CHICAGO — If it was an upset that Kadeem Allen became the first member of his large family to graduate from college this spring, so was the fact that he didn’t quite make it to the ceremonial finish line.
Something about a job interview.
Actually, for a basketball player, the ultimate job interview: Four days of drills, games, testing and in-person interviews at the NBA combine that took Allen away from UA graduation ceremonies last week.
“It’s been a great process getting this invite,” Allen said Friday, as the combine wound up at the Quest Multisport complex. “A lot of people didn’t think I would get it. It’s hard work, really. Hard work, man. Just trust in God and believe in myself.”
That’s pretty much the impression the former Arizona guard left NBA execs after standing out in the seniors-only Portsmouth Invitational and holding his own in a 67-player pool of potential draft picks at the combine.
While some NBA scouts say Allen’s age — he’s 24 — works against him in a draft pool where upside is treasured most, Allen has versatility, a defensive mindset and a motor that nobody can doubt.
“You love how hard he plays,” says Bulls scout Jeff Feld, a former UA staffer.
In two games at the combine, Allen averaged 8.0 points while shooting 5 for 13 from the field and dishing nine total assists to four turnovers. Between Portsmouth and Chicago, Allen showed he can run teams. That he can defend. And that he can score, sometimes in eye-opening fashion.
When asked about Allen, D-League coach Matt Brase first blurted out the description of a crossover move Allen used to get to the basket during a combine game Friday.
“That was a really high-level move,” said Brase, a former UA player now heading Houston’s D-League affiliate. “He’s super-aggressive. I think he has a desire to be a good defender, and the league is made up of so many role players that being a point guard and being solid with the ball, there’s a high value for that.”
Allen can also play the same sort of combo role he did for the Wildcats. Even though the NBA measured Allen at only 6-foot-2.25 with shoes on, his wingspan of 6-9.25 was the third-longest of the 16 players under 6-foot-5.
“A lot of teams see me as a combo, and they like how I can guard bigger guys, and I can really separate myself that way, especially with my wingspan,” Allen said. “They’re giving me positive feedback and I’m just trying to take everything they give me and put it in my game.”
While none of that means Allen will get drafted next month, he has shown the kind of game that will likely land him a free-agent offer, probably an invite to an NBA summer-league team and maybe even a two-way NBA/D-League contract or a solid overseas offer.
Or maybe, just maybe, Allen carves out a niche for himself on an NBA roster somehow as an undrafted free agent, the way T.J. McConnell did two years ago.
“I think I have a chance,” Allen said. “I talked to a couple of teams (Thursday) in interviews and they really like my energy on offense and defense. They just like the role I play and the leadership I have, and that I can play on the ball or off the ball.”
Allen just had to figure out how best to get that point across. After running a team at the seniors-only Portsmouth event, Allen initially wasn’t sure what sort of game he should emphasize in Chicago.
He’s had many roles to draw from. While a sophomore at Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College, Allen poured in an average of 25.9 points a game while becoming the juco player of the year.
Then, arriving at the UA alongside McConnell, Gabe York, Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Stanley Johnson as a junior in 2014-15, Allen opted to redshirt. He averaged 8.4 points in 2015-16 as a redshirt junior and then was UA’s fifth-leading scorer last season with an average of 9.8 points.
At Arizona, Allen became used to defending, deferring and setting up others. Initially that didn’t work at the combine, with Allen scoring just five points in a 21-minute appearance in his first game.
“I’m so used to playing team ball and this is more really just showcasing what you can do,” Allen said. “I was really kind of back-seat (Thursday), but I didn’t take a back seat to anyone (Friday). It was ‘Just go out there and play basketball.’”
At the combine, Allen faced two reminders of that team ball he played for the Wildcats: Namely, former UA teammates Rawle Alkins and Kobi Simmons. Allen played opposite Alkins in his first game and against Simmons in his second, picking up Simmons at one point after he was knocked to the floor.
“It was fun being against Kobi and Rawle because a lot of people really didn’t believe we would all be here,” Allen said. “I feel we proved everyone wrong and we just have to keep going and try to get to the league.”
But no matter where Allen winds up in basketball, whenever he’s done with the game, he will always have that UA diploma to fall back on.
“That was big-time,” he said.
Even if he wasn’t there to collect it in person.
