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Knicks News: Arron Afflalo Finally Cleared for Preseason Action!

ByWilliam Lee|

Arron Afflalo finally got cleared to play and practiced with the New York Knicks on Thursday.

According to Marc Berman of the New York Post, Afflalo suffered no setback and that this is the typical timetable for his injury.

"Afflalo said hamstring injuries such as his normally take two to three weeks to heal, and claimed he suffered no setbacks."

After the scrimmage on Thursday, Afflalo was positive about his return, even joking a little about his injury.

"“It felt good,’’“I had an extended vacation. The training staff has been great with me in terms of rehab. Now it’s getting acclimated with my teammates.’’"

An extended vacation, that is nice. Good thing the extended vacation did not effect Afflalo’s conditioning as he said that he felt great; conditioning-wise, and that all that time off did not effect him.

"“My wind is great because I’ve been doing sprints, conditioning, weight training. It’s more or less getting a continuity with my teammates. As you know, the triangle offense takes some time to get on the same page. I want to play at a good game speed and not feel so frantic out there.’’"

Afflalo will however, need all the time he can get for the remainder of the preseason to get familiar with his new teammates, since he barely got any time to familiarize with them during training camp.

"“It’s a positive anxiety,’’“I got two days of training camp in, so it seems like it’s been awhile. I’m familiar [with the offense]. I’ve been standing here watching every day, so I’m excited.”"

New York signed Afflalo to a two-year $16 million deal be the perfect complimentary player next to Knicks’ superstar Carmelo Anthony. Afflalo said he was happy to reunite with Anthony and that he would help bring in some leadership that was missing from the ball club.

This summer head coach Derek Fisher was excited to bring in Afflalo for that leadership and his two-way play.

"“His character,’’“He’s a team guy and he competes on both ends of the floor — sounds strange to say a guy competes on offense and defense. There’s a level of physicality and aggression Arron plays with that’s good for us. He obviously hasn’t played basketball in several months. So we won’t see the best of him for a while.”"

Watch Afflalo Getting Back to Work in Practice!

Hopefully this weekend Knick fans can get a chance to see how Afflalo will fit in. Sasha Vujacic has filled in admirably in the starting lineup so far and looked very comfortable in the triangle offense, but has struggled with his shot so far.

It will be interesting to see how Afflalo plays off Anthony, as well as how he effects the defensive end for the Knicks as a whole.

Next: Kristaps Porzingis Misses Practice

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