Cavaliers’ Jarrett Allen has been up to task defensively, and making imprint

We’re only three games into the 2022-23 season for the Cleveland Cavaliers, but us fans couldn’t be more thrilled.

Now, it has not been ideal that Darius Garland has missed the past two 2.5 games with an eye injury, and he’s seemingly likely to miss Cleveland’s game on Wednesday versus the Orlando Magic. Cleveland has had some hiccups early, too, and to some extent, let one slip away in the season opener at the Toronto Raptors.

Despite those things, and the Garland injury, the Cavaliers have started the year 2-1, and there’s a ton to be excited about moving forward.

Offseason trade acquisition Donovan Mitchell has been off to a historic start, Caris LeVert has fared better than I would’ve anticipated in the all-around sense, and the group’s bench play has given the team a heck of a lift.

Although, what’s been another thing that’s made a big difference for the team so far has been the defense of Jarrett Allen, who has been as advertised, and then some, on that end. And he’s made his presence felt in other ways to affect winning, too.

Allen has been up to the task for the Cavaliers on defense, and he’s made his imprint in other ways as well early on.

Allen had a breakout, All-Star season last year, and looking onward, is one of the Cavs’ primary defensive anchors, in tandem with Evan Mobley. Both are elite players there, and are invaluable to Cleveland on that end.

This season, there’s going to have to be some of an adjustment period for Allen on offense, with the arrival of Mitchell, and that’s seemingly led to some clunkiness early. Even with some inconsistencies on offense in the Cavaliers’ first few games, Allen has still been making plays throughout games for Cleveland on defense, and his efforts there shouldn’t be glossed over.

Allen’s rim protection has been on display for the Wine and Gold, and he’s simply picked up where he left off from last season in that regard, at least prior to his finger injury, which caused the team’s defense to tail off in the closing stretch of last regular season. He was tremendous in that area last year, and it’s been more of the same, for the most part, thus far in Cleveland’s first three outings.

J.B. Bickerstaff believes Allen should be in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year every year, too, as he expressed following Cleveland’s last overtime over Washington, via Spencer Davies of BasketballNews.com.

Bickerstaff is going to talk up his guys of course, but there’s some validity to that if Allen maintains this level of defensive impact.

Allen has had two blocks in two of Cleveland’s first three games, and he’s altered a bunch of shots with his length, willingness to help and his off-ball instincts. Along those lines, Allen, who was near last season’s leaders in contested shots per game, has had 13.7 per game so far to begin the 2022-23 campaign, per NBA.com’s hustle data, which is tied for fifth in the NBA in that metric. And his backline defense will continually aid the overall group.

Furthermore, while the shot contests haven’t been quite as many as players such as former Cav Lauri Markkanen (35), Rudy Gobert (34) Nic Claxton (30) thus far, Allen’s opponents have converted just five-of-18 of their restricted area shot attempts against him, per Second Spectrum’s tracking data. That’s been an opposing hit rate of just 27.8 percent, which has been a pretty darn impressive start to the season in that aspect of his defensive game.

Now, there’s less shot contests at the rim for Allen as opposed to some others, with Evan Mobley involved as well, but last season, he defended what was tied for the eighth-most restricted area shot attempts per game at 6.3, and conceded an opposing hit rate of 50.8 percent, per Second Spectrum’s tracking data.

And among players that defended at least 320 shot attempts at the rim last season, Allen had the fourth-best opponent hit rate at that clip, with only Isaiah Hartenstein (47.5), Jaren Jackson Jr. (49.3) and Rudy Gobert (49.3) being more effective in their coverage there. So, while Allen’s percentage there is going to average out, it’s been a hell of a start to the year for him there, and he’s come up with some amazing plays that are sure to continue.

Also, he has again shown real growth as a switchable big when that’s been called for at times.

There were some instances where he was caught behind off-ball screens and wasn’t able to contest Kristaps Porzingis three-point looks in that Wizards outing, but Allen’s interior defense against him was outstanding at the rim. He had a monstrous block on a Porzingis two-handed dunk attempt, for instance.

Allen’s been able to stay with other perimeter players in other sequences, too. In those plays at times in games, he has often done a solid job at staying with those players, and when they’ve driven inside, has been able to force tough looks with his length.

There’s still going to be some tough matchups for Allen there, and Kyle Kuzma hit a tough shot over Allen in that Washington game, for example. But, when you factor in Allen’s rim protection, defensive communication and his minimal fouling (2.0 fouls per game), those are things the Cavaliers have to live with on occasion.

In addition, though his offensive production is down a bit at 12.0 points per outing on offense and he’s shot 55.6 percent, which is down for him in his role, some due to issues getting hooks to go against Porzingis, he’s still helped on that end.

Allen’s screening is always impactful, and it’s aided Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert in getting penetration, and Allen’s handoffs have with his frame and physicality.

But, in a number of instances, his ferocity near the basket after interior feeds or from putbacks has still been there throughout games, was in that Toronto contest, and had he played more in Chicago if it were needed, it would’ve been as well, I’d imagine. That from him was shown versus Washington as well in some big spots.

All things considered, Allen has been more than up to the task on defense, in which he’s come through in some key situations, and he’s made his imprint in other ways, such as in hustle plays, his screening, and on the glass on both ends.