Depleted Cavs should again still go with Ricky Rubio off bench

Many teams are dealing with players being in the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols, reportedly because of the omicron variant for most cases. The Cleveland Cavaliers are no exception, with seven players currently in protocols, including the likes of Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and Isaac Okoro.

As a result, the Cavaliers are a severely shorthanded bunch right now, and based on new league rules implemented for teams in coming weeks, the Cavs signed three players to 10-day hardship exception deals in Justin Anderson, Luke Kornet and Tre Scott.

Cleveland being without a number of key guys leading into January hurts, particularly after they had won six straight games prior to their loss at the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, but hopefully this doesn’t linger too much into January. Cleveland started two-way contributor Tacko Fall at the 5 on Wednesday, which was his first career NBA start, and players such as Kevin Pangos and Denzel Valentine played a chunk of meaningful minutes, by default.

The Cavs can’t be expecting much from those types of guys, but in upcoming games, a slight tweak that might help the group is going with Ricky Rubio as a supersub-type guy, as had occurred on most occasions this season.

It’s not necessarily a huge difference, as Rubio will be getting starting minutes either way, but in this upcoming batch of games, I do believe it’d help the overall group.

The depleted Cavs should still go with Rubio off the bench in this batch of games ahead.

Obviously, Rubio is still a very capable playmaker, and throughout his career, where he’s been mostly a solid starter, that’s been on display. However, I credit Rubio for his buy-in this season, when he’s typically come off the bench as a supersub-type contributor.

Even since Collin Sexton has been ruled out for the season, that’s been the role Rubio has fulfilled; there have been some spot starts, sure. And with Isaac Okoro currently in COVID-19 health and safety protocols, Cleveland had Rubio starting along Darius Garland versus Boston, and he could presumably have some other starts in upcoming games.

Nonetheless, while Rubio will receive a starting minutes-share regardless, it’s apparent that Cleveland should still have him come off the bench, even with the group depleted. It’s tough to read a ton into one game, where Cleveland hadn’t been practicing much coming in, and Boston controlled it much of the way.

Even still, Rubio, who was 2-of-12 in that one, has fared far better when he has come off the bench, given the energy he provides, and to me, it allows the Rubio-Kevin Love pairing to give the team more of a spark throughout contests.

Granted, to reiterate, I know Rubio will likely still play 27-31 minutes in upcoming games, whether or not he starts or comes off the bench. But allowing him to come in, and at times control games against bench contributors, too, particularly with Love in there, has been big for the Cavaliers.

And while he has shot better from deep when he’s started, Rubio having 4.3 turnovers per outing when starting this season, and having a plus-minus of minus-5.8, compared to only 2.3 turnovers and a plus-minus of plus-7.5 is meaningful. He’s had a bit more assists off the bench (6.7 per game) than as a starter (6.0) as well, in part due to Garland not being on the floor with him for stretches, clearly.

In fairness, Rubio and Garland as a two-man pairing have a robust plus-minus overall this season at plus-5.7; however, that’s often been with Rubio being a reserve in games.

Additionally, in this batch of games coming up here, with guys currently still in protocols, I’d prefer Rubio to be fresher in games later on, and to me, in instances he’s starting, that’s not nearly the case as much.

As an alternative, while normally I do not want him starting, with Okoro still out, I’d prefer Cedi Osman to start at the 2, and perhaps they still play him near half of games, and Cleveland decides on lineups as the games progress in the second half.

The point is, to keep Rubio fresher, and to maybe keep his great bench two-man game going with Kevin Love, Cleveland should again have Rubio come off the bench still, with them being a depleted bunch. Him and Garland will still get their share of minutes together in the mean time, but I think as games wear on, getting Osman and Garland some minutes at the 1-2 could help Rubio more, as opposed to him starting from the jump.

Now, Rubio has been invaluable for Cleveland this season, and has proven to be a great offseason trade acquisition from the Minnesota Timberwolves, seemingly both on the floor as a key reserve, and also as a leadership presence. It’s understandable how some within the organization have reportedly had internal discussions about possibly extending the expiring Rubio, too, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, who touched on that in a recent episode of the HoopsHype Podcast with reporter Michael Scotto.

On the subject of these interim lineups though, I just like how Rubio’s been as a supersub player here, and I’d prefer in these next set of games they stick with that call. He can potentially be involved in closing lineups, anyway.