Cavs show how key Jarrett Allen’s double-double efforts have been

This season has been nothing short of a breakout year for Cleveland Cavaliers big man Jarrett Allen. Allen has proven to be an integral player for the Cavaliers’ efforts, and is a big reason why the Wine and Gold have shot up to #3 in the Eastern Conference with a 30-19 record.

On the season, he’s averaged a career-best 16.1 points and 11.0 rebounds per game, and has had right at his career average in blocks per outing with 1.4. His rim protecting, along with Evan Mobley’s, has been instrumental for Cleveland having the league’s third-best defensive rating, along with guys such as Isaac Okoro, Lamar Stevens and others.

Circling back to the Fro, though, he’s shown promising signs when it comes to switchability on defense, and offensively, he’s made significant strides with his low-post play.

His footwork on the interior has been tremendous, and he’s proven to have terrific touch on hook shots, some push shots with both hands, and as we know, his finishing with authority on lobs from Darius Garland, cuts and putbacks is always big.

As we noted, on most occasions, Allen’s work on both ends makes a notable impact, as it did in Cleveland’s signature win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night. Allen did have four fouls, which is pretty unusual for him, but he made Giannis Antetokounmpo work for everything, and honestly, did a commendable job often matched up onto him for extended stretches defensively.

And overall, while it wasn’t necessarily his most noteworthy outing, Allen was a meaningful contributor in that one, and Kevin Love and Cedi Osman and the bench, in particular, were crucial. Love and Osman combined for 48 points, and the bench outdueled Milwaukee’s bench 57-15.

In Allen’s case, he had 10 points, 10 rebounds and a steal in 33 minutes, but his presence in there was missed in Cleveland’s narrow win on Monday over the New York Knicks (illness), and it was good to see him back.

In that realm and when highlighting his production this season, a recent tweet from the Cavaliers on Thursday was telling in how important Allen has been for the team this season.

The above Cavs tweet illustrates how Allen’s been so consistent this season, and will only get better from here.

Allen has had a handful of bad games this season, such as against Nikola Vucevic and the Chicago Bulls on Jan. 19, where he just didn’t seem to have it, and Vucevic got the better of him. The Cavs as a team, largely, did not have it in that one, either, though.

But those types of games have been pretty rare, and it’s not as all of the contests where he’s not had double-doubles have been complete stinkers, per se, for him, obviously.

As the Cavs emphasized with that tweet, however, Cleveland is a superb 21-5 when the Fro is having double-double production in games and is very active, of which he’s proven he’s more than capable of being often throughout games. His efforts on the interior on both ends and on the glass are crucial for this Wine and Gold team, and he’s more than proven to be worth his five-year, $100 million new deal this past summer.

Granted, the Cavs defensive rebounding efforts as a team overall does need to be more consistent, and the likes of Evan Mobley, and the wings and guards can still help to some extent for positioning, but that is something I believe can be fixed. And in fairness, with the team’s defensive efforts in general and with Cleveland’s closeouts, I don’t think that’s an especially punitive issue.

In any case, it’s been awesome to see how Allen has taken considerable strides forward offensively this season, and with his work done on the glass and in other areas, he’s one of the most important players for the team looking onward.

In the games he has missed at times due to non-COVID-19-related illness, and some games missed because of COVID-19/health and safety protocols, the Cavs haven’t been nearly as effective. In the 41 games he’s been active in, though, Cleveland is 28-13, which is telling.

He clearly has been quite the steal from the Brooklyn Nets, in regards to the James Harden trade from early on last season, and I look forward to seeing him continue to improve with the Cavs in coming years.

The 6-foot-11 Allen, who’s in Year 5 and turns 24 in April, is just getting started it seems.