Lavoy Allen made a name for himself in the playoffs last year as “The KG Stopper.” He did a phenomenal job against Garnett, who had been dominant in the playoffs up until that point. Naturally, Doug Collins went away from Allen and played Spencer Hawes for longer stretches, despite Garnett taking Hawes’ lunch money and throwing him in the deep puddle in the parking lot. Which isn’t some huge knock. It’s Kevin Garnett.
But apparently that wasn’t enough for Doug Collins, who said that Hawes and newcomer Kwame Brown will start next year, making for a killer combination of players with terrible production relative to their draft stock. Both players are capable, Hawes offensively, Brown defensively, but Allen has higher upside and brought more to the table last year.
Allen, though, isn’t bothered by his coach’s comments. From CSN Philadelphia:
via Allen on not starting: ‘Coach says that now’.
What’s the over/under on how long until Allen cements the starting job? 25 games? Maybe 40? It’s entirely possible that Allen takes a step back, he didn’t set the world on fire last season or anything, he just played well and with an aggressiveness the Sixers need down low. But Hawes also played above his career production last season. It’ll be interesting to see how this dynamic plays out during the course of the season. But if the Sixers face the Celtics in the playoffs again and the same decision tree is used, Garnett could once again feast and be the deciding factor.