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Arron Afflalo to Take on Leadership Role on Knicks

By William Lee

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According to Jonah Ballow of NYKnicks.com, Arron Afflalo is ready to embrace a leadership role on the New York Knicks this upcoming season.

At 29 years-old, Afflalo will be one of the veteran leaders in a locker room full of young men in their early 20s after the Knicks revamped their roster this summer. The only players older than Afflalo is Jose Calderon (33 years-old), Louis Amundson (32 years-old), and Carmelo Anthony (31 years-old). Afflalo is looking forward to taking a leadership role.

"“Yeah, no question,” “I think everybody needs to do their part and be happy about what they can bring to the team.  That’s something I feel like with my years of experience and my personality that I can bring to the team for sure.”"

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Afflalo brings eight years of NBA experience to the Knicks, averaging 11.4 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists per game over his career. Afflalo has experienced it all in his eight year career, going from a defensive player scrapping for minutes as a rookie on the Detroit Pistons, to being “the man” on the Orlando Magic, in which he averaged 18.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game in the 2013-2014 season.

Throughout Afflalo’s eights years in the league, there has never been an incident or a question of his character. Although…maybe Utah Jazz fans might disagree. Personally, I think that is just a tough defensive play. And, that’s exactly what the Knicks will be getting, a hard-nosed, hard working, great locker room guy.

The two biggest lessons that Afflalo has learned in his eight season in the NBA, that he would like to impart to the youngsters on the squad is hard work and clarity of the mind.

"“Just to stay consistent with your work,”“Stay consistent with your mind.”“Those are the two things that I feel experience is typically a teacher but if there’s anything that I feel I hope they listen to is just that they stay consistent.  That, they stay consistent through bad times, they stay consistent in the gym, and that they stay consistent mentally in terms of staying optimistic and positive about what we can do this year.”"

Hard work and staying mentally prepared for anything is the key to success no matter what line of work you do, and I hope that Afflalo will make sure all the Knicks know that.

Afflalo is also looking to build a bond and have a good relationship with each member of the team.

"“I just want to create a great bond with them, help them get through tough times.  I want them to have my back as well during tough times because I feel like if you have that good brotherhood going on it allows us to be successful out there on the court,”"

Not to sound redundant but again, creating a good working relationship is the key to success no mater what line of work you do. Studies has shown this to be the case, with the more high-fives a team is giving to each other as an indicator for success. Laugh all you want but frequency of high-fives shows team communication, bonding and positive reinforcement.

Afflalo so far has said all the right things, now Knick fans are eager to see it on the court.

Next: Carmelo Anthony to Knicks Fan: You Are Stuck With Me

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