BIG FOR B’KLYN
Defensive force Allen selected by Nets
After the Nets traded away center Brook Lopez, they spent much of Thursday exploring moving up in the NBA draft, with coach Kenny Atkinson telling The Post he wanted to add defense and rim protection. The Nets got lucky and found both when Texas center Jarrett Allen fell into their lap at No. 22.
It has been a while since the Nets, coming off an NBA-worst 20-62 campaign, have had a week this auspicious. On Tuesday, they flipped a year of Lopez (and cap space) for young foundation piece D’Angelo Russell, and two days later at Barclays Center, they selected Allen as Lopez’s successor.
“I’m looking forward to it a lot. Having young players, I feel like it creates good chemistry. You don’t have older players, everybody has the same goal of trying to become the best they can. So it’s going to be good for me,’’ said Allen, who didn’t meet with the Nets until Wednesday. It apparently didn’t take him long to impress them.
“They said they wanted highcharacter individuals, people that are not going to bring toxicity to the team. ... Being drafted by Brooklyn, just going to bring a level of intensity. Try to leave my mark here and just try to bring everything I have.”
The Nets saw Allen at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago, but never brought him in for a workout because they never expected to have a chance to get him. He averaged 13.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in his lone season at Texas. Two months ago, some were projecting he would go in the midteens.
“We were extremely fortunate to get Jarrett Allen. He’s an incredible young man, very versatile and he is not even remotely scratched the surface of what he can do,’’ general manager Sean Marks said. “It’s exciting for us. He’s a tremendous young man and fits what we’re doing.”
Allen is just 19 and has no game outside the lane. But he wasn’t shy about trying to fill the massive hole left in the middle by Lopez’s departure.
“That opens up another spot for me to go in and play,’’ said Allen, who won’t replace Lopez’s offense and will take time to develop. But he can run the floor and block shots and has enough mobility to handle the pick-and-roll.
“[My role] is mostly defensive, like blocking shots, guarding pickand-rolls, just doing everything on that end,’’ Allen said. “And then on the offensive game, I have a pretty basic skill set, back-to-the basket, trying to work on my face-up game and shot ... bringing a level of intensity on both sides of the floor.”
Which is exactly what the Nets need.
“I think rim protectors are huge. And again, big guys that can get out and defend small guys,’’ Atkinson told The Post.
That describes Allen. He’s 6foot-11 and a spindly 224 pounds, but he has an impressive 7-5 ¼ wingspan.
“Definitely my strength, I need to bulk up to be able to play center in this league,’’ Allen said. “But I have a lot more to go. I feel like my ceiling is really high.”
The Nets added 6-foot 9, 225pound Barcelona forward Aleksandar Vezenkov with the 57th pick. He averaged 7.5 points per game in the Euroleague on 47.9 percent shooting from deep.
Speaking about Russell for the first time, Marks said: “When you’re able to get a talent like that in your gym, you’re excited about that. Kenny, the players, they’re excited about getting a young player with a lot of upside.”