Jarrett Allen had read all the rumors and heard all the haters. He doesn’t love basketball, they assumed. He isn’t committed to the game, they accused.
Rubbish, he replied.
Allen said being a dedicated pro and well-rounded person aren’t mutually exclusive. Brooklyn’s first-round pick insists he loves the sport — and considering how much the Nets have riding on him, he had better.
“Yes, [I love the game]. I do think a lot of people have that mindset that basketball players are 100 percent — it’s not the right way to say it — all locked in to basketball and don’t have any other interests,” Allen said Friday. “But me, I have a lot of other interests outside of basketball, so that gets conflicted with how much I [am] perceived to love basketball.”
Allen admits the criticism has driven him but knows he can’t stress over changing the opinions of critics who have made up their minds without ever meeting him.
“It was motivation,” Allen said at the NBA rookie photo shoot. “But they don’t really know a lot about me, so I can’t really go against what they say.”
What they said about Allen is what caused him to drop in the draft, from a projected eighth by Draft Express back in April all the way into the Nets’ laps at 22nd overall.
Allen’s slide wasn’t due to youth (at 19, he’s the second-youngest Net in history), size (he’s 6-foot-10 with a 7-5 wingspan) or medical red flags (there weren’t any). It was due to doubts about his love for the game, questions Draft Express’ Michael Schmitz raised right after Brooklyn selected Allen.
Coming off an NBA-worst 20-62 campaign, the Nets have a ton of rebuilding to do, and with the exception of D’Angelo Russell, no player’s development is more important to that rebuild than Allen’s.
In many ways, the misconceptions about Allen are because he’s a nerd who could have been a kindred spirit for his Nets predecessor Brook Lopez. He had the Texas Longhorns’ highest GPA in the fall semester (3.89), plays “Legend of Zelda,” binge watches “The Twilight Zone” and even builds his own computers.
Allen inherited both his height and love of computers from his 6-8 father, Leonard, who finished one career playing basketball in Europe and has forged a second one at Dell. Leonard also encouraged his son to be well-rounded and have interests beyond basketball — something he admits may have led outsiders to question the youngster’s love of the game.
“My thing was be a kid first — play Nintendo, go out, skate,” Leonard Allen said. “Going to that next level, it’s not guaranteed, so I didn’t want him to just be like his only focus was basketball. There are other things in life out there besides basketball. There’s life that’s fun to do. You don’t have to consume yourself 24 hours a day. There’s down times away from the job.”
But the elder Allen insisted his son’s focus is fierce.
“But his competitive edge, [he’s] just a quiet assassin,” he said.
That competitive edge was evident when the rookie backed up teammate Jeremy Lin’s bold claim Brooklyn can make the playoffs.
“We have all the pieces that we need to,” Jarrett Allen said. “We can always get more, but it’s going to be a good season. Yeah, we can do it. The East is [weakened]. We’re contenders in the East.”
Allen missed summer league with a hip injury, but he’s back working out with Brooklyn teammates and coaches. With him and the declining Timofey Mozgov the only Nets over 6-8, there are minutes to be had.
“It’s definitely an opportunity,’’ Allen said. “A lot of rookies aren’t in the same position that I am, to be able to come in and play immediately or gets minutes like I will. So it’s nothing but good for me.”