Cavs: Jarrett Allen will get plenty of easy ones from Matthew Dellavedova

Jarrett Allen has not been in the last seven games for the Cleveland Cavaliers because of a concussion he suffered on March 26. That’s made it tougher for Cleveland in relation to interior defense, to some degree.

Allen, since being acquired via trade from the Brooklyn Nets in mid-January, has averaged 1.7 blocks per contest with the Cavs. His rim protection/shot altering presence has often made an impact, for one.

Now, trade deadline acquisition Isaiah Hartenstein (by way of the Denver Nuggets) in rotational run has aided Cleveland in that realm somewhat, although his fouling has been a recurring issue. On a positive note, though, Hartenstein has had 1.3 blocks per outing with the Cavaliers and offensively, has shown real promise, and as a finisher and passer, looks to have been a steal.

But it is a plus that Allen, along with Larry Nance Jr. (illness) could reportedly be back in action for Cleveland on Wednesday at the Charlotte Hornets, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. And in regards to Allen, he should benefit as an interior from Matthew Dellavedova having been back in the fold in this recent batch of games.

That’s not discounting that for Nance, though, albeit here, we’ll focus on the outlook for Allen with some burn with Dellavedova.

Allen will get plenty of easy ones from Dellavedova when he’s back for the Cavs.

Allen has established a nice chemistry with Darius Garland and as a pick-and-roll/lob threat partner, and the volume will be much more for those two. I fully acknowledge that, and when Allen is back in there for the Cavs, I’d expect that duo to have their share of run.

That said, Dellavedova has had his share of burn in recent games, and with Darius Garland having missed Cleveland’s last game due to a right ankle sprain, Delly should get some run with Allen I would think from here.

Albeit with Garland, that ankle injury doesn’t seem to be too serious, fortunately, and the Cavs frankly made the right call having him sit, along with Collin Sexton (left groin strain) sit the second leg of a back-to-back on Sunday, and perhaps we’ll see both back in there soon. The Cavaliers are next in action on Wednesday, so the added rest will have only helped.

Circling back to Dellavedova-Allen, though, we have seen Dellavedova back in the fold of late, and since making his season debut after having dealt with concussion complications/recovering from an appendectomy, he’s made his presence felt.

It’s evident that Delly is not much of a scoring threat at this point; that’s nothing new. But he has had 5.3 assists per outing in his six appearances thus far, and had only four turnovers. The heady lead playmaker has had 9.5 assists per-36 minutes, also.

And in some burn with likely Allen in upcoming games for the Wine and Gold, not discounting Isaiah Hartenstein, I’d expect Allen to get some really great looks served up from Dellavedova. As we’ve seen over and over, Delly has impressive timing and feel for throwing lobs to bigs in the PnR and/or just over-the-top feeds when those are there on the weak side.

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With Allen’s massive catch/finishing radius factored in, too, I’d expect those looks to come pretty regularly in spurts together. And even with Hartenstein in the mix, and perhaps 10-day man Mfiondu Kabengele a bit, I’d still expect Allen to get some real burn with Dellavedova still, and he should cash in.

Additionally, with Dellavedova’s timing and pinpoint passing to cutters and with his outstanding pocket passes to bigs, and feel for using pump fakes to open up lanes for cutters and Allen’s terrific hands, Jarrett should get a number of high quality interior looks from that, too.

From there, while the volume won’t be really high, I would imagine Dellavedova should be able to find Allen in some matchups via cross-screening/work off-ball with Kevin Love or Dean Wade, leading to occasional post-ups.

When those favorable matchups are there, the veteran point man is all over it, too, and that’d work out well for Allen as a result. We’ve seen that be the case with Garland getting Allen those looks as well, though, and I’m not glossing over that, either.

Anyway, we’ll have to see as far as the potential minutes-share for Dellavedova with Allen, and I’d expect Allen to be worked in over a few games coming off that concussion, as was the case with Dellavedova, clearly.

But with Garland somewhat banged up, too, and Delly doing a really nice job in relief as a reserve playmaker even still, he should get his chances.

And I’d think from the jump, Allen should get his share of easy ones from Dellavedova, who is such a gifted passer, both to bigs and to perimeter threats to boot.