Jarrett Allen had an underwhelming series for the Cleveland Cavaliers against the New York Knicks. Everybody could see Allen wasn’t playing nearly up to par, and it was a tough sight.
Allen has been one of the pillars for this Cavaliers team in recent years, and he’s been instrumental for the teams’ turnaround in the past two seasons, so his struggles in Cleveland’s first round clunker versus New York were even harder to watch. The Fro didn’t play how one was accustomed to seeing him play.
He had issues on the glass, especially in the last three games of the series, as Mitchell Robinson, Isaiah Hartenstein, Josh Hart and company gave the Cavaliers fits in that aspect, with clearing defensive possessions really being a problem. Allen then rightfully shouldered the blame for the rebounding woes.
Offensively, Allen wasn’t playing up to standard, either, as he had 9.4 points per contest in the series, compared to 14.3 per game in the regular season. So that was another pain point as it pertained to Allen in the playoffs.
Now, even with Allen having problems in the first round, and not playing how he’s capable then, this shouldn’t lead to Allen being dealt this offseason. One would have to assume the hypotheticals involving him possibly being traded will be thrown out there by those roaming Cavs Twitter, and potentially by various sites.
That would be rash at this point, though. Allen is still a crucial defensive player for the Cavaliers, he is more than capable of being a constant double-double threat, and he’s normally a great finisher.
However, what is apparent regarding Allen’s outlook is from here, Cleveland needs to be stressing for him to have more shot diversity, and he needs more of a green light to pull from further out.
The Cavs should be urging Allen to be a bit more daring as a shooter.
Allen is not a stretch big at this juncture. He’s attempted 39 total threes in his 175 career games with the Cavaliers in the regular season, and has connected on eight of those (20.5 percent). With the Brooklyn Nets before being traded to Cleveland, he was 11-of-66 (16.7 percent) on deep attempts, with the majority of those coming in his second season in 2018-19.
So, next season, one probably isn’t expecting Allen’s playstyle resembling that of Kristaps Porzingis. The same goes for others such as Brook Lopez and Myles Turner.
Despite that reality, there’s been flashes from Allen as a mid-range shooter out of the short roll over his time with the Cavaliers, and him hitting 73.3 percent of his free throw attempts in 2022-23 is reason for optimism. He didn’t have a significant sample size, clearly, but Allen connecting on 51.1 percent of his shots from 10-16 feet during this regular season was noteworthy as well, albeit with those being 7.5 percent of his shot attempts.
So, while they didn’t constitute many of his shots, with Allen being a decent free throw shooter for a 5, and with flashes in the short roll last season and in 2020-21, perhaps those looks could be a larger portion of Allen’s attempts in 2023-24. They’re not the same attempts as his push shots with either hand, or jump hooks, by comparison, but Allen being more willing to shoot those in-game next year/onward would add a layer to his offensive game.
They’re not threes, no. That said, Allen being more of a threat to at least take elbow looks could potentially help him get to the rim, or be able to continue on his developmental path as a meaningful connective passer.
It’s easy to be bashing Allen right now, and it’s true that for a $20 million per year player, he was invisible at times in Cleveland’s first round series loss.
However, Allen being an invaluable defensive player is also true, and if Cleveland can add some wing/shooting production around its core, that’d make a difference for the bigs in the playoffs.
Although, in the same light, the Cavs need to be stressing for Allen to be more confident as a shooter in the mid-range/deep paint this coming season. In the playoffs, that could pay dividends for supplemental offense, and at times, enable him to utilize fakes or sudden drives to get to rim looks.