Utah Jazz: Was Grayson Allen’s career game an anomaly or sign of things to come?

Utah Jazz rookie Grayson Allen played extremely well against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday. Was it a sign of bright things ahead?

The most recent Utah Jazz contest against the Phoenix Suns wasn’t exactly beautiful basketball. There were injuries on both sides, including Suns star Devin Booker going down with an ankle injury that will keep him sidelined for the remainder of the season.

Nevertheless, Utah still got the W which is the most important thing. And while the injuries resulted in a worrisome lack of depth, they also gave less experienced Jazz players the chance to step up. The prime example of such an opportunity was the one provided to Jazz rookie Grayson Allen.

Allen’s rookie season has been far from spectacular. Sure, as a late first round pick with some obvious limitations and question marks coming into the league, it was unrealistic to put too high of expectations on him. But I think it’s fair to say that he hasn’t lived up even to those. Albeit in limited playing time, Allen is shooting just 34.6 percent from the field and 30.4 percent from deep. He’s been turnover prone, has struggled to make the right decisions and has been less than reliable on defense.

But in Wednesday’s win over the Phoenix Suns, Grayson Allen looked significantly improved and had himself a career game. He went off for 14 points, the most he’s scored as an NBA player, on 6-of-9 shooting from the field while converting on 40 percent of his 3-point attempts. He was a plus-9 on the night and truly had some bright moments on both ends of the court.

For what it’s worth, much to the chagrin of some conflicted Jazz fans, he unquestionably outplayed local favorite Jimmer Fredette, who had his best game as a member of the Phoenix Suns with 10 points, despite not converting on a single 3-point shot.

Now, I certainly recognize that this was a game against one of the worst teams in the league that has little to play for and wasn’t even at full strength, having to rely on a lot of second-tier players. Grayson Allen has played well against G-League competition as well, for example, but that would be far from an indication that he’s turned the corner. The rag-tag Suns team that the Jazz faced on Wednesday wasn’t much higher in terms of competition.

Which begs the question, was his outburst a sign of him turning the corner or was it merely a player performing better against lighter competition than normal?

Unfortunately, there’s no way to know that after one game. And while Allen may receive a few more opportunities this year with both Raul Neto and Ricky Rubio dealing with lingering injuries, it’s highly unlikely that he’ll get much (if any) playing time in the playoffs as he certainly hasn’t done enough to prove that he can be relied on in such high-stake situations.

But if anything, this should be a confidence builder for him moving forward and could be a shred of hope in what was an otherwise disappointing debut season for Allen. I’ve been as critical of the rookie as anyone, but certainly would like to see him succeed and be an asset for the Jazz.

The Jazz still have plenty to play for with home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs on the line. However, with two of their four remaining games coming against lottery-bound teams, Allen may very well have a chance to build off the momentum and confidence he built against Phoenix and show us that he may yet have some potential moving forward.

It wouldn’t be much consolation after a rocky rookie year, but it would still be a nice sign of encouragement for Grayson’s career moving forward.

• Published on 04/04/2019 at 9:50 PM MDT
• Last updated on 04/04/2019 at 9:50 PM MDT