How much can change in a day?
Just ask Grayson Allen.
The Utah Jazz rookie guard spoke to reporters following his second day of training camp with the team and, already, the first-round pick said he felt a difference.
“I was a lot less nervous today,” Allen said. “I was definitely really nervous going into my first official day with the team.”
The former Duke star said he thought playing four years at the college level has helped his transition to the pros.
“I think it’s making the adjustment a little bit better,” he said. “All the things you’re supposed to have coming into a team, I have. I just need to learn the terminology. I know good habits from four years in college. I know the right and wrong. I know how to be vocal. I know how to talk. All these things that are really little and help you out and make the transition smoother.”
Allen has been involved in shooting drills with Donovan Mitchell and Jae Crowder at the end of practices and the rookie said his teammates have been quick to offer help.
“Donovan’s been helping me a lot,” Allen said. “He went through it last year, so he can probably tell by whatever look I have on my face what I’m thinking.”
Head coach Quin Snyder and veteran wing Joe Ingles also praised Allen’s performance on Day 2 of camp.
“He just knows how to play,” Ingles said. “I don’t know if it’s four years of college or just him. Probably a bit of both. He plays the right way. He plays hard. The passion to compete is at a super high level. Since I’ve been here, he’s shown he can step in and play right away.”
There are, however, still some bumps the rookie will have to endure. Point guard Ricky Rubio pulled out of one play, Snyder said, leaving Allen to run point on a play he didn’t know.
“You never know if they’re doing that on purpose to mess with him,” Snyder said.
Here a few other notes from the second day of camp:
• The team ended its practice with a scrimmage.
“Any time you scrimmage at the end of practice, it can get a little sloppy,” Snyder said. “But for the most part, you want to see carryover from things you’re working on and we’ve been dialed in.”
• With a talented and deep roster, Snyder expects his players to manage that depth with an approach right out of the WWE.
“It’s kind of the tag-team approach,” he said. “You’ve got the guy down on the canvas and you hit the other guy’s hand and he comes off the ropes. That’s how we have to play. We have to support each other — and there’s no reason to expect our team to do anything different because that’s who they’ve been.”
• Aussie Joe Ingles is looking forward to playing a pair of Australian teams during the preseason. But he won’t take any credit for the rise of Australian basketball.
“I don’t think they were watching highlights of me and trying to emulate what I do on the court,” he said. “But basketball is definitely getting bigger in Australia. The leagues are getting better and better. The Americans that are going over there are getting better. … The thing I liked last year was — up or down whatever the score — they’re going to play the same way. They’re going to play hard. They’re not going to back down. Similar to the Australians here. It will be fun."