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NBA Draft 2018: Utah Jazz get a bulldog in Duke’s Grayson Allen

By Ryan Aston

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 21: Grayson Allen poses with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver after being drafted 21st overall by the Utah Jazz during the 2018 NBA Draft at the Barclays Center on June 21, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 21: Grayson Allen poses with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver after being drafted 21st overall by the Utah Jazz during the 2018 NBA Draft at the Barclays Center on June 21, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /
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The mystery of the 2018 NBA Draft is over for the Utah Jazz, who have made scrappy combo guard Grayson Allen from Duke the newest Jazzman.

After several weeks of build up, the Utah Jazz finally have their man with the 21st pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. And he may just be the Utah Jazziest player in this year’s draft class.

Grayson Allen, the combative combo guard who exploded onto the scene for the Duke Blue Devils during the 2015 NCAA Tournament and had been a starter and key player for Coach K’s squad ever since, is officially the newest member of the Jazz band.

It was a move that Jazz star Donovan Mitchell looks to have endorsed in a big, bad way —

Clearly, there are no hard feelings there from their past battles.

In many ways, Allen is the prototypical player for the current iteration of the team. Not only does he have the Duke connection with Jazz coach Quin Snyder, he’s also tough as nails, a hustle player and a guy with a reputation for sticking jumpers during big moments.

In a word, he’s a bulldog.

During his senior season, Allen was an all-around threat, averaging 15.5 points, 4.6 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. He also knocked down over 50 percent of his shots from the field, 37 percent from distance (on close to eight attempts per contest) and 85 percent from the charity stripe.

Allen projects to be a legit deep threat at the next level. And he displayed strong handles and vision as a passer throughout his collegiate career as well. He assisted on over 21 percent of his team’s buckets when he was on the floor during each of the last two seasons.

His skills should shine as part of Snyder’s egalitarian offensive attack in Utah.

He’s also a guy that creates chaos defensively with his ability to generate deflections and get on top of loose balls.

However, no prospect in the mid-to-late 20s is perfect and Allen is no different. Despite the steals, he has a lot of work to do defensively and his lack of top-end quickness may put a cap on his potential there.

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Also — he’s a four-year collegiate and one of the older players in the draft. It’s a situation that always raises concerns about a player’s potential/upside. In his defense, though, he found success early, putting up 22 points per game as a sophomore. He led the ACC in offensive box plus/minus along the way.

Allen was the third Duke player to go off the board in the 2018 draft, following Marvin Bagley III and Wendell Carter, Jr. Gary Trent, Jr. made four in Round 2.

Our own Zack Padmore profiled Allen earlier this month.

Stay tuned to The J-Notes for all the latest on the 2018 NBA Draft.