The NBA All-Underrated Team

Arron Afflalo

• UCLA grad who looks kinda like Andre Iguodala
• Great at not giving the ball to the other team, a basic skill that’s often overlooked
• Probably a good guy to get a beer with and talk String Theory

Initially billed as a defensive stopper, Afflalo didn’t stick in either Detroit or Denver because he wasn’t a defensive stopper. Both a scholar and a gentleman, his effort was more impressive than the actual result.

This year, his defense remains average but he’s become a slick-handling, effective scorer who’s upped his usage rate (22.9) without turning the ball over (8.9 turnover ratio). To put this in perspective, Jeremy Lin‘s managing 21 and 15.5, respectively.

At 21/4/4.6, Afflalo is essentially putting up better Klay Thompson numbers. According to his Estimated Wins Added (EWA), he’s a top-20 player. It’s not clear if anyone outside Orlando knows he’s still in the league.

Or if he’s actually a top-20 player, but still…

Horace Smith

Horace Smith writes about sports and the universe with a healthy dose of cynicism. He's based in Portland. Follow @HoraceJunior !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

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