Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 ways they could use screens this year

#4: Pinch-post plays with primary ball-handlers

Near the beginning of training camp, Love mentioned that he’ll be getting more pinch-post looks to create plays for his teammates. What is a pinch-post play usually predicated on?

It’s usually when a ball-handler (typically a guard) is taking his defender off the bounce, and then sees Love or a different big such as Nance, Zizic or Thompson pop out (usually near the mid-post or at the top of the key), and they deliver the ball to them to make a quick decision.

A lot of the time, that quick decision relates to that big receiving the pass and giving that same guard the ball back right away, as the guard often has an open jump shot thanks to the separation provided by the big.

Clarkson, Sexton, Hood and Osman should eat those plays up all year, and if Nance is who the pass goes to, he’s a more than capable passer (and decent mid-range shooter if the defense is giving it to him), which gives that playtype more options.

This kind of offensive set can also be run for a weak side cutter to get a back door look when the defense is sleeping, and Love could be the shooter, too. In those cases, he’s more than capable of knocking those looks down from behind the arc.

Working the ball into a posted Hood after he gets a cross screen from Thompson or Nance could be a deadly dilemma for opposing defenders with Love’s gravity as a shooter.

Hood is a solid post-up player that can get good separation for fadeaways with his high release point and can be effective with both hands for floaters, so with Love on the strong side, that presence can cause some defensive reaction and…Boom.

Love can get a split second for a perimeter J, which he can definitely knock down at a high clip.

A fifth way Cleveland could use screens regularly is fairly simple, but they are still used in every offense from time to time.