Last season, Al-Farouq Aminu and Maurice Harkless were the critically important pieces that formed the defensive backbone and stopped the Portland Trail Blazers from being ran out of the gym on that end of the floor each night.
But after Aminu signed a $29 million contract with Orlando and Harkless was shipped out to Los Angeles to make room for Portland’s new addition in Hassan Whiteside, the Blazers will have to look for creative alternatives to fill their hole for a dependable defender on the perimeter. The pair combined for 2.