Ricky Rubio has proven to have been just what the doctor ordered for the Cleveland Cavaliers as an offseason acquisition. Rubio, who was acquired via trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves, has been quite the supersub for the Wine and Gold.
I know that he’s not generally been a bench guy much in his career, but given that Rubio has excelled as regularly the first sub off the bench for Cleveland this season, I still like him in a reserve role. That’s regardless of the injury to Collin Sexton, who will be out for an extended period.
Either way, it’s apparent that Rubio will remain receiving starter’s minutes, no matter how you slice it, and he’s been outstanding. Rubio’s had 13.7 points, 6.9 assists and 3.7 rebounds per contest, to go with 1.5 steals in 28.2 minutes per contest.
What has been truly something else from Rubio has been the shooting splits, especially from three-point range, where he’s been shooting it at a different level, for the season that is. He even exploded for a career-high 37 points in a win at the New York Knicks a week ago, (a game that he had 10 assists in, too) which was an otherworldly display, as KJG’s Amadou Sow highlighted.
He’s canned 37.8 percent from deep to begin the season, relating to the shooting, which, considering he’s hit 32.7 percent from there lifetime, has been a complete shock, to say the least.
That was undoubtedly going to come back down to Earth, though, and in his past three games, he’s hit only 4-of-18 (22.2 percent) from three. But he’s still been very impressive for Cleveland, and the Cavs have fed off the energy he’s provided.
Rubio’s cooled off some, however, he’s been such a great offseason acquisition overall, and continues to impress.
Simply put, Rubio has been invaluable for the Cavaliers, and while I thought he’d provide a meaningful bench playmaking and defensive boost, on both ends, he’s been even better than one would’ve expected coming into the season.
In Cleveland’s improbable comeback win versus the Boston Celtics on Saturday, when they were at one point down 19 and mustered only 38 first half points, Rubio made a number of crucial plays in the second half.
He shot just 4-of-17 and 2-of-8 from three overall, but Rubio did hit 6-of-6 free throws, and combined with Darius Garland and Evan Mobley, Rubio’s playmaking was instrumental. His lob feed to Jarrett Allen was such a heads-up play in the closing moments, too.
It’s of course unfortunate that Sexton suffered his meniscus injury, and Rubio appeared to helping Sexton in his progression as a cutter, for instance, but having Rubio still well in the fold will help Cleveland in the mean time, as KJG’s Zachary Shafron stressed.
Now, to reiterate, one shouldn’t anticipate Rubio to keep shooting from three and in the mid-range area how he’s been for the majority of the season, even with it still being early.
Granted, I do buy some of the pull-up touch he’s shown in pick-and-roll, but the deep shooting is starting to cool off, as one would imagine.
That said, if he can stay healthy, it’s apparent that the veteran point guard will still provide quite the playmaking lift for Cleveland when he’s in, and his chemistry with Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, Cedi Osman and others is improving night in and night out.
Rubio has also placed in the 90th percentile thus far in assist-to-usage ratio among combo guards this season, per Cleaning The Glass. In fairness, Rubio has forced it to cutters a bit at times, as he’s graded out in the 27th percentile in terms of turnover rate among combo guards, per Cleaning The Glass.
However, objectively, factoring in the defensive end, too, and him at least showing more viability as a driving scorer than I would’ve expected, he’s continued to give Cleveland even more than I would’ve thought coming into the year.
I acknowledge that Rubio is an expiring player, and is seemingly a potential trade piece, but if the Cavs keep themselves in the thick of things in the Eastern Conference, I’d definitely imagine that Cleveland would still keep him around. Perhaps following the season, even with him set to be 32 next season, he/his representation and the Cavaliers could come to an agreement on a reasonable deal; we’ll have to see.
Generally though, even with him cooling off as a shooter, at least to some extent here more, he’s still been great for the Cavs, all things considered. What an acquisition the veteran has been as a supersub-type guy, and that’s not discounting his leadership impact.