The career of a professional basketball player is constantly judged through statistics, but for Sacramento Kings’ shooting guard Arron Afflalo, his NBA journey began by not becoming another statistic in the city of Compton, California.
Afflalo, 30, spent his early life in the Los Angeles County where gang violence had increased by 200 percent from 1984 to 1991 and homicides had peaked to a record-breaking number of 2,589 in 1992, according to News Week and the LA Times, respectively.
“When you grow up in Compton in those years — you’re 10, 11, 12 and in your teenage years — your city and environment can be very influential. I was just determined to succeed,” Arron Afflalo told Cowbell Kingdom. “Try not to get steered in any direction that was negative. We grew up in an environment where a lot of people don’t make it out.”
Afflalo’s early steps into the basketball realm were anything but negative as he traveled out of his hometown to take over the Amateur Athletic Union circuit from California to Florida with the support of his mother, Gwendolyn Washington, and the coaching of his father, Benjamin Afflalo.
“At the time they had a magazine called ‘Prep Stars’ or something like that so he was ranked early — like eighth in the country — which doesn’t really mean much at that age, but he was competitive,” Benjamin Afflalo told Cowbell Kingdom. “Ten years old he was playing 12 year olds and he was still dominating them and could take over the game whenever he wanted to … and being recognized by other folks that he was one of the best.”
This habit of dominance followed Afflalo to Centennial High School where he averaged 23 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 5.4 assists in a senior campaign that earned him a spot in the prestigious McDonald’s All-American game.
However, this success wasn’t limited to only individual accomplishments as he — along with teammates and coach Rod Palmer — brought the school its first Division III California State title in 2006.
“He’s a leader. That’s something that his dad stressed to him. He had to be a leader, he had to be an example of how to do things, how to act on the court, how to act in the locker room … he came in as a ninth grader, a pudgy slow-footed ninth grader, but he was still a leader,” Palmer, who’s now the assistant head coach at Long Beach State, told Cowbell Kingdom. “He was still confident and people just gravitated towards him because he wasn’t a raw-raw type leader. He was a work ethic leader and you just had to follow how hard he worked. If he said something, his teammates knew he meant it … and they would take heart to it. They would follow him, that’s just the way he was.”
These unique qualities caught the attention of UCLA and coach Ben Howland which in turn allowed Afflalo the means to avoid the dead ends of Compton and embrace the endless possibilities a Division I program can provide on-and-off the basketball court.
“Arron, when I got the job at UCLA, he was our number one target from day one. We needed someone who could really score and put the ball in the basket, but play both ends of the floor … he was a great leader for us on our team as a freshman and really took over that role his sophomore year in leading us to our first Final Four,” Howland, who now coaches at Mississippi State, told Cowbell Kingdom. “He just brings it every day, he leads by example, by his hard work, by his work ethic, by how hard he plays every day as well as him being verbal and encouraging his teammates to play as hard as he does. He’s great, a phenomenal leader … that leads through positivity.”
The 6-foot-5 shooting guard capitalized on his time at UCLA as Afflalo lead the Bruins to the NCAA tournament in each of his three seasons and even a runner up finish in the national championship game during his sophomore campaign.
Afflalo enjoyed his greatest success in his third and final year at UCLA as he averaged 16.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game in route to Pac-10 (Pac-12 as of 2011) Conference Player of the Year honors as a junior in 2007.
“I thought he did very well at UCLA. He played under a good coach and a great system with great players. He played with a lot of professional players and I think that he was the glue because he was the man on the defensive end that had to lock down and I really think that expanded his game,” Palmer said. “It gave him a niche to which he could hang his hat on in the NBA. I think that’s something that NBA people saw in him that he could be a lockdown defender as well as score the ball … I think coach Howland got a lot out of him because they demanded a lot from him and that’s the way Arron is. If you demand from him, he’s going to give it to you, he’s going to reciprocate and give you that effort back.”
Afflalo then proceeded to get drafted by the Detroit Pistons with the No. 27 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft where he developed a rapport with All-Star point guard Chauncey Billups. The Los Angeles native went on to play nine seasons for a total of five different teams and accumulated career averages of 11.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and two assists per game.
“Every team has had a few guys who I’ve grew a little closer to early on; it was Chauncey Billups in Detroit and in Denver I got to know [Carmelo Anthony] a little bit when I played with him as well,” Afflalo said. “In Orlando I got to be more of a mentor to the young guys and then these past few years it’s really been about winning and try to be a better player. I would say Chauncey would be the most influential [teammate] early in my career.”
Afflalo’s most recent signing, a two-year deal worth $25 million with the Sacramento Kings, is a homecoming of sorts as the former Bruin will play his home games in California for the first time since he was a junior in college.
When asked what he hopes to bring to the Kings, Afflalo’s response to Cowbell Kingdom was simple: “Everything. Stability, a hungriness to win, shooting, defense and whatever they need to help the franchise move forward.”
// Afflalo will be asked to guard some of the best athletes in the NBA at the two spot and become a much needed reliable shooter on the wing for All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins. The nine-year veteran looks to accomplish this with a few familiar faces such as notable UCLA alumnus Matt Barnes, who graduated two years prior to Afflalo’s arrival, and former teammate in the Bruins’ backcourt Darren Collison.
“We’ve got Matt Barnes and Darren [Collison] here. I like some of the players they’ve already got on the team, but for me being from LA and having a chance to be close to home again was very important to me,” Afflalo said. “To be honest, the Kings were a team that expressed the mutual interest that I had in them … and I like that. At this point in my career you have to be where you’re wanted, where you can be the best person and basketball player you can be.”
It has yet to be seen if Afflalo will capitalize on this opportunity with the Kings, but one thing is certain, he’s come a long way from his humble roots in Compton.
“I’ve grown at every stage, not only as a basketball player, but every year I’ve had different experiences to help me grow as man and as a person on how to deal with so many circumstances and situations in life that I can take to the basketball court,” Afflalo said. “It’s a lot of things that made me who I am.”
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