Allen makes a strong impression
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Allen makes a strong impression
Doug Collins often talks about players making the most of their opportunities. He says that a player is a sprained ankle away from getting minutes.
In Lavoy Allen’s case, it was a strained Achilles and strained knee/quad away.
Those were the injuries that kept Spencer Hawes and Nikola Vucevic sidelined. So Allen played a career high 17:26, scored 10 points and hit all five field goal attempts in Monday’s 103-83 win over the Washington Wizards.
“How about Lavoy Allen,” coach Doug Collins said after the game. What a coming out party for Lavoy tonight.”
Collins then made an interesting observation about Allen.
“It’s one of the first times I’ve seen him really smile and really see his personality.”
Even though he’s a rookie, the Temple product wants to get on the court like any other player.
“It’s felt great,” he said. “Any kind of minutes I get I am grateful for, and with Spencer and Nik out I knew I was going to play some good minutes.”
They truly were good minutes.
Collins talked afterwards about the rap on Allen entering the NBA, how he has all the talent, but that everybody said his motor was often stalled.
There was no stalling in his longest appearance as a professional. He had two five-minute cameos and then played nine minutes when Vucevic was hurt during Saturday’s loss at Miami.
Whether his performance earned him minutes when the Sixers are healthy remains to be seen.
Right now, the team is not healthy at center so Allen has a chance to make quite an impresson.
“This really boosted my confidence,” he said.
And maybe his future minutes total as well.
Come on Tyrone !!!! Chris Bosh should school him, he's an established NBA vet, top ten pick, and what some people consider a star player. The Miami game was only Lavoy's THIRD appearance of the season, the first two were for a total of 9 minutes. With some more burn and confidence he's going to be a defensive force like he was at Temple, then bring on Bosh and we'll see if he can school Lavoy. Great kid from a great, hardworking family. Good job Lavoy and go Sixers !— Superskunk- Allen was understandably sort of like the proverbial deer in the headlights against Bosh and the Heat. Last night he showed poise, a nice jumper, moves around the hoop, a nice first step and pullup assist. He has a nice big coordinated body and long limbs and looks very springy. He could fit in well with the team. Let's hope that Brackins gets some more burn and hits a three or two like he did against the Wiz in preseason. This is an "Indians and the Buffalo"-type season, every part of the team needs to be used to its fullest.— Leegles
- Lavoy showed well last night. Very happy for him, and I hope he continues to use this opportunity as a platform to show us all what kind of player he might be for our future mix. He has a chance to play more the next 3 games. I'm rooting for him, and looking forward to him taking the court.— edogs
- Lavoy Allen can develop into a good deep reserve for the Sixers. He never dominated the ball in college and was always there as the big rebounder and defensive stopper at Temple. Those 2 traits are what the Sixers need from him if he's going to get some minutes. Speights did not fit that role for us as he wanted to be just a scorer. That's why he was traded.. As it stands, we have 8 guys capable of getting 20 points on any given night and there aren't enough shots to go around already.. If Allen can come into games with some fire and energy on defense like last night, Doug will give him some minutes in the regular rotation..— bradco
- This team needs quality big men more than anything else. I'd love to see Lavoy get more minutes, he clearly has NBA potential. The injuries to Hawes and Vucevic may do more for the young bigs on the bench. Doug has no choice but to play them or play too small. If he shows ability, Doug will give him more PT. Hope we get some PT for Brakins too.— ricky
- Everyone can score in the NBA, but if you are not a superstar or a freak of nature like Lebron, the next best thing to do is play good defense and rebound. Thats how a lot of players in the NBA still have jobs. And that is a role I see Levoy having for his career.
— penncrow19 - nice post penncrow makes sense — malco49
- if im the court last night im goin for 8 and 4— jame4213
- Lavoy has defense and rebounding instincts that you just can't teach. Pumped that he has Collins there to guide his development and to help him realize his maximum potential. He is the perfect compliment and role player on a team full of 'em... Go Owls and Go Sixers!— gopherkiddd
- nice to see (nice to see two Sixer rookie big guys who seem coordinated and look like they will be able to contribute) but how bad are the Bullets, excuse me, the Wizards. Flip Saunders is lucky to get out of there.— jim715
- Big night for Lavoy- he seems to have good court awareness and rarely is out of position. I was impressed with his overall play last night.— Northcountry
- Allen looked terrible during the Heat game so this performance seemed quite good in comparison. Still, I do wonder if the guy's hands are on backwards because he doesn't seem to be very good at grabbing a loose ball. Hopefully, some of this in-game experience will help him with his confidence if we need to call on him again for some more meaningful minutes.— Melvin Finkelstein
- Was in the car this afternoon and heard Missanelli destroy Allen, called him too slow, a D-League player at best, should not be in the NBA, played garbage minutes against Wizard stiffs &c. Count him unimpressed.— chuckw
John Mitchell is in his second year covering the 76ers for the Inquirer after joining the paper in November 2011. He covered the Washington Wizards for the Washington Times from 1998 to 2008. He's also worked at the Philadelphia Tribune, the Wilmington News Journal, Courier-Post, Trenton Times and Elmira Star-Gazette.Born and raised in West Philadelphia - not too far from Will Smith - he graduated from Overbrook High School the same year the 76ers won their last championship. He's a proud graduate of Howard University and the proud father of two sons, Jared and Jordan.
ABOUT MARC NARDUCCI
Marc Narducci has served in a variety of roles with the Inquirer since beginning in 1983. He has covered the 76ers as a backup and a beat writer. In addition, Narducci has covered everything from the Super Bowl to the World Series and a lot in between. Narducci also has a true passion for South Jersey scholastic sports, which he has covered for many years.
