Jarrett Allen is too humble to call himself a replacement for Brook Lopez, who spent a decade as the face of the Nets.
But successor or heir apparent might do, the rookie center said.
“I wouldn’t call it replacing Brook. Brook is one of a kind, I hear,” Allen said after scoring a career-high 20 points Friday in a 102-99 loss to the Lakers. Lopez, the Nets’ all-time leading scorer, had 19 for the Lakers. “It was good. He was the face of the franchise here and now I’m here trying to become the face, too. So just going back and forth, it’s a good challenge.”
Facing star centers night after night as a raw, spindly 19-year-old is a tough challenge. More and more, however, Allen is proving himself up to the task.
“Oh, man, growing by leaps and bounds every time he’s stepping on the floor,” Spencer Dinwiddie said of Allen, the second-youngest Net to crack 20 points, after Clifford T. Robinson in 1979-80.
“And at 19 knowing that he’ll have probably have at least 13 or 14 years left to continue to improve … so he’s got 13 years to get better. That’s crazy. At the rate he’s going, there is no ceiling.”
With a 7-foot-5-½ wingspan, the tools are there. Allen fell to the Nets, who play the Bucks on Sunday at Barclays Center, at the 22nd pick in the 2017 draft because of doubts concerning his passion for the game. But in the annual general manager survey, he got the fifth-most votes for “biggest steal” in the draft, and so far he appears to be just that.
“His intelligence has been well-documented. That’s part of the reason why he’s such a quick study. But I think there’s a humility. He’s a very humble kid, and that allows him to continue to grow,” said Dinwiddie, acutely aware of the pre-draft critiques of Allen’s passion. “The most underrated part about Jarrett is his passion. He has a passion for the game, and wants to win and wants to play. That’s part of the improvement because if he didn’t care he wouldn’t keep improving.”
That improvement led to Allen wresting the starting position away from Tyler Zeller three games ago. He has topped double-figures in six straight games, averaging 13.7 points (second on the team) on torrid 80.5 percent shooting, while grabbing a team-high 7.2 rebounds.
Allen’s 72.2 percent shooting in January is the best month by a Net since 1983-84, and for any NBA player this season with at least 70 attempts. Furthering that upward climb led to coach Kenny Atkinson paring a three-man rotation down to just Allen and Jahlil Okafor.
“[Allen is] playing great basketball and he gets better with every game,” Atkinson said. “I can’t wait until he spends a summer in the weight room and starts to get stronger. Some of those rebounds, it’s just a matter of strength. And he’s going to get that.“You can already see him maturing. He’s already getting stronger and a summer with our performance team, we’re very excited about him. He’s doing it on both ends, too, right. … Obviously the pick-and-roll stuff and the pivots and dunks and all that’s great, it’s a big part of our offense. And then his defense is obviously rim protecting and his agility. He’s playing well.”
First, Allen started replacing the soft lobs with aggressive dunk attempts. Now he’s flashing deft footwork in the paint, spin moves and an unexpected left hand.
“He’s going to be good,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said, then corrected himself. “He’s not going to be good. … He’s already good from what little I’ve seen.”
DeMarre Carroll said his agent, Mark Bartelstein, told him several teams are interested in acquiring him before Thursday’s deadline, but nothing is imminent.
“Mark just told me a lot of teams are interested. He talked to [GM] Sean [Marks] and they value me a lot here,” Carroll told The Post. “You really don’t know what’ll happen. He just told me stay focused and continue to keep on doing well. I’m old enough I understand rumors are rumors. Until somebody calls and I’m shipping up out of here, continue to keep playing great basketball for the Brooklyn Nets.”