Cleveland Cavaliers: 2 goals for Ricky Rubio in 2021-22

#2: Provide energy/meaningful ball pressure defensively for the Cavs and a leadership presence

Secondly, Rubio has been an impactful defender throughout his career against opposing 1s and 2s, and that would help out these Cavs in his minutes.

Rubio is going to be in his age-31 season in 2021-22, however, he’s still a very good defender at the point of attack and him applying his share of ball pressure could allow other Cavaliers to be more aggressive at times in passing lanes to build on that.

Rubio making a difference on the ball against 1s and 2s in his minutes could give the Wine and Gold a lift, and his 6-foot-9 wingspan, even at 6-foot-3, helps him in relation to shot contests and in playing passing lanes as a team defender.

He had 2.0 steals per-36 minutes last season and has had 2.2 per-36 lifetime, and him registering a similar clip of takeaways would indicate that he could help the Cavs run more and provide energy for the group as a whole when he’s in there.

From there, more so from a Dellavedova-like behind the scenes/locker room standpoint, I’d hope that Rubio can bring an added leadership presence for guys such as Darius Garland, Collin Sexton and Isaac Okoro of course, but also for the overall squad.

Rubio has had plenty of success and for a young Cavaliers team trying to make a play-in/postseason push, while he is expiring, I do believe Rubio can be a leadership boost both on and off the floor.

And if that’s the case, perhaps Rubio and Cleveland could agree on a reasonable deal to keep him around after next season.

Even though he has bounced around in recent seasons, I do think that Ricky can very well be a key contributor for the Cavs in 2021-22 at minimum, and we’ll have to see from there.