When the Portland Trail Blazers acquired Arron Afflalo from the Denver Nuggets, it seemed like a great move. Portland’s achilles heel for the past few seasons has been its depth. The team’s starting lineup of Damian Lillard, Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Robin Lopez is one of the best starting 5s in the league. The reason they can’t make a dent in the playoffs has been their weak bench.
It appeared that Arron Afflalo would be the perfect spark off the bench. The guard broke out last season for the Magic, averaging 18.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 3.4 assists on 45.9% shooting from the field and 42.7% from deep.
Afflalo hasn’t been as good this season. His percentages dropped to 42.8% from the field and just 33.7% from 3 during his time with the Nuggets. Despite the decrease in production, the Blazers took a chance on him. Afflalo’s shooting from the field dipped in his time with Portland, but his 3-point % did increase to 40%. Afflalo averaged 10.6 points in 25 games played with the Blazers this season.
When Wes Matthews went down with an injury, the Blazers needed Afflalo to step up more than ever. However, he never showed anything resembling his 2013-14 campaign with Orlando.
About a week before the start of the playoffs, Afflalo dealt with injury as well, and played in only 3 of the 5 games that Portland played in the postseason. In the first round loss to the Grizzlies, Afflalo averaged just 1.7 points on a horrendous 16.7% from the field in 20 minutes per game.
It now appears that Afflalo has decided to call it quits with the Blazers. Per ESPN’s Marc Stein:
“Arron Afflalo, I’m told, intends to go ahead with plans to opt out this summer even though a right shoulder injury obviously prevented him from making the post-trade deadline smash in Portland that he’d hoped.”
Portland won’t spend too much time worrying about Afflalo. They’ve found their spark off the bench in second-year combo guard C.J. McCollum. In the playoffs, McCollum put up strong per-game averages of 17 points and 4 rebounds, and shot 47.8% from both the field and three-point land.
Despite his struggles this season, Afflalo should have no trouble finding a home in free agency. He’s a talented guard with a knack for scoring. Plenty of teams could use a player like that.
