Idea: Is Afflalo actually a star player who should be on the Celtics radar?

[BballTim]

If Boston could pull it off and somehow trot out a lineup of PG - Rondo, SG - Afflalo, SF - Green, PF - Sully, C - Asik... that's probably a solid 45 win playoff team right there.

Afflalo is interesting.  I don't think I've ever seen a player who has consistently improved every single season.

Season 1:  3.7 points
Season 2:  4.9 points
Season 3:  8.8 points
Season 4:  12.6 points
Season 5:  15.2 points
Season 6:  16.5 points
Season 7:  21.7 points

Pretty wild.  Mostly due to increased minutes.  He's 28 and in his prime.  Career splits of 46%/39%/82%  ... Good player.  I'd welcome him in Boston.

You're keeping Rondo!?

  It's tricky but it might work. Rondo's well past his prime, so you can balance things out by bringing in players that are older than him because they're in their primes. Or so I would imagine the thinking goes.

how is Rondo's well past his prime? He is 27? Yea, he is coming back from injury, but I say he still has room to improve and definitely still be a top 3 pg in the league when healthy. I don't think you start dropping until you hit 29 or even 30.

  I was just mentioning one of LarBrd's favorite claims.

Rondo probably is past his prime.  Just like DRose is probably past his prime at this point.  I doubt we'll see Rose ever win another MVP award.

  Rondo being past his prime is wishful thinking on your part. If you have any evidence that he isn't expected to come back healthy then the word "probably" fits the sentence, otherwise not so much.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y8Sx4B2Sk

  Yes, that video fits well with your use of the word "probably".

[crimson_stallion]

Arron Afflalo is having a career year with Orlando Magic: 21.7 points/4 assists/4.4 rebounds per game. These are all star numbers and actually pretty close to Ray Allen in his prime (but with more effective shooting). People are talking about Bledsoe as MIP, but his numbers are more about opportunity and a lot more minutes. Afflalo's development is really stunning.

Obviously he is the best player on a bad team, and the increase is partly because he is now the 1st option for that team.

But he is still the 13th leading scorer in the NBA right now, and only Dwyane Wade has a legit claim over him to be the best shooting guard in the east (unless you consider Paul George a shooting guard).

I really can't explain how a 28 yo hard working role player (and great locker room guy) became a star overnight, but that seems to have happened.

He ended 2013 with five games where he had more than 20 points and shot better than 50 percent both overall and from three point range. Only Larry Bird and Detlef Schrempf had longer streaks (six games) since 1986.

"The key word for me is just 'efficiency,'" Afflalo said following Sunday's win against the Atlanta Hawks, a game in which he needed just 10 shot attempts to score 21 points. "It's not just about having the ball and getting a lot of shots; it's about taking and making the right shots [and] making the right plays. That's why I've been given that responsibility."

I really like Afflalo, but this transformation seems "to good to be true", so I understand if other Celtics fans would be reluctant to pursue him. However, he is one of the few players out there who might be a building block for a contending team and who could be available at a reasonable price ($7,500,000/year which with a few trades should leave room for one max contract for a center).

Ray Allen averaged something like 24-25 PPG in his prime, and that was despite thefact that he was playing alongside Rashard Lewis (who was also a ~20  PPG scorer), and I think that team was a lot better than this Orlando team.

Afallo is IMO the perfect example of a guy putting up big numbers on a bad team by default.I think if you put Iggy in Orlando he'll be a 19-20 PPG scorer too.  I think Afflalo would be a 16-17 PPG scorer on any decent team.  Not even close to Ray Allen level IMO.  When Ray was young he was an unquestioned All-Star no matter how bad his team was, and was a borderline Superstar.  He wasn't just arguably the best shooter in the entire league, he was an elite athlete who was equally good at attacking the basket. In the 2000 Olympics he was one of the most dominant players on that team.

I think Afflalo is a good player, but I don't see him becoming a star.  I see him being a Rashard Lewis type n a guy who has a few good scoring seasons, gets a big paycheck, then drops off the face of the earth.  I could be wrong though.

I think Orlando would want more than we would be willing to offer.

[LarBrd33]

If Boston could pull it off and somehow trot out a lineup of PG - Rondo, SG - Afflalo, SF - Green, PF - Sully, C - Asik... that's probably a solid 45 win playoff team right there.

Afflalo is interesting.  I don't think I've ever seen a player who has consistently improved every single season.

Season 1:  3.7 points
Season 2:  4.9 points
Season 3:  8.8 points
Season 4:  12.6 points
Season 5:  15.2 points
Season 6:  16.5 points
Season 7:  21.7 points

Pretty wild.  Mostly due to increased minutes.  He's 28 and in his prime.  Career splits of 46%/39%/82%  ... Good player.  I'd welcome him in Boston.

You're keeping Rondo!?

  It's tricky but it might work. Rondo's well past his prime, so you can balance things out by bringing in players that are older than him because they're in their primes. Or so I would imagine the thinking goes.

how is Rondo's well past his prime? He is 27? Yea, he is coming back from injury, but I say he still has room to improve and definitely still be a top 3 pg in the league when healthy. I don't think you start dropping until you hit 29 or even 30.

  I was just mentioning one of LarBrd's favorite claims.

Rondo probably is past his prime.  Just like DRose is probably past his prime at this point.  I doubt we'll see Rose ever win another MVP award.

  Rondo being past his prime is wishful thinking on your part. If you have any evidence that he isn't expected to come back healthy then the word "probably" fits the sentence, otherwise not so much.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y8Sx4B2Sk

why would Rondo be PASSED his prime when he is currently at the age where his prime reaches it's peak? And generally, aren't basketball player's prime in his late 20s? If anything, Rondo has 3 more years left. I think coming back from injury isn't exactly saying he is past his prime.

DRose is just very very unlucky with his injuries, but he is still young, and we can't tell how he performs after his 2nd season ending injury.

We've discussed it at length.  Players typically reach their statistical peak at 23.  Rondo has been more or less the same player since he was 23.  He's now 27 and coming off a major injury.  I do think that if he gets to 100% he could threaten for an all-star slot, but more likely we've seen the best of Rondo at this point.

And no this isn't "wishful thinking" on my part (like Tim suggests).  I'm a Celtic fan.  I wish Rondo would come back as a dominant superstar.  If I'm making wishes, I wish for Rondo to return as Prime Shaq.  We could make a lot of noise in the east with Prime Shaq.

Still.. if Rondo gets 100%, he should be an effective cog on a good team.   PG - Rondo, SG - Afflalo, SF - Green, PF - Sully and C - Asik... I could see that team consistently winning 45-50 games for the next 3-5 years.  My thought is that with how deep the West is, you theoretically might see a couple West coast stars decide to join the East.  Someone like Kevin Love for instance.  If he's sick of struggling in a conference that is 13 teams deep, he might be open to joining Boston.  There's a scenario in there where we could package a bunch of picks, Sully, Oly and expiring contracts for a player like Love.  And if you have some solid talent like Rondo, Afflalo, Green and Asik already on board, it probably makes the team appealing to veteran stars.

[More Banners]

For some reason, I don't think he's really a star player.  Numbers are good, and he can surely shoot, but I don't think he's a star.  An upgrade over Reddick (quicker) and a good all around player and great shooter, but not a star.

On a better team...

[action781]

We've discussed it at length.  Players typically reach their statistical peak at 23.  Rondo has been more or less the same player since he was 23.  He's now 27 and coming off a major injury.  I do think that if he gets to 100% he could threaten for an all-star slot, but more likely we've seen the best of Rondo at this point.

Your claim here isn't true.  An NBA player's peak is actually between ages 25-28.  I'm pretty sure that almost every NBA player ever has been an example of this.   Your claim would say that Jordan reached his prime in the mid 1980's.

[BballTim]

We've discussed it at length.  Players typically reach their statistical peak at 23.  Rondo has been more or less the same player since he was 23.  He's now 27 and coming off a major injury.  I do think that if he gets to 100% he could threaten for an all-star slot, but more likely we've seen the best of Rondo at this point.

Your claim here isn't true.  An NBA player's peak is actually between ages 25-28.  I'm pretty sure that almost every NBA player ever has been an example of this.   Your claim would say that Jordan reached his prime in the mid 1980's.

  I would say that a player's prime extends into his 30s. KG and PP were still in their primes in 08 and 09. Beyond that, though, most top players are better in their late 20s and early 30s than their early 20s. A prime example of this is LeBron. His best play in the playoffs was in 12 and 13, even though his best statistical years came earlier. Same with players like MJ. It's something you can see when you watch the game but it isn't really quantifiable in stats.

[pearljammer10]

Ive been on the Aflalo bandwagon all year. I think he would be a perfect fit next to Rondo. Having a killer offensive year and is a good defender as well.

I think he will be attainable too. Orlando is probably going to look for cap space, a young player, and a first rounder for him and we might be able to get him without breaking the bank too hard.

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ou4n63q

I dont think either team does this but it could make a bit of sense? We trade Humps contract, Crawford selling high, and trade Lee's contract for Nelsons plus a first rounder in 2014.

Swap out Lee and add Bradley... that makes sense.  Crawford, Bradley, a 1st rounder and Humph for Afflalo and Nelson.

I don't see why Orlando would want the veteran Lee and the 15 mil left on his contract.  It seems counterproductive to dump Afflalo only to pick up Lee.

Yeah makes more sense. I was just swapping bad contracts in lee and Nelson. But if we could do hump, ab, jc and a first for Aflallo Nelson I do that in a heartbeat.

[Surferdad]

Bradley just overpowering Augustin.