Cavs: Jarrett Allen’s screening has been outstanding

It’s evident that looking onward, Jarrett Allen will be a seamless fit alongside a variety of Cleveland Cavaliers players.

Allen has had 14.3 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 27.2 minutes per game thus far in 18 appearances with Cleveland since being acquired via trade from the Brooklyn Nets in mid-January. Plus, it’s not as if he’s been a very high usage player in making an impact, either.

Among players that have been active in at least three games this season with the Cavs (so excluding Kevin Love, for example), Allen’s just sixth in usage rate. It’s not as though Allen’s been a high usage player before, anyway, as he’s been a roller/lob threat in his career, and his usage rate of 17.8 with Cleveland is on track to be a career-high.

That said, he’s been uber-efficient as a finisher, as evidenced by him still leading qualified players in the league this season in field goal percentage at 67.1, per Basketball Reference.

Allen joined elite company in Sunday’s loss versus the Oklahoma City Thunder with his historic performance by having at least 25 points, 15 rebounds and shooting 100 percent from the field in that one, too. He had 26 points, 17 rebounds and three blocks, and shot 11-of-11, for what it’s worth.

One particular area where Allen’s really shined to me thus far with the Cavs, though, has been as a screener, and I’d imagine we’ll end up seeing him used more off-ball in that sense going forward as well.

Allen’s screening for the Cavs has been outstanding.

As opposed to Andre Drummond, who though he’s a highly effective screener when he’s bought into doing so, which seems to be far less frequently, Allen has been a more than willing and an elite screener.

In terms of his Cavs tenure so far, Allen’s had the fourth-most screen assists per game this season with 5.1, per NBA.com’s player hustle data. Him and Darius Garland have had quite the connection in the pick-and-roll realm already, and that’s led to lobs over the top to him, clearly.

In the screen assist area, though, Allen’s timing/presence there has led to floaters for Garland and Collin Sexton and hopefully, as we’ve seen a bit more in the past few games, more pull-up triples for them, as they get more in-tune with that.

We’ve seen Allen do some commendable work in that realm for the likes of Cedi Osman and Taurean Prince on-ball also, which has led to quality looks for them, or in leading to drive-and-dish opportunities.

I’d expect that to be a mainstay regarding Allen for the foreseeable future for other Cavs, too, with Drummond no longer in the picture/Cleveland reportedly looking to trade him, of which you can view more on here, even more so.

Along with the on-ball sense, though, I’d expect the Cavaliers to utilize Allen as an off-ball screener more as the season progresses hopefully, too. When Kevin Love returns from injury, which could seemingly be fairly soon, that should lead to more use of Allen’s off-ball screening abilities, for instance.

It appears in the past few games, while they have been rough losses, Allen has aided the likes of Darius Garland and while the looks didn’t necessarily fall, Osman, in that realm, also. Perhaps if Dylan Windler can get more comfortable as a shooter as the season progresses, Allen could help him in that regard here and there, too.

Allen has aided shooters on the perimeter via give-n-go’s at times on occasion as well, which has led to quality looks, and just in a general sense, it’s been nice to see Allen flourish as a screener and appear to be a seamless fit looking onward.

His screening has been outstanding for the Wine and Gold, and that should never be discounted.

And as opposed to Tristan Thompson before, of whom I have tremendous appreciation for, by the way, Allen is a much, much better finisher as a roller to really tie it together.

Perhaps in coming years, factoring in his touch on some push shots and him hitting 70.1 percent of his free throws in his career, we could see Allen hit some mid-range looks operating out of short rolls to counter that from time to time, too.