Suns head coach Frank Vogel couldn’t hide his pride.
On Thursday night, the Phoenix Suns were the odds-on favorite to win over the Toronto Raptors, especially given the Raptors’ current roster shortage. Grayson Allen wasted no time in ensuring that the Suns remained in control throughout the contest. Allen, who awoke feeling dangerous, made seven triples in the first quarter (all of his buckets were from deep) en route to a 26-point performance in a 120-113 victory.
Simply simply, Allen has exceeded the Suns’ expectations since they acquired him in the trade that sent Deandre Ayton to the Portland Trail Blazers. Allen has long been one of the league’s top snipers, but he has recently taken his game to the next level, shooting the ball unbelievably well from beyond the arc.
As a result, Suns head coach Frank Vogel couldn’t suppress his pride in Grayson Allen. According to ClutchPoints beat reporter Trevor Booth, during their game against the Raptors, Vogel drew Allen aside to “tell him how great of a player he’s been this season”.
One of the Suns’ major issues last season was a lack of high-quality players to surround their nucleus after trading away the majority of their depth to bring Kevin Durant to the Valley. They had to trade Deandre Ayton to spread the wealth more evenly throughout the rest of their squad, and for a while, it didn’t appear that they received a strong enough return for the first overall choice in the 2018 NBA Draft.
However, Grayson Allen’s play has completely altered the conversation surrounding the transaction. Allen has become one of Frank Vogel’s most trusted players, especially as Allen has emerged as one of the more pesky defenders on the wing, and his elite marksmanship from deep (he has made 16 triples combined in his past two games) just provides the cherry on top of what has been a stellar campaign from the 28-year-old guard out of Duke.
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