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SALT LAKE CITY — When Grayson Allen imagined the perfect rookie season, all he has to do was think of the person a few lockers to his left.
“I think you saw it last year with Donovan (Mitchell),” Allen said. “Can’t get much better than that.”
Allen knows that year was rare and it was special. And while every rookie hopes to do what Mitchell did — going from a perceived flawed prospect to one of the league's brightest young stars — Allen knew that wasn’t necessarily realistic.
“For me, I try to take it at my own pace,” Allen said. “As long as I feel the improvement and see it, I’m good.”
On Wednesday in Utah’s win over the Phoenix Suns, more than just Allen got to see it.
Allen had a career-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in 19 minutes. And he scored 10 first-half points to help the Jazz quickly erase a large Suns lead.
But it was more than just scoring.
He fought over screens, he hustled back in transition for a block before quickly turning around and running to the opposite corner and contesting a 3-pointer. He, as Jazz coach Quin Snyder said, competed.
“He really threw himself into it,” Snyder said of Allen’s defensive performance.
It was a single game against a depleted Suns team which was already one of the league’s worst. But there was no doubt that Allen showed some growth. He saw it, his coach saw, his teammates saw it.
“He did so many things,” said Mitchell, who admitted that he was disappointed he missed Allen getting doused with water as the rookie gave the post-game interview on TV. “He’s taken a huge leap at the right time. … There’s more to come.”
It’s been over a year now that Allen finished his polarizing college career.
Last March, he was one of the most talked about athletes in the country as the senior leader, (and to many, the villain), of the Duke Blue Devils. People loved to hate him, talking heads loved to scream about him and everything he did on the court seemed to elicit a strong reaction.
“People that dislike me, and Duke, anything I did, was clearly on one side and people that love Duke was on the other side,” Allen said. “There was never a factual or normal response to anything I did there.”
Allen kept close tabs on his former team’s run to the Elite Eight last month. He checked scores, texted former teammates and even stayed late after a home game to finish Duke’s thrilling Sweet 16 victory.
And while there’s a part of him that misses the college experience, there’s some stuff that he’s glad is behind him.
He’s not sad that he’s no longer a topic of sports talk radio hosts to argue about. Or that he’s no longer having every misstep be analyzed over and over again by what seemed like everyone. He doesn’t really miss being the polarizing player.
“It’s never been me,” Allen said. “Whenever I say this to people, they have a hard time seeing it because I’m so firey on the court a lot of the times. Socially, I like to stick to myself. I’m more on the shy side than anything. I don’t really like the attention anyway.”
Which is why Allen welcomed — and even asked for — a G-League assignment. He wanted to play and improve his game. And improve enough that he could help the Jazz win.
Snyder made it clear that it wasn’t a demotion or a step back for Allen when he went to the G-League. It was an opportunity. And Allen’s career-best performance against the Suns can be linked to his time spent with the Stars.
On March 26, Allen had 37 points, six rebounds and five assists in the Stars’ first-round loss to Oklahoma City in the G-League playoffs. He went 11-of-15 from the field, hit 6-of-8 3-pointers and even delivered a high-flying one-handed slam.
“He just played with passion,” Snyder said of that contest. “I was watching his facial expression. After a play, he was clapping and all those things. That’s what playing does.
“That’s why the G-league is such an important part of our program,” Snyder continued. “Because beyond like reps in pick-and-roll and defensive habits, you just learn through the experience of competing on a team.”
And that experience has shown Allen that he is indeed getting better. His rookie season might not have been like Mitchell’s, but it has still been plenty productive.
“As long as I feel like I’m learning and getting better, I’m happy with it,” Allen said. “I can say right now that where I am now from the beginning of the year is a lot different. I’m happy with that.”
