The Cavaliers may need Jarrett Allen if they want to stay out of the play-in

Jarrett Allen may be the key to keeping the Cleveland Cavaliers out of the play-in.

The play-in tournament may be one of the sillier things the NBA has ever done, and it exists solely as a way to curb tanking, without actually giving teams incentive to not tank. The Cleveland Cavaliers just so happen to be a team on the fringe of the play-in, a mini-tournament to determine the last two spots in the NBA playoffs. It’s a rather dumb concept that forces teams who played the entire year to earn those spots to continue playing; despite having already done enough to go in.

It’s not a position any team wants to be in, and if the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to avoid the play-in tournament, then they’re going to need Jarrett Allen back.

He’s not only a double-double machine, and one of the Cavaliers‘ more reliable offensive players, but he’s the focal point of the defense. Prior to his injury, the team was only giving up 104.6 points per game. Currently third-best in the league. Without him, The Cavs are giving up 118 points.

While Evan Mobley has filled in admirably and has even done a good job affecting other defenses, the problem is the Cavs have no one to fill in for Mobley, who’s filling in for Allen. Without Allen, the Cavs lose one of the more dynamic defenders they have. He and Lauri Markkanen were able to provide wing relief and drop back into the paint to help Allen fend off inside shots.

Now the whole thing is out of whack.

Why is it important for the Cleveland Cavaliers to avoid the play-in tournament?

The tournament gives an unfair allowance to the ninth and tenth seeds to get into the playoffs, even if their records are dramatically worse off than the seventh and eighth seeds. Basically, the seventh and eighth seeds face off in a game. The winner of that game is the seventh seed. The losing team then waits for the winner of the ninth and tenth seeds to finish their game. So the loser of the eighth and seventh seed then faces the winner of the ninth and tenth seed game.

The winner of that game goes into the playoffs as the eighth seed.

It gives the teams who are “in” the playoffs an extra loss to juggle with, which in theory gives them an advantage but a second game is only an advantage when you’re facing the same team. When you’re facing two different teams in a row, then things can get a bit messy.

The Cavs were at one point the third seed, and now they’ve dropped to the sixth and hold just a one-game advantage over the surging Toronto Raptors. To avoid dropping into the play-in tournament, the Cavs need Allen to return before the playoffs.