For Cavs, Jordan Bell would ideally fill similar role to John Henson previously

Next season for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jordan Bell would ideally fill a similar role to that of a former Cleveland big, if Bell can stick around.

It’s difficult to gauge what Jordan Bell‘s role could end up being for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Simply put, I’m not sure if Bell will end up sticking around with the Wine and Gold throughout 2020-21, let alone maybe further down the road.

The former free agent in Bell and the Cavs agreed last week on a multi-year deal, per reports involving that, but while Bell is guaranteed a set compensation amount for the formal remainder of 2019-20, his deal is non-guaranteed for 2020-21. So what kind of role could we foresee for Bell?

It’s again, difficult to tell at this juncture, and as Cavaliers fans are well-aware of, Cleveland was not a squad invited to the 2019-20 season’s restart in Orlando for the NBA’s top 22 clubs.

That said, the Wine and Gold could end up having four Summer League-type games in a second NBA bubble in Chicago in September. That came per a report last week from ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan; I wouldn’t expect those types of games to affect lottery odds, but we’ll see.

It’s seemingly anything but a certainty that those games would happen, given the novel coronavirus pandemic, though. Granted, if they do, perhaps Bell could make a meaningful impression, and showcase that he should end up having a roster spot in 2020-21.

Both he and former two-way player for Cleveland in Dean Wade, who had his contract recently converted to a standard multi-year deal, albeit non-guaranteed beginning in 2020-21, should have “a shot” at making the roster, per a report from Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.

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Nonetheless, it’s tough to say if either of those pieces will have a good chance at making the Cavs roster for next season, though.

Kevin Love should seemingly be getting the biggest chunk of 4 man minutes, with Larry Nance Jr. and feasibly Alfonzo McKinnie, given his defensive capability, even with his deal going forward being non-guaranteed starting in 2020-21, getting some burn. He seemingly will at the 3, too.

That would make it more difficult for Wade I’d imagine, although he did show stretch big potential in 2019-20 with the Cavs G-League affiliate, the Canton Charge, as he did hit 39.9 percent from three-point range. He’ll have his work cut out for him, though.

While I can’t say it at all definitively, Bell I could see feasibly more so sticking around.

That’s because with the expiring Tristan Thompson seemingly having a high possibility of signing elsewhere in the upcoming offseason, that could open up some opportunity for minutes for Bell.

Bell is far from your preferred reserve 5 man option at 6-foot-8 and 216 pounds, but he has shown impressive shot blocking instincts as a rotational big with mostly the Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves. He is also far more switchable than Andre Drummond.

Drummond would be set to get the bulk of 5 man minutes next season, given that he’s stressed that he fully intends to pick up $28.8 million player option for 2020-21, but that better switchability from Bell is what could make the latter a viable option at times in spurts Cleveland.

He is also a solid roller, and is a productive screener on and off the ball, which could aid pieces such as Kevin Porter Jr., Darius Garland and Cedi Osman (more so off-ball). So what would end up being an ideal role for Bell for Cleveland, then?

Ideally, Bell would end up filling a similar role to that of a former Cleveland Cavaliers big, in John Henson.

John Henson was of course part of a trade package by the Cavs sent to the Detroit Pistons near the 2020 deadline in exchange for Drummond. While Henson was injured unfortunately too often in his time with the Cavaliers, when he was healthy for them in 2019-20, he was a nice bench contributor in the defensive and rolling/screening sense.

Now I fully understand that Bell is not Henson’s size at 6-foot-10, but Henson is comparatively, a thinner build, and Bell is still a solid build and is proportional, which does allow him to hold his own often against interior threats. He doesn’t have a 7-foot-6 wingspan, as Henson does, no, but Bell’s 7-foot wingspan still aids him as a team defender and deter passers to cutters.

Along with that, Bell is much quicker than Henson, which does allow him to be more respectable in switching out at times in pick-and-roll coverage, and Bell also does have good rotation/team defensive instincts. In 2019-20, while Bell combined to play just 8.8 minutes per game with the Twolves and briefly with Memphis, he did have a healthy 1.4 blocks per-36 minutes.

If he were to stick around with Cleveland, perhaps that ability could aid the Wine and Gold in some spot minutes, and allow the Cavs and seemingly Collin Sexton and/or KPJ to get out and run more.

In terms of the offensive end, Bell is not much of a post-up threat, as Henson was on occasion, and Henson is a better passer to cutters, but Bell is a very effective screener, and is a highly capable finishing on cuts/dives and lobs. Bell is not a floor spacer, and it’s difficult to say with the relatively small number of attempts, but he did show flashes of mid-range game off-the-catch with the Warriors in years past, too.

Also, in transition, Bell, who is quicker than Henson, is more involved, too, and lets not gloss over that Bell has averaged an identical 6.4 defensive rebounds per-36 minutes for his career as Henson has. That’d help Nance and/or Kevin Love in some stretches.

Alright so anyhow, it is again anything but certain whether or not Bell can end up sticking around with the Cavs, especially if the Wine and Gold end up selecting a big in the upcoming draft, such as USC’s Onyeka Okongwu. If Bell does, though, he would ideally fill a Henson-type role in the reserve 5 for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and/or perhaps at times, reserve 4 sense.

Could Bell end up putting 1.1 blocks per game for the Cavs next season, as Henson did in 2019-20 before dealt? While again it’s unclear if he’ll have the chance, I definitely believe he very well could.

We’ll have to see in regards to Bell’s chances, though.