NEW YORK - Arron Afflalo, UCLA's starting guard the past three seasons who helped lead the Bruins to back-to-back Final Four appearances and back-to-back Pac-10 Championships the last two years, was selected in the first round of the 2007 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons (27th selection) on Thursday.
Afflalo becomes the 101st UCLA player to be selected in Bruin draft history (UCLA is the all-time collegiate leader in NBA Draft selections, since 1948). UCLA has had at least one player taken in the NBA Draft for the last 11 years (since 1997).
"The shock definitely came because I hadn't worked out for the team so I wasn't expecting to hear my name at that particular point and time," Afflalo said on a teleconference call from New York. "I know my work ethic and I know what kind of basketball player I want to be and I'm blessed to have this opportunity. I've put a lot of hard work into this and I'm ready to put in even more. When you talk about Detroit Piston basketball, the first thing that comes to mind is mental and physical toughness and a desire to get better and I think those are my strongest qualities."
Arron Afflalo Selected in First Round of NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons
06-29-2007, 01:03 AM
Linear Mode
