If any school and its basketball players know the difficulty of making (and thriving) on an NBA roster, it is Arizona.
The Wildcats have now had 20 first-round NBA Draft picks since the league adopted a two-round format in 1989. By comparison, Arizona’s football team has had six first-round choices since 1989.
When last week’s No. 53 overall choice, Kadeem Allen, joins the Boston Celtics in training camp, his odds of making the team, or getting into the rotation, are a bit daunting.
Boston returns three shooting guards from its 2016-17 roster: 27-year-old Avery Bradley, who played 33 minutes per game; 23-year-old Marcus Smart, a former No. 6 overall pick who averaged 30 minutes per game; and former No. 17 overall draftee James Young of Kentucky, who played just seven minutes per game last year.
Earning playing time in the NBA is so difficult that the Celtics’ No. 3 overall pick of 2016, Cal’s Jaylen Brown, averaged just 17 minutes in his rookie season.
But like many, I think Allen will reach the NBA and stick when he gets there, even if it requires a year or more in the G League (formerly the D League), and many nights sitting at the end of the bench.
Allen is a grinder who is physical, plays in-your-face defense and is willing to be a teammate first.
Allen is the 12th Wildcat drafted between Nos. 40-60 and only two before him — Steve Kerr at No. 50 and Chase Budinger at No. 44 — stayed in the NBA for more than a cup of coffee.
