Cavs team workouts have seemingly helped Jordan Bell

Getting some work in at the Cleveland Cavaliers team bubble has seemingly aided Jordan Bell.

It’s unclear if we’ll see Jordan Bell with the Cleveland Cavaliers in game action next season, but he could end up being a reserve 5 option. Bell, who was signed by Cleveland during the NBA’s transaction window by Cleveland, is set to have a non-guaranteed deal when it comes to next season.

With that being the case, it’s unclear if he will make Cleveland’s roster for next season and/or stick around during the year. He could seemingly do so, though, as realistically a decent reserve/spot minutes big.

Bell, who spent of this now-past season with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and then was traded to the Houston Rockets, and then shortly therafter, dealt to the Memphis Grizzlies, had a tough set of circumstances in 2019-20. Memphis, for further context, then waived him, and then from there, the league’s then novel coronavirus-induced hiatus went into effect.

It would appear that Bell has helped himself in potentially sticking around with the Wine and Gold, though.

Bell, who has been a participant in the Cavs in-market team bubble workouts that have commenced over the past week or so, has made his presence felt, according to Cleveland head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, via Forbes‘ Evan Dammarell. And the first tweet is unrelated, but a plus, regarding Darius Garland in the bubble.

These comments were encouraging about Bell, though, who could maybe be a nice reserve 5 option in some relief at times for Andre Drummond. That’s assuming Drummond eventually picks up his $28.8 million player option for next season, which is reportedly highly likely to happen at some point.

We’ll refocus on Bell here, however.

Bell’s seemingly helped himself in these Cleveland Cavaliers team workouts.

Bickerstaff comments alluded to how Bell’s seemingly been aided by his efforts in the Cavs bubble, in the team 5-on-5 work, one would assume.

Now, you have to take these with a grain of salt, with how Andre Drummond has not been a participant in these team workouts/scrimmages due to a personal matter.

But it’s nice to know that Bell, who could provide the Cleveland Cavaliers with some energy minutes off the bench at times next season alongside feasibly Larry Nance Jr. and/or Kevin Love at the 4, has seemed to have taken advantage of this opportunity. Bell is an especially active team defender, of which he clearly showed with Minnesota and in his first two NBA seasons with the Golden State Warriors.

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Bell, while he is an undersized rotational 5 mostly at 6-foot-8 and 215 pounds, has consistently had very good timing as a shot blocker in his minutes.

In 2019-20 with Minnesota, Bell had 1.5 blocks per-36 minutes, and that sort of thing was seemingly on display in the Cavs team workouts, based on Bickerstaff’s comments via Dammarell.

Additionally, Bell is a player that in his minutes-share, if he were to stick around, is somewhat switchable. That only aids his case for possibly making the Cavs roster and/or sticking around.

Lastly, Bickerstaff also highlighting how Bell is a good passing big was noteworthy, as for the Cavaliers, while Bell does turn it over when he tries to do too much, he is a player that is capable of helping ball movement.

The vision for a big with him is there, which in some spot minutes could aid Cleveland’s team offense and pieces such as Darius Garland, Collin Sexton and/or Kevin Porter Jr., and while Bell is definitely not a floor spacing presence/key scoring threat, he is an instinctive screener both on and off the ball. He could fill in some in a dunker/roller role as well.

He is a very active rebounder on both ends of the floor, too, and if he were to stick around, Bell, who has a career offensive rebounding rate of 8.9 percent, should aid Cleveland in that realm.

And with his passing feel off of that, Bell could help generate some easy perimeter shooting opportunities for perhaps pieces such as Garland, KPJ and Dylan Windler, who has participated in these Cavs in-market bubble workouts, for instance.

Looking onward, though, if the Cavaliers were to bring back the expiring Tristan Thompson, that’d make minutes tough to come by for Bell, albeit he could be an end-of-bench/depth piece, potentially. If Cleveland were to draft a big such as USC’s Onyeka Okongwu, as an alternative, that likely wouldn’t aid Bell’s case, anyhow.

James Wiseman, who briefly played at Memphis, could very well be picked by Cleveland if he were to fall to them at #5 in the 2020 NBA Draft, too. And while that still would appear unlikely, the possibility could be a higher one now, per a report from Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman.

If Cleveland were to select Dayton’s Obi Toppin, who similarly to Wiseman, I’m personally not a fan of for the Cavs due to defensive concerns in today’s modern NBA, but could potentially be a target for Cleveland as well, that wouldn’t be ideal for Bell, either.

In any case, if the Cavaliers went wing in the upcoming draft, which would seem to be a high possibility in its own right, anyway, that could possibly help Bell’s case, too. Nonetheless, Bell’s seemingly helped his case in the Cavs bubble, based on those comments from Bickerstaff.

That’s a positive, from a depth standpoint, I would think.