Despite being a sixth-year pro, Grayson Allen didn’t get the opportunity to ease into training camp with his fourth NBA team. Less than a week before Phoenix Suns Media Day, the 28-year-old was traded from an Eastern Conference contender to one out West.
Joining a Suns roster with a dozen new faces and an entirely new coaching staff, Allen felt the same nerves and anxiousness he experienced during his first training camp as a rookie. But despite being the new guy, it hasn’t taken long for him to fit in.
Devin Booker, who’s battled against Allen since they were both top high school prospects, was familiar with what he brought to the table.
“There’s a lot of guys at the top, and you slowly watch people fall off, fall out and not even make it through college or to the NBA,” Booker explained. “He’s just continued to get better and better and be a super threat on the court.”
Allen missed out on the summer pickup runs that helped the rest of the newcomers get acclimated, but less than a week into preseason, he already felt more comfortable.
I’m at a point now, Year 6, where I kind of know how I can contribute to a team, how I can help,” Allen said. “I have a lot of confidence and kind of security in my ability and what I can do to help the team, so from that spot, it makes it a little bit easier to come into a gym and just fit in.”
Allen is coming off a season in which he averaged 10.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 27.4 minutes per game for the Bucks.
Lost in all the consternation over the Deandre Ayton trade was the fact that the Suns also added a guy who started in 70 of his 72 appearances for the NBA’s best regular-season team last year. Allen’s game has been easy to overlook in recent years because of his reputation as a dirty player, and even Allen himself can’t say it’s unwarranted.
I can’t really say it’s not fair, because I have owned up to the stuff,” he said. “I think most of it comes from Duke. I will say, I’ve done this interview and this question 100 times, and I always say I did a ton of self-reflection back when I was at Duke, and 99 percent of it was just immaturity.”
It was just over a year ago that Allen was accused of another dirty play, fouling Alex Caruso on a fast break layup that forced the Chicago Bulls guard to miss nearly two months with a fractured wrist resulting from the awkward landing. But Allen swears it was an accident, and for Suns fans concerned about his penchant for unruly incidents, he’s hoping to prove people wrong — again.
“I’ve been to four different teams now, and every spot I’ve been, I feel like the fans kind of slowly change their mind and opinion,” he explained. “So I’ll just leave that up to the people.”
Allen quickly got to work on that front. In four preseason games, he put up 11.8 points and 3.8 assists per game. He also shot 48.7 percent overall and was shooting nearly 43 percent from downtown until an 0-for-5 performance in the final preseason game.
For all the focus on his scrappiness, Phoenix values the skill level that comes with it.
“A lot of irritants type of players in the NBA aren’t as skilled as Grayson Allen is,” coach Frank Vogel said. “That’s what I love about what he brings to the table. He brings that that scrappy mindset, but he’s an elite 3-point shooter, he’s an elite playmaker, he can attack the basket. He’s got a great IQ for making the extra pass.”
The question is, should Grayson Allen be the Suns’ fifth starter? How does he fit with the Big 3, and what might he provide off the bench as a leading Sixth Man of the Year candidate?
Last year, Grayson Allen shot 39.9 percent from 3-point range on 5.1 attempts per game. The year prior, he made 40.9 percent of his 5.9 attempts per game. For his career, Allen has made 39.5 percent of his triples. It doesn’t take an analytics expert to understand how he’ll help the Suns.
“The easiest thing right away is shooting,” Allen summed up. “Great players, great scorers are gonna draw multiple defenders, and so if you’re out there with a great player, you’re gonna get open looks; just be able to knock ’em down.”
Allen was a knockdown shooter by every metric. He made 41.4 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3s, 46.9 percent of his corner 3s and 37.9 percent of his above-the-break 3s. He ranked in the 95th percentile in “off screen share” by The BBall Index, which is why going under any screen set for Allen spelled doom for defenses:
Allen has great footwork and effectively set himself up for better looks on the perimeter by quickly floating to the open spots, planting two feet and launching straight up before letting his momentum carry him to his landing spot. That type of movement shooting made him a nightmare for opponents who already had to worry about Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez.
Going from that Bucks team to this Suns squad represents a chance for Allen to build on his career-high 61.2 true shooting percentage from last season.
“I’ve been put into a position where I’ve had to be able to score off the ball, impact the game in other ways, find my spots, find how I can help out in other ways, and I was able to do that the last two years really well,” Allen said. “So I think coming over here, it’ll be a seamless transition.”
The talent around him undoubtedly contributed to Allen ranking in the 90th percentile in 3-point shot quality, but placing in the 98th percentile in points per possession on spot-ups? That was all Allen. His relocation skills made him a constant concern:
His ability to read the defense and hit poor closeouts with a quick pump-fake, side dribble and pull-up 3 didn’t hurt either: