Malik Allen

Malik Allen — Mid-range jumpshots and a beard. Something for everyone there.

(Other possibilities for this type of trade included Portland with Sean Marks, Utah with Francisco Elson, Dallas with Brian Cardinal and Orlando with Malik Allen. As mentioned elsewhere, Marks was dealt elsewhere; however, the other three teams held onto their little-used veteran big men, and will now pay luxury tax on their salaries. To put that into context, that troika of treasure have combined this far this season for 99 games and 1,093 minutes played, 235 points, 163 points and 146 fouls, all for a combined $5,126,334 after tax. Their teams clearly value them anyway, but enough to pay luxury tax on them? Seems so.)

In some additional related bookkeeping, the reason for many of the players listed in the previous list was due to the NBA's contract guarantee date. All players on NBA rosters on or after January 10th have their contracts guaranteed for the remainder of the season (future seasons are unaffected); this also includes waivers. In-season waivers are 48 hours long and do not include weekends; therefore, with the 10th of January being a Monday, players had to be waived by close of business on Wednesday 5th in order to have cleared waivers before the deadline date.

Eleven players with not fully guaranteed contracts were waived in the hours before that deadline: Steve Novak, Damien Wilkins, Jarron Collins, John Lucas III, Ime Udoka, Lester Hudson, Ronald Dupree, Brian Skinner, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Sundiata Gaines and Rodney Carney. Twenty seven unguaranteed players survived; Delonte West, Von Wafer, Brian Scalabrine, Samardo Samuels, Manny Harris, Alonzo Gee, Brian Cardinal, Melvin Ely, Gary Forbes, Jeremy Lin, Ish Smith, A.J. Price, Ike Diogu, Luc Richard Mbah A Moute, Ben Uzoh, Didier Ilunga-Mbenga, Shawne Williams, Malik Allen, Garret Siler, Patty Mills, Sean Marks, Darnell Jackson, Chris Quinn, Sonny Weems, Jeremy Evans, Cartier Martin and Hamady Ndiaye. Players with contracts who had already become guaranteed due to specific guarantee stipulations in their contracts were Sherron Collins, Derrick Brown, Josh McRoberts, Willie Warren, Derrick Caracter, Luther Head and Joey Dorsey.

[...] Malik Allen, meanwhile, will take a lot of inefficient long two-point jumpshots.

[...] Allen serves no obvious purpose on a team already with Brandon Bass and Ryan Anderson. This is particularly because of Bass, whom Allen somewhat resembles, except with worse defense, rebounding, post-up play, isolation play, ability to get to the free throw line, and overall productivity. If Allen ever wants to make it back into the NBA, he had best turn those 20 footers into 25 footers, because if you're going to only score in this league, then you'd better have more points than shots. And whilst more Shard at small forward might open up the vague possibility of one more spot for a power forward, Malik isn't good enough to fill it. Malik has had ten years of experience, but not ten years of improvement.

Malik Allen - Malik has been plying his trade with the Nets, Mavericks, Bucks and Nuggets in recent years. He has consistently not added to his game, demonstrating little else but a pick-and-pop jumpshot and an aversion to physical defense. Last year, he wasn't even good at the shooting part, shooting only .397% and doing his usual act of taking only 13 free throws all season. At the very least, you know what you're getting from Malik Allen; a bit of shooting and very few mistakes. But it's not a lot.