Cavs’ Big-Man Room Holding The Fort With Jarrett Allen Out

Without Jarrett Allen, the Cleveland Cavaliers have asked their big-man room of Damian Jones, Tristan Thompson and Evan Mobley to step up.

It’s been 11 days since the Cleveland Cavaliers announced that Jarrett Allen would be out of action with a bone bruise in his left ankle. The good news is that he is progressing in this rehab process, and it appears that he is on the right track.

Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has acknowledged what Allen means to the team time and time again, making it clear that there’s no replacing him, especially with one person. Other players have had to step up to try and fill the void. Thus far, it’s been Damian Jones, Tristan Thompson and Evan Mobley picking up the slack as best as they can.

“Everybody has had to find their way,” Bickerstaff said. “Jarrett means so much to us and we value him so much that it’s not just a plug-and-play. There’s certain tweaks and things we have to make. Guys are accepting the challenge. But obviously Jarrett is a huge part of what we do and we miss him.”

New to the team, Jones has done a nice job with the minutes he’s gotten. He has run the floor and been a rim deterrent defensively, not trying to do too much or too little.

In Monday night’s contest against Maccabi Ra’anana, Jones punished former first-round pick Bruno Caboclo on the interior and made his presence felt, scoring 11 points and nabbing four rebounds. He got to the line at will and went 7-for-7 from the stripe. Defensively, he also swatted three shots.

the defense & the offense 🤌✨

Watch NOW on @BallySportsCLE. pic.twitter.com/x9NpZWbh56

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) October 17, 2023

“[He] gives you extra size, gives you that vertical spacing, has nice touch and he’s a good passer,” Bickerstaff said. “You don’t fall off completely because he does have a similar skill set to Jarrett and he protects the rim and protects the paint and his teammates are gaining that trust in him.”

“We have similar attributes,” Jones added. “We're both pretty quick as bigs, have that quick twitch. So being able to affect shots at the rim and stuff and being able to move laterally are both some strong suits of ours. Being able to catch lobs, finish in the dunker [spot].”

Since Jones arrived in Cleveland, Bickerstaff admits that there’s been more to the Vanderbilt product than he originally thought on the offensive end of the court.

“[His] ability to pass the ball. That surprised me,” Bickerstaff said. “We can get him the ball on the elbows and he can create from there in tight spaces. Something I didn’t know he was capable of.”

Oct 12, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs (4) drives to the basket between Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley (4) and center Damian Jones (30) during the first half at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse / Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

The Cavs also have done some experimenting with Jones playing alongside Mobley, who’s used to being next to another big in the first place.

“It works man,” Jones said of the tall ball. “I mean looking at last year, they were a top team in the East with Evan and JA together. Evan with his skill set, he's able to play multiple positions, so that really helps.”

Jones isn’t alone, either. Thompson has done the dirty work and picked up right where he left off with the Cavs three years ago, constantly crashing the glass, setting hard screens and bringing the hustle.

Mobley’s seen time at the 5 flanked by shooters too, with the Cavs trying to explore different lineups and avenues to diversify their attack. It wouldn’t be surprising to see them go with that mix even when Allen is back.

“Just finding what works,” Jones said of the group’s response to the injury. “We were just going over it; it's pretty early right now, so there's room for error in the preseason. So just learning things on a quick pace and just get into it. 

"I don't know how things were last year, but they said they made some tweaks to some things. Just getting adjusted to that."

As Bickerstaff said, no single person can take the place of an All-Star caliber center like Allen. It hasn't been perfect either on either end. 

But so far as a collective unit, the bigs have certainly accepted the challenge.