Anyone can look good in a 20-second highlight clip, but that’s Alex Acker, who played overseas in Greece this past season. He was mentioned today in an interesting article on DraftExpress which talked about guys drafted by NBA teams but are still playing overseas:
Acker took a fairly strange route to making this list, being drafted in 2005 and playing a year for the Pistons before deciding to leave their qualifying offer on the table to sign with Euroleague powerhouse Olimpiacos in Greece. His rights are therefore owned by Detroit still, and the qualifying offer they made last year is still in effect as long as they still want him. Acker initially signed a two-year deal with Olimpiacos with a team option on the second year. The team decided that they do not want him back next year and already decided not to opt-in. Acker reportedly had some issues with the coaching staff last year and was close to not returning to Greece at one point after taking a short vacation back to the States. He was spectacular at times this season (flirting with an unprecedented Euroleague triple double against Prokom for example) and very average in others, showing the deficiencies he has in his game in regards to his maturity level and defensive ability. Still, with Carlos Delfino being shipped out and only Arron Afflalo competing with him for playing time at the swing position, the Pistons could very well decide to keep Acker if he shows progress during Summer League.
So the guy is currently unemployed, yet the Pistons have made no public mention about him coming over to play (or at least workout) at the Vegas Summer League (here’s Detroit’s current VSL roster). Is he in Detroit’s plans? Or does he simply not need to participate in the VSL to win a roster spot?
(Thanks to DBB reader Fel for providing the links and connecting the dots — sometimes you guys write these things for me.)
a couple of things:
First of all is the fact that a triple double is not only “unprecedented” it has been achieved twice by another guy. his name is nicola vujcic and he plays center for Macabi Tel aviv.
Second, prokom is a polish team which was the worset in euroleage this year so getting a good performance there is no biggie.
Third, i know that acker is considered a very good player and more than one team in europe wants him but he seems to want to go back to the NBA so nothing much is written about his status….
from the sound of it, it seems like The Pistons are probably not interested in him…
If they werent interested in him wouldnt they have said something already like in Blalocks case? He might be insurance in case Rodimus & Spellcheck arent ready to play. What does “showing the deficiencies he has in his game in regards to his maturity level..” mean exactly? Does he pout when losing? I always thought he reminded me of Tay personality wise as far as being kind of laid back and disappearing into the team sometimes.
No thanks are needed MattW, you are a scholar and a gentleman.
Its been said that Acker sleepwalks through things, he dissapers through stretches because a lot of times he relies on his natural talent instead of hardwork. I heard this qoute at the draft “hard work beats talent everytime when talent fails to work hard”. Ackers problem is that he isnt a particularly hard workers, which is probably what the guys at draftexpress meant with him “showing deficiencies in his game in regards to maturity level”
However, IRC I read in a past Langlois blog that Acker would be given a legit shot to make the team at training camp.
Also Cassie that blog might have been before the draft. But anyways, what I think is happening is Dumars wants Acker but only if he has a roster spot. He wants to move Flip and if he can, Acker will get his spot and then will have to earn time in the preseason, practise and season. Thats IMO, and I also think it makes the most sense on why we haven’t heard anything on Acker’s situation.
@ Fel, he’s from the west coast. He’s all about skate board parties in empty pools and punk rock. Touch his 7-11 Slurpee, and Ack Attack will get all up in your grill!
Acker will be one of the last guys to get signed, if he wants to come back, if he doesn’t get a better offer elsewhere in the L.
Folks need to forget him playing in the SL. It might happen, but he’s a proven professional player, and the days when Larry Bird would scrimmage in summer leagues to stay in shape are long gone. The SL for non-contracted/rights-held players is really a showcase for the Latvian league (no joke) moreso than it is a valid NBA tryout.
Ahh ok. Thanks for the info. Seems like at the minimum he has the talent to be a decent bench guy. Hope we hear something soon. Maybe not until training camp though. Can he play preseason games with us? Or would we have to give him a contract first? Seems I remember him playing at least some preseason games before he went to Greece.
Alex Acker is a great ball player. If you watch some of his games he as improve alot. Alex will play in the NBA period.