Cleveland Cavaliers: Player of the Week for April 26-May 2

The Cleveland Cavaliers have dropped six straight and 10 of their last 12 games. But that doesn’t mean that there weren’t any positive takeaways from this past week of Cavs basketball.

Several Cavs players had what could be described as a “good week.”

Isaac Okoro’s showing (career-high 20 points, six rebounds) against the Toronto Raptors, Darius Garland’s 25-point, 10-assist, four-steal performance against the Orlando Magic, and Kevin Love’s 25-point, six-rebound, seven-of-10 from three outing vs. the Miami Heat were all talking points throughout this four-game stretch, for instance.

But there was one player in particular who stood out from this slate of games from April 26-May 2, and he goes by the name: Jarrett Allen.

The big man out of Texas is developing before our very eyes for the Cavs.

Though it may not be paying off yet in the win-loss column, Allen has been quietly shining as of late. He averaged a solid 12.8 points, 11.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1 block this past week which has pushed his season totals to the elusive double-double (13.1 points, 10.0 rebounds) that has been eluding him for much of the season.

Here’s a fun fact, with the two double-doubles (24 on the season) from last week, Allen is now tied with the player he was brought in to replace in Andre Drummond. Granted, Drummond having been sidelined for a while in that time Cleveland was seeking a trade for him (and he was eventually bought out) played well into that, of course.

In any case, arguably his best performance during this stretch came against the aforementioned Magic. “FROHIO” looked at home battling against the likes of Wendell Carter Jr., Mohamed Bamba and Moritz Wagner putting up 17 big points and snagging 13 boards.

Though this game looked like a done deal by the end of the third quarter as the Cavs were down 82-61 heading into the fourth, the team scratched and clawed its way back into the game, eventually tying it up at 104 all with just 1:03 left to go in the contest. And although the Cavs would eventually lose, none of that would’ve been possible had it not been for the sound defense and good positioning of Allen around the rim.

Allen turned in another encouraging performance against the Washington Wizards, a game in which he chipped in 13 points, 11 rebounds and this ferocious block (#7 on this list) on Wizards forward Rui Hachimura.

Perhaps the biggest part of the big man’s game that has been on display as of late is his affinity to get his hands dirty on the offensive glass as was pointed out recently by KJG’s Dan Gilinsky. This has been a part of Allen’s game that has needed some polish over the course of the season, but has been significant recently.

At just 23 years old, Allen still has plenty of room for development and while he may never be a threat to pull up from outside the arc, he knows his role and never seems to stray far from it as opposed to Drummond, the incumbent starter whom the Cavs again bought out following the NBA trade deadline, who had a propensity to go off script on a game-to-game basis much to the chagrin of Cavaliers fans.

It’s this stark contrast in play styles that has helped endear Allen to the masses in Cleveland.

If this isn’t already abundantly clear, Cleveland has found their center of the future, and while they seemingly will match a potential restricted offer sheet if needed, they better lock him up soon enough regardless.

Other Cavs players who warranted consideration:

Collin Sexton: Averages of 23.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists in two games played.

Cedi Osman: Averages of 13.3 points, 5.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds in four games played.

Allen, to reiterate, was the overall top performer for this past week of Cavs games, though.