Some players give you structure. Kevin Allen is the structure.
Four games into the season, Caledonia are learning how to make that work. Allen’s arrival has defined their offence — first as a seductive answer to their scoring needs, then as a challenge to fit him in, and now as something they might be able to sustain.
Everything Runs Through Him
Kevin Allen is huge, active, and relentlessly direct. Wherever he catches the ball, he’s looking to attack — backing down, driving, or even pulling up when defenders give him space. For a team still finding an offensive identity, that kind of certainty was hard to resist in the opening weeks.
If it felt like everything ran through Allen when he was on the floor, that’s because it did. Across the first month of the season, Allen led the league in usage rate at 35.9 per cent — several points clear of every other player in the SLB.
| Player | Team | Usage Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Kevin Allen | Caledonia Gladiators | 35.9% |
| Rodney Chatman III | Sheffield Sharks | 30.7% |
| Ronald Polite III | Surrey 89ers | 29.0% |
| Joel Scott | London Lions | 28.7% |
| Ray’sean Taylor | Newcastle Eagles | 28.0% |
| RaeQuan Battle | Leicester Riders | 27.8% |
| Prentiss Nixon | Sheffield Sharks | 27.5% |
| Duke Shelton | Leicester Riders | 26.4% |
*Only players with over 30 total minutes played this season are included
He’s efficient enough to justify that usage. His 0.91 points per minute and 63.2 per cent effective field-goal shooting keep him among the league’s elite scorers.
| Player | Team | PTS / Min | eFG% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Allen | Caledonia Gladiators | 0.91 | 63.2% |
| Joel Scott | London Lions | 0.77 | 70.0% |
| Matthew Ragsdale | Caledonia Gladiators | 0.69 | 70.5% |
| RaeQuan Battle | Leicester Riders | 0.64 | 56.8% |
| Ronald Polite III | Surrey 89ers | 0.64 | 48.8% |
| Patrick Smith Jr | Manchester Basketball | 0.63 | 57.3% |
| Maceo Jack | Newcastle Eagles | 0.62 | 57.5% |
| Ray’sean Taylor | Newcastle Eagles | 0.62 | 45.2% |
But for all the individual efficiency, the results told a different story. Caledonia lost each of the first three games. Allen’s numbers were strong, his box scores impressive, but the offence around him never quite clicked. Everything ran through Allen, but little seemed to flow from him.
Bunyan’s Balancing Act
The challenge for Jonny Bunyan has been clear from the start: how to use a player who bends everything around him without letting the whole offence warp. Allen’s minutes trace that process. He played 27 in the overtime opener — a sign that once he was scoring, Bunyan found it hard to take him out. The next two games showed a coach trying to control that balance, only 15 minutes in Game Two, then even in his first starting appearance of the season, 23 minutes in Game Three.
By Game Four, Allen logged 29 minutes, still led the team in scoring, but finally looked like part of a system that worked. He played further from the basket, set more screens, and gave Caledonia’s perimeter players room to operate. His touches came within the rhythm rather than dictating it.
Bunyan had found a version of Allen that complemented the team instead of overwhelming it. Caledonia looked more comfortable with him, and he with them.
When It Starts to Click
Allen still defines how Caledonia play — that won’t change — but the last game showed that definition no longer needs to be restrictive. His presence draws defenders, clears space, and gives Caledonia a reliable way to start possessions rather than end them.
For Bunyan, the task now is to hold that line: to keep Allen’s power from tipping into predictability, and to keep the team’s rhythm from drifting back toward dependence.
Caledonia are still building, still figuring out what they can be. But for the first time, they look like a team discovering how to build around the structure they already have.
