center position, which clearly adds to his value. So, while Alade could use further polishing of his skills, especially on offense, he showed enough promise this past week to get invited to training camp this fall, with Atlanta or some other NBA team.

He only had a brief cup of coffee with the Miami Heat this past season, so he is hoping to see more time on an NBA roster this coming year. But in an era where athleticism is favored over bulk when it comes to big men, brother Alade just may have some real opportunities to come. And his stint this summer may be just the start.

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