Cavs: Ranking every offseason move from worst to best
Cavs: Ranking every offseason move from worst to best – 4. Re-signing Jarrett Allen
Deal: Re-signed in restricted free agency to a five-year, $100 million contract
Restricted free agent C Jarrett Allen has agreed to a five-year, $100 million contract to stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers, his agents Derrick Powell and Jim Tanner tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 2, 2021
Jarrett Allen is a very talented player, an athletic big man who plays hard and has continued to improve as a rim protector and all-around solid center. A look around the league places him in the 12-15 range among centers, which means Allen is probably the highest-ranked player at his position on the entire team.
It was expected that Cleveland would bring Allen back after trading a first-round pick for him, in addition to taking on the mostly negative money for Taurean Prince. He became the starter for the Cavs and averaged 13.2 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game.
The problem is not with Allen’s ability, nor his production with the team. Allen’s new contract is substantial for a big man; his $20 million AAV (average annual value) places him seventh at the position. There is little upside that Allen will become more than he is now; he will never be a shot creator, playmaker, or shooter on offense, and he will always be most comfortable in a conservative defensive scheme where he isn’t asked to switch out on the perimeter.
light. Related Story. Grading the Jarrett Allen signing on three levels
The lofty contract would be more palatable if the Cavs knew for certain Allen would be their center of the future. Yet just days before agreeing to sign Allen to that contract they drafted Evan Mobley at No. 3 in the NBA Draft, a player with massive upside who projects long-term as a center. The Cavs will play him initially at the 4, but if in five years he is still playing primarily power forward the Cavs will have failed to maximize their young building block.
Mobley is the kind of player you build around, not Allen, and the Cavs have boxed him out of his most natural long-term position. It gets worse when you factor in the money guaranteed to Lauri Markkanen, but we will get to that in a moment. Cleveland is pouring money into their big man positions when they have a cost-controlled big who should be better than all of them in just a couple of years.
The Cavs probably were dealing with a bit of sunk cost fallacy, feeling pressure to re-sign Allen because of what they spent to get him. In the end that turned into an overpay for a capped-ceiling player at the league’s most replaceable position who might turn into the most expensive backup in the league when Mobley is ready to be a full-time center. That’s a tough move.