From point A to point B to point C
by Joe Gabriele (@CavsJoeG)
06/18/21 | Cavs.com
To understand how much has changed for the Cavaliers over the course of the 2020-21 season – one in which coach JB Bickerstaff used 31 different starting lineups – look no further than the center.
Cleveland started the year with Andre Drummond in the middle, with JaVale McGee as his backup. They ended the year with Jarrett Allen starting in the middle, with Isaiah Hartenstein as his backup. (And Anderson Varejao as his Fuse.)
Raise your hand when you see all of this coming back in November.
In our last position breakdown from last season – today focusing on middle management, the stable of the great men at Wine & Gold – Cavs.com concludes his review of the previous campaign with the 2021 lottery, the draft and a busy off-season on the horizon.
After being acquired on a deadline deal last year, Drummond has appeared in 25 games with Cleveland that season and doubled in his first 12 appearances, including a 26-point 24 rebound attempt against Milwaukee and a 33- 23-point rebound breakout in the home win against the Knicks.
But the January takeover of Jarrett Allen put both Drummond and the team in an awkward position – and the two-time All-Star played his last game as Cavalier in a loss to the Blazers on February 12. Both parties agreed to part ways in late March, and he signed with the Lakers after a buyout for the remainder of the campaign.
Anderson Varejao made an unexpected boost late in the season, playing the final five games of the season for Wine & Gold.
David Liam Kyle via NBAE / Getty Images
As for McGee, the 13 year old man was traded from the Lakers to Cleveland shortly after his third NBA championship win, allowing the Lakers to bring valuable veteran experience to the young Cavaliers.
He did just that, averaging 8.0 points and 5.2 boards in 33 games from the bench before being dealt to Denver for this year’s deadline. McGee, who rolled into the arena in Carhartt overalls before his last home game, lost 18 points to the Kings; During his brief but efficient tenure, he led the team in blocks 16 times.
Things changed for all of the above parties when the Cavaliers went headlong into a three-team deal that helped Brooklyn acquire James Harden in mid-January – and security guard Dante Exum and an unprotected first rounder in 2022 (via Milwaukee) to Houston and Brooklyn sent a second round to Houston in 2024 in exchange for 22-year-old Big Man Jarrett Allen and striker Taurean Prince of the Nets.
Allen wasted no time making a name for himself in Cleveland – he finished his Cavs debut with 12 points, 14 boards and four blocks, a double overtime win over his former squad, and scored 19 points in a home win over Brooklyn the following evening .
The former Longhorn continued his stellar game for the remainder of the season, only slowed down by a concussion from a loss to the Lakers that left him out for eight games. That interruption aside, Allen averaged 13.3 points on 0.615 shoots, 9.9 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in 50 games with Wine & Gold.
For the season overall, Allen’s .623 field goal percentage was 5th, averaging 1.44 blocks apiece, and was in the top 10 of the league, and his rebound mark – 10.0 rpg – placed him 13th in the Association and marked his first season with an average double-double.
And Allen has had some monster nights with Cleveland this season, including his first game as a starter against Minnesota on February 1 – he finished with 23 points on the 7-of-9 shootout, added 18 boards and five blocks.
In a meeting against Denver later that month, Allen became the first Cavalier since Tristan Thompson in 2014 to finish with at least 20 points and 10 boards while shooting over 89 percent off the ground.
In the following game he was somehow even more efficient and drilled all 11 field goals attempts to achieve a career high of 26 points (while leading both teams with 17 rebounds) in a loss to the Thunder. With his perfect night, Allen became only the third player in 30 years – alongside Dikembe Mutombo and Dwight Howard – to finish with at least 25 points and 15 rebounds while shooting 100 percent off the ground.
After a 5-on-11 night in his next game, Allen went 10-on-11 – and with 26 points to go with 18 boards in a home win against Houston, he continued his career high point.
The affable Allen scored 17 doubles doubles during his stellar run with Cleveland, including the top six of his career in a row in mid-February, and was the first cavalier since Zydrunas Ilgauskas to record at least four blocks in consecutive games.
Allen’s backup on the track was Isaiah Hartenstein, who was rock solid in his short stint after being overtaken by the Nuggets in late March – including his Wine & Gold debut, who led the team with 14 rebounds in a road loss to Utah, although he got to the crew just a day earlier.
In his 16 games with Cleveland, Hartenstein has done very well – with seven games with double digits, a pair of doubles, and three games with at least three blocks.
Mfiondu Kabengele also played in 16 games for Wine & Gold after signing a deal for the late season. As the 27th overall pick of the Nets in 2019, Kabengele spent the first part of that year with the Clippers before moving to Cleveland. He was decent off the bench, with a 14-point night on 5-of-7 shooting and a 10-rebound attempt in the season finale as a bright spot.
That lets us wrap up with an old friend – Anderson Varejao.
Loved by fans during his eventful 12-year tenure with Wine & Gold, Varejao left the team under unfortunate circumstances in 2016. Offer of the day to complete the campaign.
Varejao – who qualified for 591 regular season games and 71 postseason competitions for the Cavs – returned to the team in 7th place all-time in played games, 4th on offensive rebounds, 5th on defensive rebounds, 6th in overall rebounds , 7th shots and 8th in steals.
In his five games back, Varejao scored 13 points and grabbed 20 boards. Above all, however, he ended his career as a cavalier – as it should be. And in a season that has been frivolous at times, everyone had a good reason to smile when the Wild Thing checked in at the goalscoring table on May 5th.
