The start of a new NBA season means a fresh new batch of hot takes. This hot take will explain why Brooklyn Nets center Jarrett Allen could be a Defensive Player of the Year candidate.
The Brooklyn Nets have started the brand new NBA season, which means a whole new collection of hot takes. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, a “hot take” is a statement that is an exaggerated proclamation usually in response to something that has just happened or is about to happen.
It’s typically meant to just draw attention. This hot take in particular is one that will explain why Jarrett Allen will be a candidate for the Defensive Player of the Year award at the end of the season.
Although it has only been three games, Allen has already made waves in the media for his defensive abilities. In the Brooklyn Nets’ first game of the season, Allen just about broke Twitter for a short while when he denied Blake Griffin at the rim.
You can find the dunk denial in this compilation of the NBA’s top 10 plays of last week:
Now this was the second time in nine days that Allen put Griffin on his highlight reel. During the preseason, Blake tried to throw it down on Allen, but his attempt was swatted away then too.
Throughout his career Griffin’s calling card has been his athleticism. He made a living early on in his career dunking over people. Many remember him dunking over Timofey Mozgov, thus coining the phrase “Mozgoved.”
This isn’t the first time Allen has blocked a superstar’s dunk attempt. Last season when the Nets played the Oklahoma City Thunder in Mexico City, Allen blocked a dunk attempt by Carmelo Anthony.
Unlike a lot of guys in the league now, Allen isn’t afraid of getting put on a poster. If there is an opportunity to go for the block he will take it. When you step back and look at it, one could make the comparison of Allen to Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz.
Since his steady rise in the league over the past few years, Gobert has been given the nickname “Stifle Tower,” a play on Gobert’s French background for his stifling defense in the paint. So far this season Allen is averaging 3.0 blocks per game, which is third in the NBA.
Last season he had a total of 88 blocks, which gave him an average of 1.2 blocks per game. He led all rookies in this category.
Over the summer Allen put on some muscle, which is good because he would get pushed around a lot on the block battling for rebounds last season.
However, if he can improve his rebounding by about three or four per game and keep up his rim-protecting ways, there’s no reason why he can’t be in the Defensive Player of the Year discussion.