Grayson Allen was no stranger to controversy during his four-year career at Duke.
Allen scored over 1,900 points as a Blue Devil, was an All-ACC player and won the national championship in 2015. But he was criticized for tripping opponents on multiple occasions and was even suspended for one game as a junior because of his actions.
Allen said Friday he would address those incidents when he spoke with teams prior to the NBA Draft.
“It’s something that comes from my competitiveness,” Allen said to reporters at the NBA Draft Combine (via Boston.com). “Competitiveness that I’ve had as a player, competitiveness that was pointed in the wrong direction and went over the line. It’s obviously something that I needed to work on.”
Allen said he’s improved at controlling his emotions on the court.
“It’s something you don’t want to put away,” Allen said. “You don’t want to put competitiveness and emotion away, so you learn to play with it. You learn to use it for your team. That’s what I’ve been saying.”
Allen averaged 15.5 points per game on a Duke team that went 29-8 and advanced to the Elite Eight last season. He does not appear in the first round of Sporting News' latest 2018 NBA Mock Draft.
