Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 ways they could use screens this year

#5: Hand-offs in the corner and off-ball screens to initiate Iverson cuts

Nance and Thompson are good at setting up dribble hand-offs for perimeter players, and those hand-offs allow players to get the ball with momentum going forward on the move. That’ll be huge for the Cavaliers, given that Cleveland will be more of a driving-dominant team this year.

There’s a strong possibility that the Cavs aren’t going to get a ton of spot-up opportunities this year, so driving the ball to the cup after a well-placed dribble hand-off is going to be paramount.

The Cavaliers had the second-lowest amount of drives per game last season, per Second Spectrum, and that won’t be the case this year. With Cleveland’s more athletic and younger rotation getting a head start on their defenders in exploding to the paint after taking a hand-off in the corner, that should be an added dimension to counter high ball-screens.

When defenses react to that and take away the drive, that ball-handler could have a lob pass behind the defense. Nance doesn’t need much room behind the defense, either. He can simply go up and get it if the defense hesitates at all.

In addition, Cleveland could get Osman, Hood, Clarkson and Sexton open for isolations by using Iverson cuts. Named after NBA iso legend Allen Iverson, this cut essentially is just getting a playmaking perimeter player space to operate after a screen away from the ball causes a ball-reversal from the player with the ball.

With Cleveland giving Osman, Hood and others the ball to make plays in space on the perimeter within the structure of the offense, this is a necessity here and there.

It will then allow the Cavs to make back screens off that when defenses start to help to isolation, and players such as Smith, Korver and Hill can get good catch-and-shoot looks as a counter.

To make a long story short, the Cavaliers are going to be a ball and man movement offense that is more predicated on getting their steps in, and not pounding the air out of the ball. Screens are always crucial to an NBA offense, and Cleveland is no exception in 2018-19 and beyond.