Flanigan gets ‘fresh starting point’

[aubiefifty 18,398]

Auburn’s Allen Flanigan gets ‘fresh starting point’ at NBA’s G League Elite Camp

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

5-7 minutes

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Mar 5, 2022; Auburn, AL, USA; Allen Flanigan (22) goes up for a dunk between Auburn and South Carolina at Neville Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jacob Taylor/AU AthleticsJacob Taylor/AU Athletics

A rocky junior campaign did not prevent Allen Flanigan from testing the NBA Draft waters this offseason. After a shaky 2021-22 campaign in which he missed the start of the season due to injury and never regained his form after preseason Achilles surgery, Flanigan was one of four Auburn players to declare early for the NBA Draft.

The decision for Flanigan is one that could serve as a soft reset of sorts and a launching pad for his senior season after he participated in last week’s G League Elite Camp in advance of the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago.

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“I think the experience was really good, and I think he wanted that experience as much as anything,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said Monday in Alexander City before his annual Fore the Children Golf Classic. “He wanted to be able to get sort of a fresh starting point on where he is right now as it relates to the draft, as it relates to the competition.”

Flanigan was one of 44 players to participate in the G League Elite Camp, which took place over two days last week in Chicago. Across two scrimmages against professional-level competition, Flanigan 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, seven rebounds and four assists in 36 minutes of action. He scored six points on 3-of-4 shooting, with three rebounds and two assists in 17 minutes off the bench in the first scrimmage last Monday before following it up with a nine-point, four-rebound, two-assist performance in 19 minutes last Tuesday. In that second scrimmage, Flanigan shot 3-of-5 from the field and 1-of-2 from beyond the arc.

While Flanigan was solid in those scrimmages, it wasn’t enough to garner a call-up to the combine. Only seven players who participated in the G League Elite Camp went on to receive combine invites.

Still, it was a valuable opportunity for Flanigan, who Pearl said still has a couple of workouts scheduled with NBA franchises this week ahead of next week’s withdrawal deadline. Underclassmen have until June 1 to withdraw their names from the NBA Draft while still retaining their college eligibility. In recent years it has become easier and more common for underclassmen to dip their toes in the NBA Draft and use the pre-draft process for evaluation. After the 2017-18 season, a quartet of Auburn players took advantage of the opportunity, with Bryce Brown, Jared Harper, Austin Wiley and Mustapha Heron all declaring early before returning to school (in Heron’s case, he ultimately transferred to St. John’s).

The expectation has been that Flanigan will return to Auburn, though a final decision on his future will come in the next week after he wraps up his scheduled workouts with NBA teams.

“I think he learned a lot at the [G League Elite Camp]; what he did well, what he needs to do more of,” Pearl said. “And can he move the needle in the last two workouts? We’ll see, but I think the experience is going to be really good for him individually, and I think that’s why you have this window where you’re able to test the waters, but really learn as much as anything where you are, where the competition is and what needs to be done.”

This time last year, Flanigan was viewed by many as a potential first-round pick in the 2022 NBA Draft after he took a significant jump from his freshman season to his sophomore year. As a sophomore he averaged 14.3 points on 45.4 percent shooting, including 33.8 percent from 3-point range, to go along with 5.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. He was set to be one of the top returning players in the SEC as a junior, but his trajectory took a hit in the preseason when he sustained a partial Achilles tendon tear in an off-the-court incident.

That injury required surgery and sidelined Flanigan for multiple months, causing him to miss much of the preseason and the first several games of the year. Once he returned to the rotation in December, Flanigan appeared in 22 games and made 20 starts on the wing for Auburn but struggled to return to his pre-injury form. He averaged 6.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game while shooting just 39.5 percent from the field and a paltry 20.5 percent from beyond the arc.

“You’ve got to feel for him,” Pearl said in late February. “And I want our fans to feel for him. I do. He was the fifth-leading returning scorer in the SEC. He was the only guy on our team that even got remotely anything in the preseason. I think he was a second-team preseason All-SEC (pick). He is, I think, our fifth or maybe our sixth-leading scorer. And he was the fifth-leading returning scorer in the league — the whole league!

“So, you talk about catching an injury that takes you out three and a half months in September and, obviously, working his way back from it — not the same player he was a year ago offensively. That can wear on you.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

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[AuburnNTexas 7,350]

He seemed to play in control in this setting. Shot a solid percentage with solid rebounding.  The few highlights I saw showed him to have gotten back to or closer to where he was before the injury. He basically took what was available without forcing anything. If he can just do that along with his great defense he will be a huge asset to Auburn this year and if he does better than that his draft stock will go up again and Auburn will be much improved if other players are as good as advertised.

Edited May 26, 2022 by AuburnNTexas

[MaxCohen216 514]

Sure hope he regains his pre-injury form.  Seems like a great young man, works hard, good teammate, and loves Auburn.  An Auburn family man for life.  He deserves a good outcome.  Sure hope it happens for him.

Oh, and by the way, welcome back Alan and WDE.

[Cardin Drake 2,085]

People seem to have forgotten Flanagan was being projected as a 1st round pick by ESPN before his injury. When he returns to form, we could have 3 potential first round picks on the floor at the same time.  Not too shabby.

[SumterAubie 3,110]

22 hours ago, Cardin Drake said:

People seem to have forgotten Flanagan was being projected as a 1st round pick by ESPN before his injury. When he returns to form, we could have 3 potential first round picks on the floor at the same time.  Not too shabby.

This I like!