The Cleveland Cavaliers made a quality move in trading Taurean Prince, a 2022 second-round pick via the Washington Wizards and cash to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Ricky Rubio a few hours before the 2021 NBA Draft.
I thought Prince did a nice job for Cleveland last season following his then-trade acquisition from the Brooklyn Nets, and he knocked in 41.5 percent of his three-point attempts mostly off the bench.
Even with that being the case, Prince was seemingly rumored to be a possible trade candidate, and with the lack of true backup point guard option behind Darius Garland, I can’t blame Cleveland for dealing Prince for Rubio. Along with that, Prince couldn’t remain healthy nearly enough last season, and with him set to be expiring after next season, I understood Cleveland’s decision.
Rubio is set to be expiring as well, but for next season at least, I do believe he should provide a great backup 1 option, and with Garland’s shooting abilities, those two could get some playing time together.
I wouldn’t expect that with Collin Sexton in those instances, though Rubio could mesh very well in stretches with Sexton, as an aside. Rubio has always been a terrific passer that has excellent timing and feel for getting his teammates involved, and he can be productive in pick-and-rolls with Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.
So what should Cavs fans look for the club to get from him game-to-game next season, and what would be a successful 2021-22 campaign for the veteran lead guard?
In that realm, we’ll touch on two goals for Rubio for the Cavs in 2021-22.
First, we’ll give our suggestion for his potential playmaking splits for next season.
#1: Average 8.5 assists per-36 minutes for the Cavs as great bench catalyst
I understand that Rubio is hardly a sniper, as he hit only 30.8 percent from three-point range last season with Minnesota, and has been a 32.5 percent three-point shooter through 10 seasons.
He’s not a guy that I’d expect to likely be averaging double digits either, but Rubio is a crafty driver and has some viability with floaters and in pull-ups in pick-and-roll. I could foresee him getting in the realm of 8.0-9.0 points per outing, with how he had 8.6 per contest last year.
In any case, what should be expected from Rubio is that even with him set to come off the bench, barring injury absences, is that he’ll be a highly capable backup primary initiator for Cleveland.
Last season, he did still have 6.4 assists per outing for the Timberwolves, and while I wouldn’t expect that number, he’ll still get cutters and shooters for Cleveland plenty of opportunities when he’s in there.
With that in mind, Rubio would be proving to have a consistent impact if he had in the ball park of 8.5 assists per-36 minutes in 2021-22.
When he was able to go last season, Matthew Dellavedova did provide a spark as a reserve playmaker for the Cavs, as he did the year prior when he had rotational minutes. But Delly was limited to just 13 games last season due to injuries, and Cleveland’s rocky backup point guard outlook didn’t do much for relieving the playmaking burden on Darius Garland.
Rubio has historically been durable though, which is reassuring for that.
So to me, if Rubio were to hit this suggested playmaking mark next season for the Cavaliers, that’d be meaningful in demonstrating that he’s alleviating some of that playmaking burden game-to-game for Garland, and that he’d be a great bench catalyst.
I do believe a playmaker of Rubio’s caliber being in the fold could also enable Garland to shot hunt some more in games, particularly if he really has it rolling from three-point land.
Moving along, we’ll take a look at the second goal for Ricky for next season.
#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.