Cavaliers should keep both Drummond and Allen

The Cleveland Cavaliers should keep both centers as they look to build their foundation for the future.

Let’s get weird. The Cleveland Cavaliers should zig while everyone else zags in regards to their big men. Instead of looking to keep only one of their centers, they should retain both Andre Drummond and Jarrett Allen, and in turn cornering the market on a rare style of center. That style being one that is not a consistent or even a legitimate threat outside of the paint.

Looking at how teams are building currently this certainly defies convention and might not make much sense in the moment. This current moment in time is not what the focus should be, it should be the future. Just about every team has devalued centers like Drummond and Allen which could make this strategy a bit more feasible. The open market may not be kind which could allow the Cavs to pursue this currently unconventional roster construction.

For teams like the Cavaliers they need to find ways to get an advantage in any way possible. This means when they find one they need to exploit it endlessly. What advantage could that be? Centers that other teams do not appear to value. The Cavs could pair Drummond and Allen as their starting and backup centers resulting in a younger and perhaps better version of what they trotted last season with Drummond and Tristan Thompson.

Will this be the most aesthetically pleasing brand of basketball? Probably not, but caring about that is not something that should be under consideration. Cleveland needs to find any sort of way to get a leg up on the competition and going in the opposite way of the pendulum swing that favors small ball could be just that. Get out ahead of the pendulum swinging back in the other direction and be ahead of everyone else while they try to catch up.