The Boston Celtics selected Tony Allen with the 25th pick and Kevin Martin out of Western Carolina one pick later at 26th overall. A lot has changed since that same summer that was fresh of the first Detroit Pistons championship in nearly 14 years, while also seeing Shaquille O’Neal depart Los Angles in favor of the greener pastures of Miami. Since then players like Kevin Martin and Tony Allen have quietly rose to the top of league, catapulted by impressive second half surges that will surely carry into 2012.

Tony Allen’s Grizzlies will enjoy a chance at a playoff run while Kevin Martin and his young Rockets team will not. The Rockets absence from playoff basketball won’t come as a fault of Martin whose March and April scoring levels were the highest since Tracy McGrady delivered Houston a postseason birth in 2005.

Allen’s 2011 will be remembered for his ability to fill in for injured star Rudy Gay and right the ship for a Memphis team that was searching for leaders following Gay’s injury. “Tony plays with a lot of emotion,” forward Zack Randolph told the AP last week. “Tony’s been great all year. Tireless on defense. Our leader on the defensive end. Guys feed off his energy.”

Allen did much more than provide the defensive spark necessary to ignite a Grizzlies team that secured a playoff birth with Houston and Utah just games behind their pace. The veteran guard from Oklahoma State averaged over double figure scoring totals in every month after January and led the team in numerous defensive categories (2.4 SPG in March).

Despite the augmented production and the praise that accompanies Allen’s impressive spring, the veteran remains humble and acknowledges that he’s not the star, just merely an interim in place of his team’s fallen star. “I ain’t trying to fulfill Rudy’s shoes,” Allen told the AP following Memphis’ playoff clinching win against Sacramento. “I’m not trying to be Rudy. They pay Rudy those X amount of dollars to do what he do, and I just do what I do.”

Tony Allen and his teammates will match up against number one seeded San Antonio this weekend in a first round playoff matchup. While the focus will likely be on the Spurs’ Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, it will be Tony Allen who may make the difference come crutch time.

Behind Allen’s Grizzlies was Kevin Martin and his Houston Rockets whose season was crushed following yet another debilitating injury to star center Yao Ming. Yao represents the focal point for Houston both at the turnstiles and on the floor but Rocket fans can feel confident with the emergence of their newest star Kevin Martin.

Martin’s 2010-2011 season leaves the young guard as one of the best up and coming scorers in the NBA. At a collective 23.4 PPG this season and a 26.9 PPG rate in April, Martin has left a lasting impression on western conference coaches who will have this summer to devise a way to stop Houston’s new leader.

So much of Martin’s offensive game is his propensity to slash to the hoop and then convert on his 8.3 attempts at the free throw line. Shooting a near automatic 90% from the line after the All-Star break, Martin’s overall shooting numbers continued to climb as the season wore on including a near-season high of 44.1 FG% in April.

Unlike Martin who’s now mentioned as one of the NBA’s top scorers, Jared Bayless’ deceptively quick, intensely formulated offensive style draws comparisons to some of the best combination guards since Golden State’s Monta Ellis and in time Bayless too will be among the league leaders. At only 6’3’’, Bayless lacks the size to match up against the league’s larger shooting guards and the distribution skills of a franchise point guard. These detractions may be the reason the Raptors were able to acquire him in the first place.

A first round draft pick in 2008 by Indiana who was later dealt to Portland, Bayless failed to receive the playing time needed to flourish, road-blocked by Brandon Roy and Rudy Fernandez. As a mere cast off, the Raptors have given Bayless his first sustained opportunity to preserve his worth after electrifying the college ranks during his one season at Arizona.

Bayless’ game, predicated on precision shooting and a quick first step, have in synergy allowed the now 22-year-old a label as one of basketball’s top up and coming scorers. During the month of April Bayless averaged 22.5 PPG over an eight game stretch that has seemingly cemented him as a building block for Toronto’s future.

Raptors’ Head Coach Jay Triano has seen incremental growth with his young squad but believes fans should curb expectations considering how much growing Bayless and this young Toronto team has left to do. “I mean a lot of [the struggle] was the growing with these young people and teaching and stopping and showing and learning, showing it on videotape again and going through it in practice,” Triano told Y! Sports following their final game versus Miami, “ I think that our guys have gotten better; it’s been a growth but we’re still very, very young.”

Alongside Bayless is power forward Ed Davis who gives star forward Andrea Bargnani support within Toronto’s interior. Only a rookie, Davis began the year in the developmental league before being called up on December 1st. Since his promotion Davis has done nothing but produce when given minutes to justify his lottery selection in last summer’s draft.

Jerryd Bayless wasn’t the only Raptor to post an impressive April considering Davis’ near double-double outputs throughout the month (12.9 PPG/ 9.0 RPG in April). Davis will gel nicely with the young Raptors core that will look to the former UNC Tar Heel to anchor the middle of the defense for years to come but it’s the offensive production that has Toronto fans giddy for the future.

The era of steel-curtain defense has long gone by the wayside, cast aside by electrifying scoring athletes like Martin, Allen, Davis and Bayless that will surely draw added attention entering 2012.

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