June 29, 2018

Jarrett Allen
C - 6’11, 234lbs - 20 years old - 1 year of experience

It was a strong rookie season for Allen, who again proves that when the new Nets brass have first-round picks to work with, they generally come through with them. Alert, long and very athletic, Allen won the starting centre role quite quickly from placeholding vets Timofey Mozgov and Tyler Zeller, and led the NBA in caught lob passes this year at just over 17 million. (This number still awaits external verification but is about right.)

Allen has already demonstrated a pretty damn good understanding of what do with a physical profile like this and a thus-far limited set of ball skills. He is forever running and rolling to the basket, looking to finish with explosion, and the giant green splodge around the basket on his shot chart speaks to the success of that. Allen has also showed a semblance of a jump shot, which bodes well for Atkinson’s desire for all his bigs to be able to slip to the corners and shoot, and while he lacks for girth, strength and poise when asked to create around the rim, he does not really need to. Keep rolling, running, dunking and spotting.

There is of course still a bit of work to do on the awareness front at both ends. A bit foul-happy, Allen’s fouls were often ticky-tack and ill-timed, not quite going straight up, leaving a hip out, that sort of thing. Some moving screens on top of that didn’t help, and the league’s remaining physical post bigs proved to be a challenge. But he at least contests everything, and has good co-ordination and timing on his plays on the ball. Also an enthused offensive rebounder, Allen shows all the hallmarks of becoming a good future NBA modern centre. And the present isn’t bad at all, either.

Player Plan: Three years of rookie scale salary remaining. One of the best future bits in place.

Read full article