This now-recently past season for Jarrett Allen was a career one. He had career-bests in points and rebounds per outing with 16.1 and 10.8, respectively, and he was one of the crucial reasons why the Cleveland Cavaliers had a resurgent season.
Allen and Darius Garland both repped the Cavaliers for Team LeBron in the Cleveland-centric All-Star festivities in February, and both of those guys look to be huge players for the Cavs moving forward.
In Allen’s case, his rim protection and anchoring of the Cavs defense was instrumental for the teams’ turnaround this season, along with Evan Mobley‘s, and prior to the All-Star break, Cleveland had clearly one of the leagues’ best defenses.
But Allen’s fractured finger in early March in a game versus the Toronto Raptors was a key part of why the Cavaliers stumbled down the stretch of the season. While he was active in Cleveland’s play-in loss to the Atlanta Hawks, Allen didn’t seem quite like himself, and the team lost its postseason opportunity, with two play-in losses.
Allen’s play was again, one of the reasons why the Cavaliers did double their win total this season from the 2020-21 campaign, on a positive note, and when Allen was in action this season, the Cavs were 35-21, a win percentage of .625. Conversely, Cleveland was 9-17 in games Allen missed this season, a win percentage of just .346.
He was invaluable for the Cavaliers, for his defensive abilities, which included him making strides with switchability this year, too, and his rebounding, screening and rolling was significant.
On the offensive end, his skill set as a scorer, and not just as a roller/diver, improved this season, also, though. And that included some growth on hook shots and with his touch, and Allen showed flashes in the mid-range in 2021-22.
Allen’s touch on hooks for the Cavs, and his flashes in the mid-range were encouraging.
Allen had shown he’s a capable finisher on hook shots and at times in the low post in his first four seasons, most of which were with the Brooklyn Nets prior to his trade arrival to Cleveland early last season. He had more opportunities offensively with the Cavaliers as last season progressed, and his touch on push shots and as a roller was on display even before this now-past season, for context.
This season, however, Allen demonstrated more on-ball potential, and at times this season, he showed he could create for himself on drives occasionally against opposing bigs, and in instances where there were smaller plays on him. But as we previously expressed, it was at least good to see him on a solid volume show that he can get to his spots after seals in set situations, make quick decisions, and convert on hook shots with both hands.
The 6-foot-10 Allen again had shown the ability to hit hooks on the interior before when he got seals, dating some back to Brooklyn, too, and last season.
This season, though, even while he did miss 26 games, Allen converted on a solid 52.8 percent of his hook shots, which constituted the third-highest frequency of his shot attempts, per NBA.com’s shooting data. That was behind dunks and layups, which are going to be where his bread is buttered more still, admittedly.
Even still, it was great to see Allen take his offense to another level this season, and his touch improving on hooks with both hands, on some legit volume, was notable. It added another layer to his offensive skill set, and his use of heady ball fakes in those situations made him tougher to guard, and he was able to counter those at times with face-up plays leading to other dunks and lay-ins.
From there, the volume wasn’t close to that of hooks, let alone the other shot types, but Allen did show flashes on mid-range shots in catch-and-shoots in 2021-22, too, which was also nice to see for his offensive development.
Jump shots constituted only 12.5 percent of Allen’s total shots, so I’m not going to label him a stretch big any time soon, obviously.
I acknowledge that Allen’s going to be more so a play finisher and roller/screener, but him hitting mid-range looks here and there was a positive sign from this season, too. Per NBA.com’s shooting data, he connected on 16-of-30 shots from the mid-range, a 53.8 percent clip, and next season, assuming his finger fully heals, I’d like to see some more of this from Allen.
There still are times when Allen passing up some open looks for catch-and-shoots in this area is frustrating, admittedly. It’s not something that’s all that irking, though, with others involved and I do at least have to give Allen some credit for progressing as a decision-maker and tertiary ball-mover this season.
Moreover, while his offense is going to be largely predicted on being a play finisher and lob threat for Cleveland, Allen’s further growth with touch on hook shots this season, combined with his flashes of mid-range shooting, were both encouraging signs.
Allen is still only 24, and I believe he can continue to build on these aspects of his game. It’s nice to know that Allen is still locked up long term, and even with him being inked to a five-year, $100 million last offseason, that deal has proven to be more than warranted early on in it. Hopefully he’s mostly healthy next season, as the Cavaliers look to level up again.