Utah Jazz: Opportunity could be knocking for rookie Grayson Allen

He may not have played in Wednesday night’s win over the Brooklyn Nets, but it’s hard to believe that Grayson Allen won’t have more of an opportunity with the Utah Jazz after they traded Alec Burks.

The Utah Jazz are very high on Grayson Allen. Despite being pegged as a second-round pick in many mock drafts, the Jazz selected him with the 21st pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. He dominated in a pre-draft workout for the team and the rest is history.

With Alec Burks moving on to Cleveland in a trade for Kyle Korver, I see Allen getting more of an opportunity for the Jazz. He’s been in and out of the rotation to open his rookie season, and hasn’t played particularly well. However, if he can contribute like he did during the preseason, Allen could be a huge piece to the roster.

A lot will depend on matchups and how Coach Quin Snyder envisions his rotations.

I see Korver playing more small forward and power forward for the Jazz. In Cleveland, Korver played over 60 percent of his minutes this season at power forward. If the Jazz bench Derrick Favors and start Jae Crowder, I think a bench unit featuring Dante Exum, Allen and Royce O’Neale on the perimeter, with Korver at the power forward spot and Favors down low, could be a great one.

You’d have great athleticism, a lethal 3-point shooter in Korver and Favors playing the center. I really like Favs at center. That lineup would have Allen playing the backup shooting guard role.

If Snyder starts Favors rather than Crowder, it’ll be harder to get the former Duke star some minutes. That’s because Crowder would play the backup four, with Korver moving to small forward and O’Neale moving to shooting guard. Nonetheless, the Jazz have flexibility and Allen has something to look forward to.

It’s always important to get your rookies some experience. Still, I’m a firm believer in having them earn their minutes, rather than throwing them in the fire. It applies a lot of pressure to the rookies to perform well in their minutes, but ultimately, it will make them a better basketball player.

This is something Allen will have to do. If he continues shooting in the low thirties from the field and high twenties from 3-point range, he won’t last long as a rotation player.

Allen is currently averaging nearly five points per game, with not much else to report statistically. Per 36 minutes, he’s only averaging 1.5 assists and 0.7 rebounds. Doing more than just scoring will certainly help him get more run.

Time will tell, but I think Grayson’s rookie season outlook just got brighter following the acquisition of Kyle Korver.