Player Name: Tony Allen (Memphis Grizzlies)
Position: Forward
Height/Weight: 6-foot-4, 213 pounds
Why you need to watch him on NBA League Pass: Don’t tell Tony Allen he doesn’t belong on any sort of team of the NBA’s best, whatever the category. I tried this a few months ago and had to deal with the man himself.
To be sure, not a lot of opponents relish having to deal with Allen, who is known in Memphis as “The Grindfather” for his position as the emotional forefather of the Grizzlies’ signature grit-and-grind style of play. There’s not a player in the NBA that Allen doesn’t believe he can’t defend, and for the most part he’s right. With a muscular, relentless approach to defending, Allen embraces the challenge of stopping the NBA’s best.
The thing is, he’s a lot of fun to watch work. Allen comes complete with a whole host of tics and habits, from constantly pointing into the stands, to mostly eschewing huddles during timeouts. (“I’m not really a huddle kind of guy,” Allen told me last year.) And then there was last season’s infamous playoff game where Allen harrassed Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson while repeatedly yelling, “First Team All-Defense!”
The Grizzlies may not play the most visually satisfying style of basketball, but it gets results, which is all that matters. And in a city like Memphis that is known for soul, a guy like Allen embodies that perfectly.
— Lang Whitaker
