That's absolutely ridiculous. Amazingly, BeatLA seems to think that there is some mass agenda, one where teams and draft sites alike are blinded by his actual play and are only putting him as a late 1st rd pick because he went to Duke. Yeah, that sure makes a lot of sense.
Where did I say anything about there being a "mass agenda"?
Perhaps a better way to phrase it would be to say that there is a blatant double standard in regards to the manner in which white Duke players are perceived in contrast to their Caucasian collegiate counterparts, although don't ask me as to why, aside from the fact that ESPN, for example, has used Jay Bilas and Jay Williams, not to mention the infamous "Krzyzewski Sniffer" that is Dick Vitale
, during their coverage of the NBA draft for years, now, and at least some of the stuff that comes out of their respective mouths is beyond ridiculous, imo.
These are the pluses that Kevin O'Conner sees in him, which I guess means he's part of the conspiracy to get Allen drafted too.
-Dead-eye spot-up shooter with NBA range and the ability to hit tough, contested shots.
-Possesses excellent footwork, a quick release, and the ability to manipulate defenders using screens to get open.
-Aggressive attacking closeouts; mixes in hesitations and uses both hands to finish at the rim.
-Solid passing vision and accuracy; improved as a distributor and ball handler over his four years at Duke, especially in the pick-and-roll.
-Good rebounder for his position who battles bigs and uses his instincts to chase loose balls.
-Tough player with a relentless attitude; plays hard on defense.
Yes, and directly below all of that on Allen's draft profile via The Ringer you have the following minuses:
- Flat-footed perimeter defender who lacks lateral quickness and gets smoked by lesser players.
- At-rim finishing numbers dropped as a senior, possibly due to diminished burst after packing on more muscle.
- First step needs to improve significantly to become more than just a straight-line driver.
- Drew a lot of fouls in college, but tends to play “bully ball,” which doesn’t always translate against NBA athleticism.
- Settled for a lot of runners as a senior rather than getting all the way to the rim.
- Peaked as a sophomore and made only marginal progress over the past two seasons.
Beyond that, O'Connor comparing Grayson Allen to any version of Eric Gordon is patently absurd, imo, and likening him to Ainge is also rather lazy, in my view, and simply has no basis in reality save for skin color and height, but whatever
.
But Rawle Alkins!!
Every off-season Beat LA loves talking up obscure players. None of them ever hit, but one of these years he's going to nail one...law of averages.
Yes, because Rawle Alkins is an "obscure player"
. Who are all of these other peeps, btw? Are they simply guys who attended smaller schools, dudes who weren't drafted, or some combination of the two?
Sure, I've tried to bring attention to a number of players, and especially over the last two years, iirc, who, imo, did not receive the proper recognition while they were in college, but most of those guys have actually made their way to the NBA in various capacities since that time, so your point is what, exactly?
Just because they didn't go to a big program doesn't mean that they can't play in the NBA #DoubleNegativeAlert.