Philadelphia 76ers after the 2011 NBA Draft; Will Nikola Vucevic and Lavoy Allen bring a change?
The Philadelphia 76ers landed themselves with two draft picks this year for the first time in their history. Both Nikola Vucevic and Lavoy Allen joined the camp in the recently concluded 2011 National Basketball Association Drafts.
Nikola Vucevic is a 6ft 10in pro from the Southern California University. The player has a great control over his ball handling and commendable skills in the paint. His rebounds and face-up game has put him in the lime-light throughout his collegiate tenure.
Montenegro’s big guy though, can do with some more gain in size to compete with the league’s other bigs. He lacks in athleticism and an improvement can prove helpful for Nikola Vucevic in making his game more profound.
Lavoy Allen, on the other hand, was picked as the 50th overall pick. He comes from the Temple University in Philadelphia and was coached there by Fran Dunphy who said that Allen “might be the smartest player I've ever coached."
Allen is a good player with nice rebounding skills. One of his major fortes is that he remains focused, keeping his mind on the game. He lets the game come to him instead of fussing around and making blunders. Allen paced Temple’s team in the NCAA tournament throughout his career there. He is the leading all-time rebounder in the Temple history.
However, he needs some effort on improving his footwork and offensive side of the game. Some NBA experts see him as the up-coming Juwan Howard, the 6ft-9in Miami Heat reserve power forward.
Amongst the two talents, Nikola Vucevic seems made more of the star type material than Lavoy Allen, at least on the surface. Nikola Vucevic, other than not having a very intimidating size, has shown great improvement off late and his stats are a testament to that. Last year, he improved his scoring average to 17.1 point per game (ppg) from 10.7 ppg previously. He also led his league in rebounds, averaging 10.3 rebounds per game (rpg). That was the reason; he was picked as the 16th overall pick in the first round and his post prowess can be instrumental for the Sixers in the years to come.
Lavoy Allen can definitely prove to be quite useful to the Philadelphia 76ers in the future. His stats were not exactly the eye-catching sort (11.6 ppg, 8.6 rpg), but Lavoy Allen has the quality to play high profile basketball. His role at the defensive end will be important and if he adjusts to the big stage quickly, he can be an asset for the Sixers.
Philadelphia 76ers desperately need guys on the roster who can take control on the frontcourt. Other than resigning the forward free-agent Thaddeus Young this season, the 76ers will also be expecting Nikola Vucevic to play good basketball. However, they have to be patient. Both the players are good, no doubt, but they will take their time to acclimatize into the league. Once that happens, Vucevic is bound to excel and Allen has the potential to become an effective role player.
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