Dallas Mavericks expect Al-Farouq Aminu to fill Shawn Marion void
By Bryan Rose
Already stacked with solid talent, the Dallas Mavericks have put themselves on the map as a title contender thanks to an impressive offseason.
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In addition to trading for Tyson Chandler who reinforces Dallas’ defense, the team also signed sharp shooting forward Chandler Parsons. Those weren’t the Mavericks’ only solid additions though as the team also signed Al-Farouq Aminu.
A former lottery pick, Al-Farouq Aminu has struggled with the New Orleans Pelicans though the hope is that the small forward will be able to replace the void left by Shawn Marion who signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban couldn’t contain his excitement when speaking about Aminu during a recent interview.
“He’s been the last two years the best rebounding small forward in the NBA. It’s not even close,” Cuban said in regard to Aminu’s addition. “You know, it’s kind of like Shawn Marion. Not to compare the two, but sometimes just going to a new location takes you out of the perception that your former team had of you and puts you in a new position to succeed. And I think Al is just going to be a stud. He literally was one of the first calls I made during free agency, because we were hoping that we could get him as kind of a young stud defensively that we can put in. And we think in our system that he’ll be able to produce offensively much better.”
Marion during his prime was a far better defender than Aminu is currently, though it’s very possible the Dallas Mavericks won’t see much of a drop off from the current Marion as Aminu remains one of the better defending forwards in the NBA.