Jarrett Allen: Nice Head of Hair

[Smooth]

Just for fun some JA 2022-2023 rankings--

Offensive win shares: 5.5 (17th in NBA, 5th among Centers)
Defensive win shares: 4 (5th, 2nd)
Offensive Box Plus/Minus (OBPM): +1.3 (63rd, 12th)
Defensive Box Plus/Minus (DBPM): +1 (33rd, 13th)
Box Plus/Minus: +2.4 (42nd, 12th)
Value Over Replacement Player (VORP): 2.44 (42nd, 10th)
Total Rebound % (TRB%): 17.7 (19th, 17th)
Defensive Rebound % (DRB%): 23.6 (24th, 19th)
Player Efficiency Rating (PER): 19.9 (38th, 15th)
Wins Above Replacement (WAR): 4.9 (70th, 18th)
Contract: $20M is 12th AAV (Annual Average Value) amongst centers, 65th among all players

 

[cabs]

Seems trade talk has bubbled up again around Jarrett with Marc Stein suggesting cavs are more open to the idea. I hope they dont trade him for the sake of it and if they do its to get a genuine stud wing with size. He is such a good fit with DG

 

[foucault87]

We should trade him for Giannis

 

[Smooth]

 

[Jscc]

I don’t see not having big man depth as a good enough excuse for Allen’s poor play in the playoffs. As I remember many of us were begging him to play with more aggressiveness and effort during the regular season around 50% of the time he was on the court. And he’s just not a threat offensively outside of lobs when he’s engaged.

I'm skeptical too.. but the reality is that the team asks JA to do a lot on defense too. He's tasked with protecting the rim, switching out on wings/guards, closing out on three point shooters, coming out to the three point line to set screens, and then rim running. All while having no true backup big and doing it 32 minutes a night during the regular season and as much as 40 minutes during the post-season.

For a big man, that has to take a lot out of you physically and psychologically. The only other guy in the NBA asked to do all of that is probably Bam Adebayo or Giannis. Two athletic freaks on max contracts.

 

[Dr. Claw]

I'm skeptical too.. but the reality is that the team asks JA to do a lot on defense too. He's tasked with protecting the rim, switching out on wings/guards, closing out on three point shooters, coming out to the three point line to set screens, and then rim running. All while having no true backup big and doing it 32 minutes a night during the regular season and as much as 40 minutes during the post-season.

For a big man, that has to take a lot out of you physically and psychologically. The only other guy in the NBA asked to do all of that is probably Bam Adebayo or Giannis. Two athletic freaks on max contracts.

and I guarantee if you took away "closing out on 3 point shooters" from that equation the complaints would be down. Mitchell Robinson (for example) is asked to far less in his role.

 

[buzzdog]

I'm skeptical too.. but the reality is that the team asks JA to do a lot on defense too. He's tasked with protecting the rim, switching out on wings/guards, closing out on three point shooters, coming out to the three point line to set screens, and then rim running. All while having no true backup big and doing it 32 minutes a night during the regular season and as much as 40 minutes during the post-season.

For a big man, that has to take a lot out of you physically and psychologically. The only other guy in the NBA asked to do all of that is probably Bam Adebayo or Giannis. Two athletic freaks on max contracts.

Thank you for that excellent post.

JA can get pushed around by some guys, some of the time. But the reality that his detractors completely ignore is that when JA is doing all those things you mentioned, it puts him in poor rebounding position. Then guys come in from various different directions, shove him another half a foot, and get the rebound making him look soft.

If you let JA set up in the paint in the traditional way, get a wide base, and stick his butt out the way traditional centers used to do when boxing out, he wouldn't get pushed around nearly as much, except by the real bruisers. Instead he is usually running in from somewhere else to try to get to position, in an upright position with a running or narrow base. From there even a solid 6'4" guy can bump him off his mark.

I'm not saying that is how we should use JA defensively. But people need to understand that it isn't only his weight or toughness, it's also how he is used that makes people think he's soft.

 

[ice cream man]

I'm skeptical too.. but the reality is that the team asks JA to do a lot on defense too. He's tasked with protecting the rim, switching out on wings/guards, closing out on three point shooters, coming out to the three point line to set screens, and then rim running.

All things Tristan Thompson was asked to do and did them with much more energy and effort in big minutes in big games.

And Evan Mobley is asked to do everything JA does and more, by the way…

 

[adam81king]

All things Tristan Thompson was asked to do and did them with much more energy and effort in big minutes in big games.

And Evan Mobley is asked to do everything JA does and more, by the way…

Tristan, Evan and JA are all different people, with different physical abilities...

 

[Jscc]

All things Tristan Thompson was asked to do and did them with much more energy and effort in big minutes in big games.

And Evan Mobley is asked to do everything JA does and more, by the way…

That's a good point, but JA isn't as durable as TT was unfortunately. Who is for that matter? 447 consecutive games played is insane. TT was also built in the lower body/hip regions to handle it. JA has freakish length but doesn't really have the center of mass to bang with bigger guys all season. Especially if it's a rotation of true bigs like the Knicks had.

I remember Draymond Green talking about this during their 2014-2016 finals runs. Green said playing center/banging with true bigs [or rotations of true bigs] while switching everything so he had to defend guards/wings on the perimeter too wore him down and he needed entire offseasons to recover from it. He said if he had to do that during the regular season full time, he wouldn't make it to the post-season healthy.

 

[Smooth]

 

[PIP]

If that was me I would have said no!

 

[Jscc]

The big man is putting on the ball and chain! Happy for him.

 

[Bob_The_Cat]

He’s kneeling down and slouching and he’s still taller than her

 

[Bob_The_Cat]

All things Tristan Thompson was asked to do and did them with much more energy and effort in big minutes in big games.

And Evan Mobley is asked to do everything JA does and more, by the way…

TT wasn’t as mobile. He wasn’t as good of a rim protector or help side defender. He was an elite offensive rebounder, but he was never the threat as a roll man that Allen is. Allen might’ve averaged 20 pts a game with how much the Cavs liked to run P&R with Kyrie and LeBron.

TT was good for what those Cavs teams needed, but Allen is the better player and it’s not even really close to be honest.