Cavs: Jordan Bell’s recent comments show what bubble was all about

The Cleveland Cavaliers wrapped up in-market voluntary bubble team workouts, of which seemed to be meaningful for the Wine and Gold.

We get it, the Cleveland Cavaliers have not been in game action since March 10, in what was a close loss to the Chicago Bulls. Shortly thereafter came the NBA season’s novel coronavirus-induced hiatus, and the Cavs 2019-20 campaign was ultimately over with them not being an Orlando team.

On the plus side, members of the Wine and Gold have engaged in individual work, and the Cavs wrapped up voluntary team workouts in their in-market downtown bubble a few days back. For Cleveland’s young pieces such as Darius Garland, Collin Sexton and Kevin Porter Jr., that work was crucial.

And it was productive for them to get some 5-on-5 work in, and perhaps, most notably even for Dylan Windler, who did not play at all in game action for the Cavs in what was supposed to be his rookie campaign.

Windler seemed to have made quite an impression, though, and the potential knockdown shooter for Cleveland, who hit 40.6 percent of his 534 career three-point attempts at Belmont, is a player Bickerstaff and company reportedly want to become a shot “hunter.” And that’s the right thing to preach to him from a confidence standpoint, too.

Anyhow, while of course the reps, and even more so in what was hour-long 5-on-5 sessions allowed, was important, so was the team chemistry/bonding element in this Cavs bubble/mini minicamp, if you will.

Recent comments by Jordan Bell, who may or may not end up eventually making the Cleveland roster for next season and was picked up via the NBA’s transaction window this summer, jumped out to me, too.

The above comments from Bell show what the Cleveland Cavaliers bubble was all about.

Bell alluded to how, in recent virtual media availability on Thursday, the Cavs seemingly grew closer with them being constantly around each other in the squad’s in-market bubble, which resulted in seemingly better on-floor rapport, too.

That again, included plenty of group run, clearly, but for Bickerstaff and the group as a whole, the bubble was invaluable also from a team chemistry/bonding perspective, and those comments from Bell show what the bubble was all about.

It was big in that regard for Kevin Love, at least for some of the bubble, as he said he would for part of it, to have been in attendance before leaving last Saturday, per a report from Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor. Last season had some bumpy moments involving Love and the team’s dynamic, but it appears Love and Bickerstaff have a great relationship, and it’s nice to know that Kevin appears fully locked-in for the Wine and Gold.

And him participating in the bubble, for some of it, had to have been outstanding for the club, both in helping young pieces, coupled with the leadership/team chemistry element both on and off the floor.

The aforementioned Bell, DG and the group recently going to Top Golf, dinners and getting in various team bonding activities away from the floor, of which Fedor detailed in a report (subscription required), had to have been been huge for the Cavs.

This clip at Top Golf just showed a brief glimpse into some of that, and aside from Collin Sexton definitely being ALL ABOUT BASKETBALL, it’s a plus to know that the group was able to be together for the first time in quite some time, given COVID-19 concerns/guidelines.

Moreover, those above Bell comments in relation to the those voluntary team workouts/the bubble show what the bubble was all about.

And Jordan Bell, who would project as a reserve defensive 5 that has a career clip of 1.5 blocks per-36 minutes, seemingly helped his case for maybe making the Cavs/sticking around potentially (his deal for next season is non-guaranteed).

The youngsters, and reportedly Darius Garland, even more so, really made quite a showing for themselves, too, which is a key takeaway.

Hopefully a fully healthy at the jump, and in-shape Garland can take a significant leap forward next season as well, and build on the better playmaking feel he demonstrated as 2019-20 progressed. He had a better 5.1 assists per outing in the 2020 portion of the schedule, for context.

The same goes for his scoring/shooting, and DG is more efficient as a shooter, in which he hit only 40.1 percent from the field in year 1, but did show plenty of flashes of impressive on-ball creation and deep range.

In any case, for the Cleveland Cavaliers, this in-market bubble has seemed to have been very meaningful for most of the squad, both in the on and off-floor sense, which is a key positive.