Alex Acker didn’t play much for the Pistons as a rookie, but he seemed to make serious strides playing in Greece last season. For a while, I figured it was a near certainty that he would return to Detroit this coming season, but when his Greek team declined his option the Pistons didn’t appear to show any interest. Now, we might now why.
Acker signed with Barcelona a couple of weeks ago, but that contract was voided today. From Euroleague.net:
AXA FC Barcelona announced on Wednesday that it has voided the contract of Alex Acker on medical grounds. In a statement put out by the club, Barca said that the player failed the medical exam which was necessary for the signed contract to go into effect. No further details were given. The former Olympiacos swingman had originally signed with Barcelona two weeks ago.
There’s more information in this Hebrew article (the English-speaking world is a bit behind picking up the details, it seems), and thanks to DBB reader Ohad (who alerted me to the news in the first place), we have a translation:
“After losing star guard Juan Carlos Navaro[1] Barsa (short for barcelona) faces yet another problem as swingman Alex Acker arrived to practice yesterday only to fail a routine examination by team doctors … It seems he has been hiding a knee injury which will prevent him from playing anytime soon.” Then it goes on to describe how he had behavior problems at his former team…
So that’s that. Like Ohad, I suspect the Pistons may have known about the injury, which might have been why Acker wasn’t invited to play on the Las Vegas Summer League team. (Either that, or he was deemed expendable after the Pistons drafted two guards in the first round.) In any case, this should offer a bit of closure for anyone still tracking Acker’s career from afar.
I’M A HUGE PISTONS FAN BUT dO WE REALLY CARE ABOUGHT ALEX ARKER!!!!
ANY NEWS ON CHRIS WEBBER?
wHO CARES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We care because we’re HARD CORE!!1!
MaddSteve: There won’t be any news on Cwebb unless two players are shipped or waived. So imo I doubt Cwebb will come back.
And thanks MW for the Acker info. I was wondering what was going to happen to him, especially since he showed some development last season in Europe.
Plus I’m sure he doesnt really wanna go to training camp so I would expect some Cwebb news later rather sooner.
Personally I always thought Aker’s game was a little too “Euro” for the NBA but I wasn’t suprised to hear he was doing well in Greece. Hopefully he’s okay, you never want to see a guy’s basketball dream end because of injury. You’ve gotta wonder what kind of injury would absolutely guarentee a guy wouldn’t be playing this season and yet be completely undetectable until medical staff looked at him. Sounds like a back issue, maybe the neck or a knee. I wish Alex all the best in coming back from this.
On a related note I’ve decided to start logging on to random internet chat forums and type “WHO CARES??????” in all caps under any post that isn’t personally relevant to me. At first I thought the natural response to news statements/articles/blog posts that didn’t interest me was to simply ignore them and move on. However empirical evidence is begining to suggest to me that instead the correct response is to log on and post “Who CARES???” so that the less enlightened may see their folly for not understanding what a waste of bandwidth all posts that do not matter to ME PERSONALLY are. I’d like to thank all the “Cool Kids” on here for showing me the error of my mistake. Now to go find a PETA blog so I can type “Who Cares??????” a bunch of time on Mike Vick threads because frankly, I’m already sick of that story…
does anyone know how high Alex was ‘ranked’ against other players in that league he played in?
Diablo,
How do you mean? how high faring off against other guards? as in something formal the league published?
The reason I wrote who cares is I never liked his game. I don’t think that it fit in well with what the Pistons are doing. I have been a Pistons fan starting in 1986. I live in florida and don’t get to see them much but I went to both the Orlando playoff games last season. I have already got my tickets for the season opener at Miami and the second game at Orlando, I’m right behind the stones bench.
Anyways does Lebron anoy everone or am I just a hater
I think LeBron probably annoys anyone who doesn’t have him on their team. He’s, like, good and stuff.
To MaddSteve: I’m annoyed by Lebron as well but I’m a hater I think. I don’t like that he coasted last season. I don’t like that his goal is become the richest athlete in the world. I don’t like that he doesn’t really have a jump shot yet people try to compare him to Jordan or Kobe and they say Lebron is better. And I still hate his “Witness” campaign with nike.
So I’m a hater too but I actually have reasons.
Diablo,
acker was ranked 12th in total ranking for last season. not a bad place to be. and it wasn’t because he was the star player in some bottom feeding team either…
It’s consistently reported that he was one of the two best Americans playing overseas last year, although the identity of the other player is never mentioned. I’d bet that someone would take a chance on him, if it weren’t for the bum knee. Footage suggests he has a nice mid-range game, but the NBA is full of guys with nice mid-range games who never amount to more than an 11th-man or 12th-man role. He wasn’t an “explosive” slasher, either, and not much of a distributor.
We really don’t need a young Tony Delk anyway…
Thanks Ohad and Keegan…you never really hear about this kid (being that he plays in the Euro Leagues)…too bad it doesnt seem like we are going to see this guy play any time soon
first of all if your gonna talk about somone not having any game learn how to spell bro !!!!!!!
and madd steve who ever you are you are a joke!!!!!!!
Two things,
1) MaddSteve… no worries, I was mostly just venting from another thread and a night of reading blogs with super negative posts (DO NOT READ THE HEAT BLOG COMMENTS, 4reals). My bad, you are imho right regarding Aker’s fit with the Pistons never being good.
2) Warlock = Alex Acker’s dad.
*grins*
He’s also a better rebounder than his size would dictate. The “Tony Delk” comparison may be a bit unfair. I could see him becoming a Charlie Bell sort of character in a few years, finding a niche for himself on a mid-tempo team.
This is all hilarious it’s easy to get online and talk about someone not being good at something. Or what they should or shouldn’t do, and thats the problem with media and people like you who write your opinions down today. You never know what a person is going through but you always have their solution. If your so good at judging and comparing, consider your life right now and where you are. What would people say about your performance at your job. He plays basketball for a living (Alex Acker), at the end of the day he’s him and your you. Stop judging and learn how to apreciate what a person trys to do for his family everytime he steps on the floor. If you guys got paid for what you have know idea about, judging by these comments, you would rake in an obseen amount of money. If this is to heavy for you, the fact of the matter is, when he shines and it will be soon. Remember your comments when your wearing his jersey in Detroit, God Bless you.
Ummm, apparently that wasn’t a joke. Alex Aker’s entire entourage/family/possibly the man himself have now spoken. Not particularly well mind you, and barely in english but they have spoken.
Some advice for the 7 huge Alex Acker fans in the world. Catch and jump shooters only make the NBA if they are absolute dead-eye shots. Aker isn’t. So either Alex learns to drive to the hoop, develops a move or two (see cross-over) and becomes an NBA style PG…….or, he plays in Europe for the rest of his life. Assuming you know the man intimately, which is the only logical conclusion from your post please pass the message on… kthanxbye
Update : http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/langlois_blog_070829.html
Looks like Acker will be playing in Barcelona after all.
WHO CARESW!!!AJDF!!ADFJ
Especially when nobody’s lambasting him…
Actually, I’ve always had a soft spot for him after reading a story where he, Amir, and JMax would go shopping, and supposedly Alex was really frugal with his money. I think it was in the Detroit News or Free Press, but it was probably a year and a half ago. I figured that spoke volumes about his character and priorities.
The Charlie Bell comparison might be apt, and certainly isn’t a knock on Acker. They seem to be following similar paths, and one might note that Bell dissects us every time we play the Bucks, and continues improving his game.
BTW, I’ve never had more confidence about the decisions I’m making, whether personally, scholastically, or professionally. Regardless of all of these factors, one should feel free to comment on an athlete’s performance on a MESSAGE BOARD DEVOTED TO THE DISCUSSION OF ATHLETES. If AckerMania explodes, then we’ll all look a little sheepish, and so much the better. Or he’ll continue kicking Spanish backsides up and down the floor. He wins, either way.
God forbid Coach Flip’s entourage ever finds this board, LOL.
Lol, barely in english, develop another move, log onto youtube.com type in Alex Acker. 7 fans? Like my man Warlock said your a joke in the worse possible way. Brotha the entire West Coast reps Alex Acker, yo tell Flip Murray have that #6 nice and clean for him next year. Can’t wait to see your faces next year. Yo you know what next year when he’s on the floor, you die hard piston fans on this blog with negative comments, make sure you buy his jersey and carry some very apologetic signs lol. 80’s baby…
pistons girl what do you know anyway. CATCH AND JUMP SHOOTERS what is that. You should never use basketball terminology, thats what you never should do again if you don’t do anything else.
A catch and jump shooter is a player who doesn’t have the handle (your boy) or athleticism (your boy again) to create his own shot. Therefore his best option to score is to “catch” the ball and then immediately take a “jump shot”. Sometimes this type of shooter thrives in NCAA and European basketball but because this skill set is so common has virtually no place in the NBA unless he’s a dead-shot.
This has been basketball education 101. Guess they don’t teach that on the left coast.
PS, just so we are clear I’m quite happy to hear that Alex is okay. Perhaps after another year of seasoning he’ll have what it takes to contribute to the Piston’s roster. Of course by that time Rodney Stuckey will have taken the job he was drafted for and it’s highly unlikely he’d be more than the 3rd PG and say 11th or so on the depth chart at best. That having been said you are quite right, I’ll be incredibly happy to trade in my Flip Murray #6 for an Alex Acker #6 just as soon as I get around to buying jerseys for bit piece role players whose main value to the squad is costing less than dirt.
“You should never use basketball terminology, thats what you never should do again if you don’t do anything else.”
This is what I mean by barely in english. Parsed according to standard english you’ve just told me that should I ever decide to never do ANYTHING again, I should never use basketball terminology. That’s not a diss it’s a remedial school teacher’s essay nightmare. Like I told the last guy, come again and come harder next time cheif.
Seriously though, tell Alex I said hi… and to develop a crossover.
Acker is a sg though so he wouldn’t be the third pg. I really don’t see a future for Acker unless Afflalo is a bust or he can’t play sf. But I can see Acker making the roster next season with Hayes, Murray, and Hunter all becoming free agents (Hunter will retire). So next season is Acker chance with the pistons.
Matt, I’m REALLY not sure the guy has the moves to play 2 in the NBA but okay, replace one first rounder with another (though word is Stuckey is way better) and I’m still not seeing the man’s “chance to shine”.
The sad fact is I hold a soft spot for the guy too (plus be fair, he’s good looking, he really is) but there is NO WAY some local homer can possible declare me blind for not seeing how freaking awesome the guy is… His window closed here when we drafted 3 guys who can play his spot…. even if that IS shooting guard (Though again I’m really not sure the man is athletic enough to do that in the NBA, I’d like to say FOR SURE but it’s not like I got to see him play much for the Pistons. I get all the highlights from Europe you guys get plus I read alot of Chad Ford et all)… I’ll give you that he’s 6′5″ but do you realize I didn’t KNOW that until I read his NBA.COM bio and while I admitt that I haven’t seen him play ALOT (see above) I have seen him play.
Plus this is ENTIRELY besides the fact that all I ever said was “I don’t think the guy has the moves or the shot to play in the NBA but he seems pretty good in Greece”. He did NOT look particularly good here. He DOES look pretty decent on the clips posted from last year’s Euroleague playoffs but as was discussed above that isn’t even CLOSE to the same game as the NBA. Somehow that’s failing to understand how hard he’s trying? Wha?
Point Guard, Shooting Guard, Combo Guard, just “Guard” (as NBA.Com lists him) or Swingman (as the article lists him) the guy doesn’t look like an NBA player even on HIGHLIGHT CLIPS from last year.
BTW, sickly enough I just realized that I have no trouble believing he could beat of Ronald Dupree at SF….. and that’s despite this entire exchange forcing me to review all those clips again.
Dear golly I hope Jarvis Hayes is at least average.
Sorry for the triple post, trying desperately to find a bar to watch the game tonight inbetween searching for Acker clips and all this nonsense. However I did just realize the need to pre-empt the response I know is coming next. So before Alex Acker’s mom also weighs in please let me state:
If someone, someplace has film of Acker breaking guys down and I just haven’t seen it, feel free to direct me. My speakers suck but I get video feeds just fine on this computer. I consider myself at least resonably knowledgeable about basketball (though I still can’t tell you if Lebron James is a SG, SF or just the Devil) but watching him on tape I think it speaks volumes that I thought he was a 6′3″ point guard… He’s really just not very “explosive”, at least on ANY tape I’ve seen. Nor does his height/length particularly stand out. He’s no Greg Ostertag but he doesn’t seem all that co-ordinated. At this point I’d be willing to accept home video from pickup games at Perperdine just to believe the guy has some tricks.
Now with that I swear I’m done talking about Alex Acker until NEXT offseason. I would never have believed in a million years I’d ever make 6 or 7 posts about that guy in my LIFETIME let alone a few days. To Alex, his entourage and his mom….. Peace and GOODWILL BROTHER and yes I sincerely mean that. I’d like nothing better than to see the guy score 20 points in a Piston’s uniform some day very soon.
“plus be fair, he’s good looking, he really is”
PG4L I know you’ve said you’re finished talking about Acker, but in spite of the fact that you are a deeply respected mainstay on this blog, I’ve got to vehemently disagree on this bold claim. Acker looks to me like a C-rate Terrence Howard, and I’m not sure even A-rate Terrence Howard is a glowing compliment. To each their own, I suppose.
wow all i have to say is wow pg4l your good bro find somthin else to do wit your time instead of wrighting blogs if your gonna sit around know it all why not get paid for it lol!!!!!!get your weight up!!!lol if it allready anitlol last comment im making i honestly beleive when you start puting guys parents on message forums you have no life bro !
Well, Alex Acker was responsible for one of the Greek Basketball League’s highlights for the 2006-7 season.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFlieI0X4Rg
To be fair to the poor guy, the opponent is one of the top 2-3 PGs in Europe and named Defender of the Year in Europe threee times in a row.
Sorry for the double post, just to add that his team was 1 point behind, 25 seconds from the buzzer and this could have been a championship point.