In this series, we’ll examine each of the Sixers under contract for the 2013-14 season and one aspect of his game he could work on during the offseason.
Lavoy Allen’s career trajectory has been pretty well documented up to this point. At first glance, it seemed like the Sixers were just giving a local kid from the Philadelphia suburbs and Temple University a shot in the big leagues. Fans may have been upset the team didn’t use that late second-round pick on more of a project with a high ceiling but felt it ultimately didn’t matter. Then, Allen famously became, “Mr. 500”, as an ESPN.com poll ranked him dead last of all NBA players likely to participate in the 2011-12 season.
The snub seemed to light some fire under the remarkedly reserved Allen, who had a quietly productive rookie campaign, even earning 15 starts when some injuries struck the Sixers’ frontline. The former Owl featured a nice mid-range jumper in shooting 47.3% from the field and 78.6% from the foul line, and battled on the glass, as his 22.2% defensive rebounding rate was well above league average. After Allen went toe to toe with Kevin Garnett in the Sixers’ hard-fought playoff series loss to the Celtics, it seemed as though the franchise had found a diamond in the rough (diamond being a relative term for a useful rotational player in this context).
Lavoy Allen parlayed that solid rookie season into a 2 year, $6 million contract, and appeared to rest on his laurels thereafter. Not only did Allen inauspicously come out and say he didn’t learn anything in his second season, but his statistical numbers dropped across the board from his rookie season. His shooting regressed to 45.4 FG% and 71.7 FT%, and his defensive rebounding rate plummeted to 16.5%, below average for both power forwards and centers. Allen began the year as a starter but couldn’t even crack Doug Collins’ rotation by the end of the season.
So what is one area Lavoy Allen could work on this offseason? The Sixers desperately need someone who can score from the block. Allen has never featured a post game, even going back to his Temple days, but we’ve seen numerous instances of players using the summer to add that aspect to their game. This past season, Allen hoisted 179 shots from 16-23 feet, accounting for 43.3% of his total field goal attempts. While it’s nice that Allen has that aspect to his game, your 6’9″ power forward/center should not be spending so much time on the perimeter. So not only would it help him become a more well-rounded player, but Allen would find likely earn more burn on the court by filling a glaring need for the team.
The addition of a post game is a necessary step for Lavoy to achieve his ceiling as a first big off the bench type of player. If he doesn’t put in the work, Allen might be stuck at the end of the bench for the rest of his playing days. Certainly, it would be a much better way to make a living than most of us at home but a sad end to a promising early NBA career.
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