Welcome Arron Afflalo!
- Thread starter Kingfanpaul
- Start date
Bosnian Diehard
Starter
Joerger>Fisher/Rambis
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
Not a fan of this signing but I will take it over getting Waiters and the positive here is it's only a two year deal. Afflalo is on his last leg, I don't really have much faith in him being that much more productive than Ben, if he so happens to still be on this roster come October.
Glenn
Hall of Famer
Indeed. I guess I expected more. Then again, I believe I was one of a few who thought the team we had last year could have made the playoffs with a different coach.
Section 101
All-Star
Its more like a 1 year deal.
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
so try again next year to find that ever so highly coveted SG?
So... Arron Afflalo really seems to like the number 4. He's worn it everywhere he's had the opportunity: had to wear #28 as a rookie in Detroit, because it was retired for Joe Dumars. Wore #6 his first run in Denver, because Kenyon Martin was wearing it; wore #10 his second run in Denver, because Randy Foye was wearing it.
Number Four was retired in Sacramento, to honor Chris Webber. Which number do you think Afflalo will wear for the Kings?
Number Four was retired in Sacramento, to honor Chris Webber. Which number do you think Afflalo will wear for the Kings?
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Iced Espresso
Starter
28, no Kings have worn it.
jcwkings
All-Star
Well we should have Bogdanovic coming next season and we just drafted Richardson in the first round. Was there really a SG of the future to be had in this years free agent class? All SG's available were veteran rotation guys, unless you want to gamble big on Waiters. Courtney Lee is better but Afflalo's one year with option fits better with what it seems the FO is trying to construct(a team that can compete next season while not going all in on it and having flexibility to make moves if things don't go right). With Afflalo we at least have a serviceable NBA starting caliber SG.
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
so come next year, if Ben remains on the team, the Kings have four SG's on the roster?
ParniValjak
All-Star
Even with this signing that backcourt is paper thin. Still no depth at SG or PG. Frontcourt now officially stacked.
chasen4r1
Starter
One of the rookies took #10.. I think it was Cousins? I bet Afflalo takes 10.
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
You better respect that man!:
http://nypost.com/2016/03/30/are-knicks-trying-to-frustrate-arron-afflalo-into-leaving/
if they all end up being quality players, that's a good problem to have.
If Ben doesn't show improvement this year, he's a RFA next year I believe.
Afflalo's is only partially guaranteed so if Ben and Afflalo are bad, the Kings have only 2 SG's.
Expecting Afflalo to magically start playing defense just because he joined Kings is the same trap as expecting redshirt freshman SG, who was playing PF until coming to college, to be an NBA starter. Afflalo hasn't done it in years.
Somehow people are convinced, that a former #27 pick, who is a suspect defender and average shooter, is going to come in and instantly grab that starting spot.
Unreasonable expectations are the way for resentment to appear:
Somehow people are convinced, that a former #27 pick, who is a suspect defender and average shooter, is going to come in and instantly grab that starting spot.
Unreasonable expectations are the way for resentment to appear:
- multiple posters consider Ben a total bum, when he's perfectly fine backup
- same way people will call Afflalo worst starter in the NBA within by December
- and, of course, similar thing will happen with Bogdan, and I'm not sure, Kings' FO is even seeing a starter in him. Getting a guy of Gerald Henderson out of him would be a reasonable outcome
biltalent
Starter
I agree with you on Ben and Bogdanovic. Your also right that Arron is not a lockdown defender anymore and surely not a defensive savior. But I think with Afflalo it will depend on how he is motivated. Which Afflalo will we get?
At the start of the season under Fisher he was much more engaged and played solid defense. He certainly has lost his explosiveness but he used his body well to deny opponents what they wanted to do. Towards the end of the season he clashed with Rambis and didnt care at all about running back and playing defense.
I am confident though that Joerger can get him back to be a solid starter for 28 min per game.
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Arron Afflalo has started 472 of his last 499 games in the NBA. Given the utter and complete lack of competition for the spot, penciling him in as the starter is pretty damn safe.
Now expecting him to be dynamic in that role is not. But he doesn't have to be. Ever since the new post Maloof regime took over and proved that the one thing Geoff Petire knew much MUCH better than they did was Geoff's old position of SG, we have actively lost games at that position every year. If Afflalo can do no more than be his drab and boring self, with a little more effort on defense that you might expect to get from him under the best/most defensive coach he's had, we will gain relative to the last 3 years. Be a drab pro. Show up most nights and chip in 12-14pts a night. Hit most of your open spot ups, have an ability to make the occasional 1 on 1 postup. Make solid decisions and play within yourself. Its all we need to improve there. Just be within the normal range of pro SGs and don't actually HURT us most nights. exciting? No. We have Cuz for excitement. We just need the SG position to quit dragging us down. Just be stable and professional and dependably modestly productive. That's all that's required. Aim for a B- and just hit it every night.
KingsFanGER
Starter
Good move by the Knicks. 4 year 50 million for a guy, who plays good to great defense and can shoot versus 2 year 25 million for a guy who can shoot, but doesn't play defense......
I'm fed up.
I'm fed up.
biltalent
Starter
I have to disagree with that. A 4 year deal for Courtney Lee that high is going to look bad for the third and fourth year even under a 105 mil cap. Another thing to consider is that we probably would have to pay him even more.
Best case scenario in my opinion would have been Allen Crabbe and then Courtney Lee on a shorter deal. But the Afflalo deal is fine. He played solid defense for the first half of the year. His offense game is still good. He excels in areas where we need help badly, namely ball handling, decision making and being smart. He provides us a second ball handler and a good shooter.
If Joergen can get him back to that level he was at for the first half of year with the Knicks we are fine. Then we filled our starting Sg spot with a solid vet for 2 years until either Mclemore, Bogdanovic or Richardson are ready. If not then we trade him to a team that wants cap space or we just cut him because the 2nd year is barely guaranteed.
KingsFanGER
Starter
Well the disappointment may drag my mood down a bit, but I just can't agree with you.
Afflalo played on the Knicks. A team literally going nowhere. And he wasn't one of the best players for this team. He was inconsistent with his shooting and why you call his defense solid is beyond me.
I didn't watch a whole lot of Knicks games, but in the 10 - 20 games I did watch, Afflalo wasn't the same player from a few years ago.
Yes he is still a skilled player. He got some savy lost post moves and can handle the ball. And I believe that's why Vlade liked him. Vlade seems to be a GM, who looks at the offensive skillset of players first. He obviously doesn't believe in athletic wings, who hustle and drive straight and hit jumpshots or else he would have drafted Stanley Johnson and would have gone hard after Hill, Harkless or Lee.
But in this league, you no longer need a SG, who can create his own shot. At least you don't need it as much as a SG, who can DEFEND.
Courtney Lee is 30. Tony Allen is 34 and is still one of the best defenders out there. So it's not that it's a sure thing, that Lee will fall of a cliff in two years. And right now Lee is on a completely different level than Afflalo. If you watched Charlotte in the PO's you can't deny that. Most valuable FA's are already signed and the Kings still didn't go anywhere. We still are on of the worst defensive teams on paper. We still don't have any length on the perimeter. We still don't have any valuable hustle guys.
And yet we as fans try to be positive and talk about, how it's smart not to "overpay" for guys like Hill or Lee, who actually could have helped this team to win more games....
Ok we have a stopgap at SG and can hope, that one of the young guns comes along. I get that. Afflalo is a reasonable contract for a team, that wants to rebuild soon.
But why drag out the inevitable? If you want to rebuild, do it know. Be honest about it and don't waste another year of Cousins career, only to see him struggle to reach 35 wins again with his bunch of misfits, washed up veterans and inexperienced lads.
I'm tired of it. Every year you hope for a step forward, only to see lateral moves at best.
Mass
Starter
One thing people should think about is that we can't just get out there and sign whoever whe want. Players actually need to be willing to play here. So I know it's nice and cool to pretend we know better then Vlade, we should sign this or that player instead of the ones we got, but I'm pretty sure it's not as easy as we might think.
Sacramento is not a hot destination for free agents. So right now, until we get better (hopefully), we just need to do the best we can with what we have.
Afflalo is fine. He's not the best option, but maybe he's the best option we can get.
Sacramento is not a hot destination for free agents. So right now, until we get better (hopefully), we just need to do the best we can with what we have.
Afflalo is fine. He's not the best option, but maybe he's the best option we can get.
KingsFanGER
Starter
I'm not a guy, who pretends he knows better than Vlade. I'm a frustrated fan with an opinion like everybody else here.
Yes I know it might be not easy to sign FA's in SAC. But it's not like Lee or Hill signed with contenders. Lee chose the Knicks, Hill the Pelicans. If we can't beat those teams in FA, we are lucky there is no relegation in NBA basketball and we don't find ourselves touring the minor leagues next season.
biltalent
Starter
I don't think you and I differ that much in our opinion. Like you I wished this team would have made defense a priority a long time ago. And I also liked Lee good enough to put him at #3 on my free Agent SG list after Bazemore and Crabbe.
Regarding watching Afflalo, i didnt watch the Knicks during the season but since yesterday I watched 2 randomly selected games under Fisher and one game under Rambis and focused only on Afflalo to see how he played. And I think under Fisher his defense was solid. Not a lock down defender but got the job done. One game was against the Twolves where he was matched up against Wiggins. Accordingly he smartly played the drive and denied Wiggins any path to the rim, daring him to shoot or beating him posting up. He was engaged and chased guys coming of screens. He was very good offensively as well.
The game under Rambis was completely different. He was absolute terrible. He was benched a few days earlier and seemingly didnt agree with that. He showed no effort or pride and was completely checked out mentally. So it's not as black and white as people think it is. Again the question is: Which Afflalo do we get? I guess we just have to wait and see. I could be completely wrong and he turns out be done. But I hope Joerger gets him to buy in
KingsFanGER
Starter
I don't think you and I differ that much in our opinion. Like you I wished this team would have made defense a priority a long time ago. And I also liked Lee good enough to put him at #3 on my free Agent SG list after Bazemore and Crabbe.
Regarding watching Afflalo, i didnt watch the Knicks during the season but since yesterday I watched 2 randomly selected games under Fisher and one game under Rambis and focused only on Afflalo to see how he played. And I think under Fisher his defense was solid. Not a lock down defender but got the job done. One game was against the Twolves where he was matched up against Wiggins. Accordingly he smartly played the drive and denied Wiggins any path to the rim, daring him to shoot or beating him posting up. He was engaged and chased guys coming of screens. He was very good offensively as well.
The game under Rambis was completely different. He was absolute terrible. He was benched a few days earlier and seemingly didnt agree with that. He showed no effort or pride and was completely checked out mentally. So it's not as black and white as people think it is. Again the question is: Which Afflalo do we get? I guess we just have to wait and see. I could be completely wrong and he turns out be done. But I hope Joerger gets him to buy in
So lets hope the Afflalo you saw under Fisher shows up.
I think I just needed to vent my frustration a bit.
Mass
Starter
Compete with the Knicks in free agency? Of course we can't. That's New York. It will always be a favourite destination for free agents.
And New Orleans had to overpay for Hill. I liked Hill as a player with potential, but I'm happy we didn't throw 13 millions at him.
The fact is that I understand your point. I'm frustrated too. But unfortunately free agency is not how we will turn this team around. Right now we are paying for years of bad drafting. We failed for years to get that second star next to Cousins, and we had many chances. That's what really hurt us.
