Cavs: Jarrett Allen has been playing at a different level to begin season

The Cleveland Cavaliers acquiring Jarrett Allen at the beginning of last season via trade from the Brooklyn Nets as a piece involved in the James Harden-centric deal was one of the positives from last season.

Allen has proven to be an elite screener/roller that can finish at a very high level on the interior, and his touch with both hands inside has often been on display throughout his career. Allen has also established himself as a legitimate rim protector, and him, combined with Evan Mobley, look to be a heck of a defensive duo for Cleveland from here.

Now, I understand that Allen is not a player you’re going to see shooting jump shots, and is not a spacer the way, say, Lauri Markkanen or Kevin Love are, involving perimeter shooting. Allen has shown at times to hit the occasional corner three, and here and there, has hit some open spot-up mid-range shots, but clearly, he has a ways to go to be considered a true shooting threat outside of the paint.

Even taking that into consideration, his finishing, off-ball feel as a target for perimeter players, the energy he provides, and with his defense in mind, it’s evident Allen is a crucial piece for the Cavaliers.

I get that the Cavs, given today’s NBA, seemingly received their share of criticism from Cavs and NBA fans in the Twitterverse, with Allen not being a stretch big, nor unicorn-esque big. That had to do with others in the fold, and particularly Evan Mobley, too.

That said, while I again understood why many appeared to be questioning the Cavaliers extending that deal to Allen, he is still a valuable player for the team, and is still just 23. Maybe he’s not a finished product? We’ll see, in relation to his potential growth offensively; regardless, he’s a quality player to have stick around, and if a possible move were to be made down the road, okay.

In any case, for now, Allen has done a heck of a job to begin this season, and has taken a nice step forward in hopefully validating his deal.

It’s obviously really early in the 2021-22 season, but Allen has started out as well as he realistically could’ve for the Cavs. He’s had 17.0 points per game on 83.8 percent shooting (yes, you read that right), to go with 9.5 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 0.8 blocks per outing through four contests.

He’s been incredibly active on both ends, and played a huge role in Cleveland’s last victory at the Denver Nuggets, and looked to belong right alongside last season’s MVP, in Nikola Jokic, as KJG’s Corey Casey emphasized.

The gyst is, Allen looks to have hit a new level to begin this season, if you will.

Cavs: Allen looks to have hit a new level, based on his start to this season.

We’ll examine his offensive play early on next.