Lavoy Allen won’t have to move very far for his first post college job. The former Temple star is now a 76er. The Sixers picked the 6-9, 225 power forward with the 50th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft.
The pick will likely be lauded by the many Temple fans in Philly, but could a bit of a head scratcher for the non-Owls contingent. Allen absolutely has talented, but many draftniks were projecting him to go undrafted. While it’s always hard to say how accurate those projections are, you certainly don’t want to be spending a draft pick on a guy you could have had for nothing.
That said, there are certainly things to like about Allen. He’s got good size and strength at 6-9, 225. He’s also shown the ability to be a very good rebounder and can be a plus defender. However, as I’m sure many Owls fans will attest, there were many times when he seemed to disappear. A guy with Allen’s ability and size should have been a lot more dominant than he was in the Atlantic 10.
He’ll make for a lot of nice stories as a local kid who went to a local college and no gets to play for a local team. He’s already got a built in local fanbase among Temple fans. He also does truly have the talent to be a rotational player in the NBA… but there will certainly be a lot of people who question the need to actually spend a draft pick on him and the biggest issue with him is usually not one that guys fix in the NBA. Players generally don’t often become more committed and more tenacious when they move into the pros.
Of course, you could also argue that this is a late pick in a very weak draft. So the Sixers take a local kid with some upside? It’s not like they really passed on much.