Cavs: Jarrett Allen as viable spot-up threat in near future isn’t so far-fetched

It’s a near-certainty at this point that Jarrett Allen looks to be a building block player for the Cleveland Cavaliers, or at least looks to be a key member of their core moving forward.

With Andre Drummond/his representation agreeing with the Cavs early last week that Drummond will be sitting in his remaining games with Cleveland until they are able to land a trade for him, well hopefully by the March 25 deadline that is, Allen has really come on as the starting 5 for the Cavs.

Allen is set to be a restricted free agent this upcoming offseason and/or could be due to sign a long-term deal. Regardless, it’s apparent that he’ll be locked up long-term and continue to show out for the Wine and Gold, and the 22-year-old fourth-year 5 again since taking over for Drummond has had some big-time performances.

Albeit it was in a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday, but Allen joined some elite company with him having 26 points, 17 rebounds and three blocks, and making all 11 of his shot attempts in that one. That was the kind of performance we don’t see often, regarding his splits and him being perfect from the field, in relation to historical context.

That said, he is not a player that you’re not going to feature on-ball much, and Allen is essentially a rolling/screening big that’s a key lob threat primarily, although he does have occasional post-ups here and there.

But his fit alongside guys like Darius Garland, Collin Sexton and a variety of others has been a seamless one. And also on the plus side, among qualified players this season, Allen does still lead the NBA in field goal percentage at 67.2, per Basketball Reference.

He has again not been a player that’s often going to be a crucial on-ball scoring presence, albeit his finishing has been outstanding, both with touch with both hands, some via hooks, putbacks and of course, with power as a dunker.

He’s been efficient in his career as a finisher, in his days with the Nets, and thus far this season overall, he’s converted on 76.5 percent of his restricted area shot attempts, per NBA.com’s shooting data. That’s been at 75.6 percent in his past 15 games, again, per NBA.com’s shooting data, all with the Cavs, and he’s appeared in 20 outings with Cleveland so far, for further context.

The vast majority of Allen’s shot attempts have been in the restricted area, too, as Cavs fans probably know. He has shown some better with push shots in the last two or so seasons with Brooklyn from inside of 10 feet, though. And while for his career it’s resulted in a 39.4 percent hit rate on a frequency of 22.7 percent, Allen’s thus far hit 51.0 percent of his shots from 3-10 feet out on a 30.5 percent frequency with Cleveland.

Along with that sort of thing, though it’s not been a high frequency at only 5.4 percent, clearly, Allen has shown glimpses of mid-range shooting ability when those looks off-the-catch have been there, and has hit 55.6 percent of his shots from 10-16 feet out. That’s seemingly after deliveries following screens initially.

For his nearly 3.5 seasons, it’s been a frequency of just 2.9 percent, regarding his shot attempts from that range, of which lifetime he’s hit 35.4 percent of them.

With Allen, however, that mid-range touch with Cleveland has been encouraging, and him having hit 71.9 percent of his free throws with the Cavs has been. For his career, his free throw shooting hit rate has been 70.1 percent as well.

Additionally, though it’s only been on six attempts so far with the Cavs, Allen has hit three of those looks, two being from the corner.

And factoring in that he has shown positive signs in the mid-range, seemingly off-the-catch as a roller initially, to go with being a decent free shooter for a 5, I could maybe see him progress as a shooter down the road to be a legitimate spot-up threat.

Allen potentially becoming a viable spot-up threat in the near future for the Cavs doesn’t seem so far-fetched.

I’m not suggesting that Allen’s going to be Kevin Love in the near future as a shooter; that’s unrealistic. But with how he’s been a solid free thrower for a big, and has shown glimpses from outside, perhaps he could be a viable spot-up threat in the next year or two?

The dude is only 22, and at least from the corners, if opponents are going to give him that, if he attempts once a game, say, the rest of this season, that’d be more than fine with me for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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In some spot-up instances here and there from the mid-range area in the short roll with Darius Garland/Sexton and/or a bit with Isaac Okoro/Dylan Windler, spot-ups/pops could be feasible for him here and there, too.

Or if bigs on him are just dropping to take away cutters off-ball, perhaps Allen, if he’s given the ball from 15-17 feet, can simply rise up for looks off-the-catch in mid-shot clock situations a bit more?

Anyway, what I’m getting at here is, as opposed to Andre Drummond, by comparison, whose shown little to no touch outside the paint, even while there were occasional made triples last season with Cleveland for him, he’s been a poor free throw shooter.

Allen, conversely, has been pretty respectable, and had been hitting 75.4 percent from there with Brooklyn this season.

So to me, on perhaps 2.0-to-2.5 attempts from deep next season, maybe, if he can have more time to work on deep shooting progression, could be feasible, and we’d have to see from there?

Allen’s only 22, and though he did only hit six-of-45 triple attempts (13.3 percent) in his second season with Brooklyn, and five-of-15 (33.3 percent) as a rookie, to me, with more of a clear role as a key piece moving forward with the Cavs from here, Allen being a viable spot-up threat in the near future doesn’t seem so far-fetched.

In the mid-range in the short roll, I’d at least expect that to be on display a bit more as the season plays out, to reiterate, and we’ll see going forward.

I could be wrong here, but the evidence is seemingly emerging for Allen as a catch-and-shoot threat looking onward, which would only make him harder to account for as an energy big/screener (on and off-ball), too.