Jarrett Allen’s return gives Cavaliers a boost in these areas on both ends

Allen’s PnR play and the rim pressure element on offense

Seemingly from the jump in the time since the Cavaliers traded for him from the Brooklyn Nets early on in the 2020-21 campaign, we’ve seen Allen be a terrific pick-and-roll roller for Cleveland, as was on display in his time with Brooklyn.

Allen’s chemistry with Darius Garland in the PnR is one of the NBA’s best duos in that regard, with Allen being an outstanding screener for Garland to get to his spots to score and/or find shooters, and those two connect on their share of lobs regularly. Allen has amazing hands and gets up for those passes so well, leading to easy buckets for Cleveland.

Plus, Allen has shown in pick-and-roll that he can finish with authority, and via skill/push shots that he can be very effective at making plays inside from pocket pass deliveries from Garland, Donovan Mitchell or Caris LeVert. Plenty of that was demonstrated on Tuesday versus the Lakers, albeit with Anthony Davis out for most of the game because of flu-like symptoms.

Evan Mobley is more than capable of being a lob threat/interior target in those instances, too, he’s just not nearly the screener of Allen, given Allen being far stronger and sturdier at this point. That’s not to take anything away from Mobley, as he’d done a really nice job with Allen out, and has been putting it together in other ways of late.

Circling back to Allen, anyway, with his constant interior threat as a roller or dumpoff target, he can at times help open shooters on the perimeter such as Cedi Osman, or aid drivers such as Mitchell or Garland with his vertical spacing threat. One shouldn’t discount that, either.

From there, regarding the other end, in how Allen returning is a big boost for Cleveland, it’s his interior play defensively, in combination with his defensive rebounding, that are both humongous for the team.