Kenny Atkinson Admits It Took Time to Fully Appreciate Jarrett Allen’s Value

Kenny Atkinson said Monday that it took him a while to fully realize Jarrett Allen's importance, and that celebrating the center is on his mind entering his third season as Cleveland Cavaliers coach.

Allen averaged 22.5 points and 13.0 rebounds in Cleveland's two Game 7s last postseason. In the regular season, he averaged 15.4 points and 8.5 rebounds and shot 63.8% from the field in 56 games.

Atkinson said assistant coach Jawad Williams has stayed on Allen about his work in the weight room.

"Play like it's Game 7 all the time," Atkinson said. "I think with Jarrett, and he did a great job last year, just get another level of dedication with his habits, especially in the weight room. Jawad was a part of that, staying on him and pushing him, so if he's in good physical condition and good mental space, he's a super talented player, so, and continue to do what he's done for us, what he's done for the Cavs since he's been here."

Williams grew up in Cleveland, played at St. Edward High School in Lakewood, and won a national championship at North Carolina in 2005. He played for the Cavaliers from 2008 to 2010. He joined Atkinson's staff in June 2025 after working as an assistant coach and director of player development with the Sacramento Kings.

Allen has been in Cleveland since January 2021. He arrived in the four-team trade that sent James Harden from Houston to Brooklyn.

Atkinson said the message to the roster last season was to reward Allen for the role-player work.

"He does his best to try to fit into whatever your needs are," Atkinson explained. "So what's more important to that is for our other players to know how important he is. I think we talked a lot about that last year. We talked a lot about it as a team. Okay, he's gonna do all these things. He's gonna do all these connector things, role-player things. Are we going to reward him for that? I know even in the playoffs it became a thing, like, reward [JA]."

"Him and Evan, really, it's super important for this team," Atkinson continued. "Took me a while to fully realize that, but I think it's, and me, as head coach, appreciating him more. Sometimes, the guys that, it's like him and Sam, they do all the, and you're just, you don't compliment them, you don't celebrate them. So that's on my mind this year. We gotta celebrate those, him especially."

Cleveland went 52-30 and finished fourth in the Eastern Conference. The Cavaliers won a Game 7 at Detroit, 125-94, on May 17 to reach the conference finals, where the New York Knicks swept them.

Cleveland has made the playoffs in each of the last four seasons. Atkinson was named Coach of the Year after a 64-18 debut season in 2024-25.

Cleveland flipped its guard-big pairings this preseason, with Donovan Mitchell working more with Allen and Harden working more with Evan Mobley.

Allen goes with whatever lineup the coaches tell him to go with. Not much of the conversation about the switch has come his way.

"Pretty well," Allen said. "At one point when we were together, it was either Kenny or JB was talking about we have the number one pick-and-roll in the NBA. So at that point, it was just, I feel like Donovan and I have a good pairing. I get him open, and then he finds me. We just work well off of each other."

J.B. Bickerstaff coached Cleveland before Atkinson and was fired after a 48-34 season in 2023-24. He now coaches the Detroit Pistons, the team Cleveland beat in seven games in the conference semifinals.

Mitchell came to Cleveland from the Utah Jazz in September 2022. He has averaged 26.7 points in the regular season and 27.3 in the playoffs with the Cavaliers.

Harden arrived Feb. 4 in the trade that sent Darius Garland and a 2026 second-round pick to the Los Angeles Clippers. Garland had averaged 18.0 points and 6.9 assists in 26 games for Cleveland last season.

Allen came in at No. 64 in Bleacher Report's ranking of the top 99 players entering the season.

The Cavaliers start the regular season at the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.