Grayson Allen: Duke Blue Devils wonder boy. Athletic, explosive and intellectually gifted both on and off the court. With injuries plaguing the Blue Devils early this season, Allen’s leadership role has been expanded to include go-to man along side Luke Kennard. After deciding to return to Duke for the 2016/2017 season the projected 27^th overall draft pick is averaging just over 15 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists per game. Allen is a vital part of the fabled Duke Basketball organization, but does this All American junior have what it takes to make it in the NBA?

Standing at 6’5, 202lbs would usually get you noticed in a crowd; but as any true sports fan knows the NBA is anything but ordinary. It draws on the athletically magnificent, and makes the mortal, immortal. Allen’s physique is what we scientists call ‘textbook’ for a shooting guard in the NBA. Allen may however, be better described as a combo guard. Grayson has potential to be one of the most underrated combo guards in college basketball right now, as of the termination of the 2015/2016 season Allen sat as only the 9^th player in Duke Men’s Basketball history to lead the team in both points and assists.

Grayson Allen is an exemplary perimeter shooter, possessing good fundamentals and a quick square and shoot motion. However despite his aggressiveness to the rim and continued improvement shooting off the bounce, creating at the NBA level may prove too big an obstacle to overcome. As every true basketball coach has muttered at least once at tryouts, “you can’t coach height”. Allen’s build is just the pinnacle of the problem; he is not a confident ball handler and lacks strategies to create space or beat opponents with the dribble. This means that both his points and assists would take a detrimental hit at the next level.

The title ‘combo guard’ sounds like a term of endearment, but it’s really like the “awe he’s so cute” before you get thrust into the friend zone forever. Combo guard for Grayson Allen means the lack the ability to excel as a shooting guard or point guard. Allen is a triggerman, he can catch and shoot like nobody’s business. His deficiency presents in his ability to create open shots for himself. Allen is right hand dominant, has some heavy feet in traffic and lacks the ability to change direction on the dime that most guards at the NBA level can. This paired with his overly aggressive close outs and tendency to get lost on off the ball defense, could cause some hesitation on drafting the junior from Jacksonville.

Allen has had some run ins with controversy over his 2016-2017 season, and I bet you’re all surprised it took us 5 paragraphs to get there. Yes folks, Grayson Allen has tripped a man. When a group of NBA scouts were asked about this disputation they all claimed that it did not affect his stock at all, but with new issues arising more frequently than any Blue Devil fan would like to acknowledge this does leave a sense of impending abatement. It seems since even sitting down to write this article his draft stock has plummeted; experts are saying it is not due to the incidences on the court, but instead based on his performance.   However, with all of this swirling around we know one thing for certain; Grayson Allen will have a bigger following than ever before, and not because he wears the Duke true blue. Ladies and gentleman do we have a new Duke villain in the house?

Grayson Allen plays for Duke Men’s Basketball. That in itself seems to raise the potential of any player in the game today, and that’s fair. A product of a program that has been known for it’s basketball knowledge and ability to produce players successful at the next level (Hey Kyrie, how you doin?) is a promising accomplishment on the resume. Does this Duke stamp make Allen more valuable than say, Yogi Ferrell a senior out of Indiana who ended up undrafted. Ferrell had the average build of Allen for his position, produced in the same realm of statistics as the Duke guard and even appeared to have an edge in athletic ability. However unless you are a Hoosier fan, he was not a household name. When compared to other guards in the NCAA circuit, Allen is no better than the Shake Miltons (SMU) or Allonzo Triers (Arizona), and yet they are projected to go over 20 spots behind him in the upcoming NBA draft. Duke, love em or hate em: you know who they are.

Grayson Allen is an All Academic athlete, with a fire inside. He is a product of one of the most prestigious basketball programs worldwide in Duke and Coach K, and has shown he can rise to the occasion when needed. On paper the NBA looks like too big an obstruction for the 21 year old to overcome, but in the world of sports; anything can happen.