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Cleveland Cavaliers: Jarrett Allen’s strengths and weaknesses

By Matthew Fagan

Big Jarrett Allen, formerly of the Brooklyn Nets, dunks the ball. (Photo by Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports)
Big Jarrett Allen, formerly of the Brooklyn Nets, dunks the ball. (Photo by Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports) /
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Jarrett Allen, Cleveland Cavaliers
Big Jarrett Allen, formerly of the Brooklyn Nets, reacts in-game. (Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images) /

Weaknesses of the new Cavs big in Allen: Turnover rate, some foul trouble at times and lack of perimeter shooting

Jarrett Allen is seemingly going to be the center of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ franchise moving forward, yet that does not mean we should overlook the faults in the player. While Allen is coming into Cleveland with a very impressive resume for only being 22 years old, he also has some inconsistencies that he needs to work on as well.

First, his turnovers. Allen is averaging 1.8 turnovers per game, which isn’t the highest clip in the world, necessarily, albeit for a player you’re not going to run offense through, really, a turnover rate so far this season of 16.5 percent of his total possessions is a high one. That’s an area that hopefully he can cut down on in due time.

Jarrett Allen also appears to find himself in foul trouble at times. Having an average of 1.8 fouls per game this year in 26.7 minutes hasn’t been bad, but scaling it out, 3.2 fouls per-36 minutes in 2018-19 and 3.1 per-36 last season show at times, if he’s big minutes, some foul issues from time to time can occur.

Fortunately, him having only 2.4 fouls per-36 minutes thus far this season indicates he seems to be trending positively in that regard, though; albeit looking onward, having a rim protector that can be on the floor the vast majority of the time is paramount for the squad’s defense overall.

Another issue that raises some concern is Allen’s lack of spacing the floor in the perimeter shooting sense. As a non-perimeter shooting big (he’s zero-for-six on three-point shots combined the past two seasons), Allen might unintentionally halt offensive flow, and with a team that has a young dynamic scorer like Sexton, it’s essential for the bigs to provide ample spacing.

Allen’s rolling could help some for the spacing, albeit not nearly to the extent of Love as a polished shooter, for example.

Next. Grading the Cavs' Allen and Prince acquisitions. dark

Regardless of the weaknesses, the Cleveland Cavaliers were unequivocally one of the biggest winners of this historic trade as they may have just secured their franchise center for many years to come in Allen.