I posted a recap of Joe's press conference here: http://www.pistonsforum.com/detroit...n/6951-joe-d-post-draft-press-conference.html Feel free to leave a comment!
Hopefully this means that Flip is going, and not Chauncey. Stuckey Afflalo/Stuckey/Flip M. Amir/J Max Amir/J Max/Dice Dale (might not return)/Nazr This team is weak at center in both the starting lineup and off the bench, unless Nazr can start playing faster somehow with the bench. I don't get the 57th pick.
How can we compare Afflalo to Rip? Rip is taller, faster, quicker, longer. I'd probably compare him more to Michael Curry. A slowfooted guy who plays smart and gets the most out of his limited physical abilities. I'll concede that Afflalo is probably a better shooter.
I won't. Curry was a very capable shooter. He proved that immediately when he was in Milwaukee and dropping jumpers on us. He actually had multiple years of 40-44% shooting from 3 point land . We would only be so lucky to see the same from Afflalo.
Anybody find any actual measurements on Afflalo? Does he at least have GREAT hands if he's not very athletic?
How many times have you seen Affalo play? We are not talking about a track meet? Affalo is not slow, that is hysterical. A guy doesn't get to be Pac 10 player of the year, but not being one of the better player's in the country. Yes I know ESPN and TNT don't think that basketball exists west of the Rockies. Well a lot of people don't think college football or college baseball exists west of the Rockies either. That is their problem. Whether Afallo makes it with the Pistons or not he will make in the NBA as a solid backup or starter.
I've only seen him play once - for about 5 minutes - and wasn't impressed. One memory in particular stands out to me. He came from under the basket along the baseline and tried to make a turn around, fall away jumper. I saw no explosiveness, no lift, and no basket. I hope you and Joe have seen more than I have and are making a more rational judgement on his ability. What I saw was a guy who looked like he would struggle getting shots off against the super athletes in the NBA. Again, I only saw him once (in addition to the "highlight" clips last night after he was selected - which, by the way seemed to confirm my judgement). Hopefully, the body of his work at UCLA will project into the NBA as well.
Aaron Afflalo: The Next Raja Bell? - Sports Blog - The FanHouse http://www.texassports.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=16&url_article_id=6240&change_well_id=2
Afflalo's known intangibles are percieved as higher than Splitters. mmmm/....splitter.... I'm warming up to the guy.
You don't get to be a first team All-American and Pac 10 player of the year based on intangibles. You also don't lead a team without a decent front court player to the Final Four two years in a row on intangibles.
Afflalo was the guy I wanted at #27. This reminds me of the Maxiel pick a lot. He can shoot and play defense. Like Maxiel, I saw a lot of games and they always impressed. Their measurbles were not great which is a huge reason they slipped, but both always seemed to be the best player on the court. This doesn't mean theyll be great NBA players, but servicble-to good bench guys at the least. Afflalo is a good shooter and defender. Last time I checked basketball was about shooting and defense.
Kpaav, Agree. All we need from Afflalo next year is perimeter defense, our weakest aspect of the team. If he can score some, great. But we need perimeter defense badly.
He will score off jump shooting. He does not have a bad jump shot like everyone is saying. In fact his greatest strength is shooting according to this
to be seen if your on the mark there or not, but there was some serious talent on the front line of those state teams.
Mo Pete - Ok Granger - Uhh Antonio Smith - Uhh 1 of the two years Andre Hutson - Uhh JRich - Bench player one of the two years. Those are all real good college players but not 'serious talent'. And you won't find a bigger Andre Hutson fan around. Mbah a mute or WhateverTF and Schipp and Mata the ratboy center were not bad frontcourt players either.
Did any of you guys watch the NCAA games in March. I was fortunate enough to catch some UCLA games because I generally take leave during the NCAA championship games. Got a chance to watch Afflalo, the guy is not bad at all. He was completely of my radar during the draft. He looked pretty good. UCLA was one of my picks for the Elite 8, therefore, I was really interested in them winning naturally. Afflalo is no slouch, I think they were playing Memphis if my memory serves me right, the guy was raining perimeter shots and was unstoppable. The guys here at work feel that the Afflalo pick may be the prize moreso than Stuckey because we were all watching the UCLA games and half of us were betting top dollar on the Bruins.
