Nets to rebuild with Allen Brooklyn takes former Longhorn with 22nd overall pick in draft.
In the past seven months at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Jarrett Allen has scored 20 points and learned his NBA fate.
Soon that venue will become his home.
The Brooklyn Nets chose the Texas freshman Thursday night with the 22nd pick of the NBA draft, which was at the Barclays Center. It also happened to be the arena where Allen played his fourth and fifth games as a Longhorn in November.
“Yeah, I’m excited about being here,” Allen told reporters in a postpick news conference. “It’s a busy city, busy life. I mean, personally I could do with a little more trees, but I’m happy to be here.”
Allen became the 43rd Longhorn selected in an NBA draft; 16 have been first-round picks. Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner, who went 11th overall in 2015, was the last Texas player drafted.
Allen, who was born in Round Rock and graduated from St. Stephen’s, also was the first Austin-area high school product drafted in 17 years. The Chicago Bulls took former Westlake High and Longhorns standout Chris Mihm with the seventh pick in 2000.
Allen played only 33 games in his brief stint at Texas. He started every game and averaged 13.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks. He never made a 3-pointer but shot 56.6 percent. He finished third in the Big 12 in rebounds and was fourth in
blocks. Only Kansas State forward D.J. Johnson had a better shooting percentage (62.3 percent) in the Big 12.
Allen was a third-team AllBig 12 selection for Texas (11-22). Two losses came in the Legends Classic at the Barclays Center — a 77-58 defeat by Northwestern on Nov. 21 when Allen scored five points and a 68-54 loss to Colorado the next day when Allen scored 15 and had six rebounds.
“I’m super-excited for Jarrett and his family,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said. “This is a life-changing day. I truly believe he will continue to make explosive growth. He has all the attributes of a player who will get better
and better with time.” Allen joins a rebuilding Nets team that was a leagueworst 20-62 this season.
The Nets lost Thursday’s No. 1 overall pick because of a 2013 trade with Boston, but they still had two first-round selections. They traded center Brook Lopez and the 27th pick to the Los Angeles Lakers in return for guard D’Angelo Russell — the second pick in the 2015 draft — and center Timofey Mozgov.
Allen went right after the Oklahoma City Thunder took Australian shooting guard Terrance Ferguson at No.
21. Allen was the fourth cen- ter taken, after Gonzaga’s Zach Collins (No. 10, Kings), Creighton’s Justin Patton (No. 16, Bulls) and Duke’s Harry Giles (No. 20, Trail Blazers). Collins was traded to Portland for Giles; Patton was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Nets allowed 112.5 points per game, the sec- ond-most in the league behind only the Phoenix Suns (113.3). Allen, though, thinks he can help on that
end of the court. The first Longhorn ever drafted by the Nets went with a defense-oriented answer when asked about the skills he’d bring to the NBA.
“Like blo c ki n g shots, guarding pick-and-rolls, just doing everything on that end,” Allen said.
“And then on the offensive game, I have a pretty basic skill set, just kind of back to the basket, trying to work on my face-up game and shot.”
Allen’s big night came 32 years after the Dallas Mavericks used a third-round
pick on San Diego State’s Leonard Allen — Jarrett’s father. Leonard Allen was the 50th selection in 1985 but never appeared in an NBA game. He did play overseas, though.
“He was just re a lly proud,” Jarrett Allen said. “He’s always been really proud of me, but to see me finally picked, walk across that stage and shake his hand meant a lot to him. He couldn’t stop smiling.”