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'17 NC SG Thomas Allen (NC State Decommit)

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Garner (NC) HS but transferring to Brewster Academy in New Hampshire

Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 180 lbs

Seems to be on a bit of a hot streak...in June he picked up offers from Nebraska, Texas A&M, NC State, Xavier, Rhode Island and Illinois.

Name to Know: 6'1" Junior Thomas Allen of Garner (NC)

Thomas Allen is the best junior point guard you've never heard of

Garner basketball standout Thomas Allen transferring out of state for senior season



 
Here's a scouting report from Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress after watching Allen recently at the Adidas Nations camp:

Strengths
-Prolific and efficient scorer. Scored 65 points in 65 minutes at Nations, mostly coming off the bench looking to put the ball in the hoop. Did it efficiently (65% TS%) after doing the same on the adidas Gauntlet circuit (33 points per-40, 63% TS%)
-Big time shot maker. Arguably the best shooter at the camp. Has deep range on his jumper. Quick release. Lethal off the dribble. Doesn't hesitate for an instant to fire up if left open, and sees very good results. Throws the ball in the basket from awkward angles with tremendous instincts and balance
-Shows nice range and touch on his floaters. Converts them from outside the paint even
-Will occasionally make a nice pass showing some vision and acumen, particularly in transition or in drive and dish situations

Weaknesses
-Small and skinny. Looks about 6'0, with a very narrow frame and average length at best.
-More of a severely undersized SG than a combo or a PG at this stage. Looking first and foremost to score whenever he has the ball in his hands.
-Dribbles with his head down and forces up tough looks (which he can make at this level). Split second late with his reads, even when he is trying to facilitate
-Everything is a jumper. Almost never gets all the way to the rim. Doesn't get to the free throw line at all (35 attempts in 563 minutes in DX database)
-Lackluster defender. Displays a low intensity level on this end of the floor. Stands straight up. Doesn't fight over screens. Doesn't make an effort to slide his feet or close out on shooters. Loses his man off the ball.

Outlook Big time scoring guard who has put points up on the board everywhere he's played. Has tremendous shot-making instincts. Needs to continue to round out the rest of his game, but his shooting ability is already drawing serious looks from the highest levels of college basketball. Transferring to Brewster Academy next season.
 
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Offering a smallish shooting specialist is interesting. It looked like most of the backcourt offers up until now were for combos who could or wanted to play some point. Even the 6'5 and 6'6 guys they are after mostly are considered to be PG possibilities - a la Russell coming in. Guys like Brown and Eastern and MJ Walker for instance.

While Allen seems more like a Kam Williams clone but maybe without the defensive tenacity to-date and a better off-the-dribble shooter than Kam is so-far.
I wonder if this is an indication that they are now looking toward signing two guards instead of just one in this class.

Kaleb, Young, a "shooting specialist" 2G and a combo would be a nice class and fill most needs. I do think someone will go pro early at the end of this season and free a 4th scholly( Trevor showed he is thinking that way already by testing the waters after his r/s soph year, Lyle seems poised for a major breakout year, KBD might blow up ). Matta seems to lose at least one unexpectedly every year ( like the four last year ). Maybe a 5 will decide to xfer instead, with Kaleb coming in there would appear to be one less rotation slot inside in 2017-2018. Something like that seems highly likely to me.

I'd like to see Matta offer some more shooters in this class. His system really does need them to open up the lanes and free his offense to be its best.
 
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I don't think shooting is going to be the biggest issue going forward. Kam is a good shooter. KBD can get hot. CJ, Andre Wesson, and Micah Potter are all supposed to be pretty good shooters. in the 2018 class Dane Goodwin is a good shooter. I like that we offered Allen, though, as he would effectively by Kam's understudy for a year and then fill that role once Kam graduates. also, Kyle Young is a good shooter, so if we get him that'd be another shooting asset on the team.
 
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I don't think shooting is going to be the biggest issue going forward. Kam is a good shooter. KBD can get hot. CJ, Andre Wesson, and Micah Potter are all supposed to be pretty good shooters. in the 2018 class Dane Goodwin is a good shooter. I like that we offered Allen, though, as he would effectively by Kam's understudy for a year and then fill that role once Kam graduates. also, Kyle Young is a good shooter, so if we get him that'd be another shooting asset on the team.

Kam is the only proven shooter on the roster. We all HOPE the newcomers will shoot well at this level but until they do it is all hope. So I advocate that Matta keep looking for more shooters in the next few classes.

I'm not sure Andre will be the answer at 3 down the road, so Matta should be looking for a scoring wing in the '18 class - and looks to be doing that with his current offers in that class.
 
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Supposedly supposed to visit in a couple weeks and with Weatherspoon committing to Mississippi State I would not be surprised to see a commitment by Allen on his visit. However, I am still holding out hope for Troy Brown :biggrin2:
 
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moved up his NC State visit to this weekend and then committed to them.

sounds like he's been basically on a visiting tour and was always kind of thinking NC State was where he was gonna go. bummed he didn't give OSU a chance, though.
 
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