In 45 games played this season, Cavs big man Jarrett Allen has put up career-best averages of 16.2 points on 67.4 percent shooting, 11.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.4 blocks. Those are some pretty lofty numbers that for some folks, should have been worthy of All-Star recognition. Unfortunately for Allen, this just wasn’t the case for him this year.
Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has now spoken out about Allen’s recent snub from the Eats All-Star team. What is clear is that the Cleveland shot-caller isn’t at all happy with how the league failed to acknowledge his star big man’s outstanding play this season:
“I think Jarrett got snubbed,” Bickerstaff said, via Chris Fedor of cleveland.com. “You look at what he’s done over the year and there’s no real way to justify him not making it. It’s difficult because there are a lot of talented players out there, but if we respect winning the way we say we respect winning, there’s no way that Jarrett Allen doesn’t make the All-Star team.”
Cavs supporters can take a bit of consolation in the fact that Darius Garland, who has been a beast for the Cavs all year long, has been named to the All-Star squad. Nevertheless, this does not take away from the fact that Allen was snubbed. For his part, however, Bickerstaff believes that this development will only further motivate the Cavs big man:
“We’re extremely disappointed that he didn’t make it. But we know who Jarrett is. He’s going to continue to go out and prove people wrong and play with that chip and that edge,” Bickerstaff added.
It’s not all about the numbers for Allen, too. The 6-foot-11 center has been a key cog for the Cavs, who themselves have been one of the biggest surprise packages of the season. At 32-21 as of Saturday afternoon, Cleveland is just two games behind the top-seeded Chicago Bulls in the loss column.
At this point in the season, the Cavs have established themselves as a real threat in the East. There’s absolutely no denying that Jarrett Allen has played a major role in his team’s success this term and to a certain extent, Bickerstaff’s claims here are certainly warranted.
