You Know Nothing, Lavoy Allen

The title's slightly misleading, but any time I can make a Game of Thrones reference, I'm gonna do it (link).

Lavoy Allen has had an interesting first two years as a professional ballplayer. Universally shrugged at as a Homer Pick upon being drafted as a senior out of Temple, he earned a spot over Surefire Hall Of Famer Nikola Vucevic in Doug Collins' rotation. Then stepped up in a big way in the playoffs when Spencer Hawes let Kevin Garnett shoot like a thousand percent against him and take all his money, allowing Lavoy to do a comparatively fantastic job on KG (love this picture). Then the Sixers had to sign him to a new contract this offseason after failing to include a team option in his rookie contract and now he's making $3 million to be not that good.

It's been a jock itch of a season for everybody, and Lavoy's had a rough go of it as well with drops in rebounding, shooting, and defense. But maybe he's taken this season's failures as a learning experience and will come out of it as a better player and a better man. Right?

"What have I learned? I mean, what have I learned? That’s a good question," Allen said the other day.

And?

"Uhh, nothing really," he said. "I didn’t have to do any rookie duties this year, so that’s good, I guess."

Oh. Well. Uhhh. That's okay too. That's... well that's not great. Good thing we have one of the best basketball minds in Doug Collins coaching our team because just imagine how screwed we'd be if he wasn't around to teach all of his worldly basketball knowledge! Keep firing up 20-footers, Lavoy. They're bound to go in eventually.

There's some other things in Chris Vito's article about "motor" and all that stuff. But at the end of the day, he doesn't matter. He's a below-average basketball player. Backup big men with no post moves are easily found. His role this year certainly would've been less had Andrew Bynum played, but that doesn't fully excuse his poor play. Hopefully he gets better next year, but it's really inconsequential to the future of this team.

Can't wait to hear what the eloquent Arnett Moultrie has to say about all of his great learning experiences!

(h/t The 700 Level)