Arizona Marvelous Ideas: Sean Miller on Allonzo Trier’s emergence with Knicks: ‘A lot of teams missed the boat’

Allonzo Trier scored in double figures for the fourth time in his last five games Wednesday, scoring 16 points against the Hawks, as he continues to cement himself as one of the top rookies in the NBA.

The New York Knicks guard is now averaging 11.9 points per game with an extremely efficient shooting line of .500/.450/.864, not all that different from his percentages with the Arizona Wildcats.

So how in the world did he go undrafted?

“A lot of teams missed the boat on him,” said Arizona coach Sean Miller. “The NBA is made for a guy like Allonzo because he’s such a great scorer and he loves the game, and he’s going to work tirelessly on his game. And with the space on the court and the way it’s being played, he’s going to be able to score for a long time.”

Miller has never wavered in his opinion about that, either. Here is what he said back in late May before the NBA Draft:

“I believe Rawle (Alkins) and Allonzo really in their own respective ways will make their way towards success in the NBA. They do too many things well. They faced a lot of zone defense. They played with two traditional bigs on the court at the same time. As the court opens up in some ways the NBA game will be easier for them. And I also believe this, that their best days are ahead of them. They’ll both add to what they do well.”

If only NBA teams would have listened.

Here are Trier’s highlights from that Hawks game, by the way. A filthy crossover is included.