The Cleveland Cavaliers look to have an emerging star in Darius Garland, who looks to be their answer at starting lead guard for the foreseeable future.
Garland followed up his bounce-back campaign from 2020-21 with an All-Star season in his third year, and was one of the crucial reasons why Cleveland doubled its win total in 2021-22. Garland had 21.7 points and 8.6 assists per contest in Year 3, and even with a potential production dip overall next season, with others involved and the team hopefully being healthier, he looks to have full command from here.
The gist is, the Cavaliers have a heck of a young guard in Darius Garland, and it does seem highly likely for now that the Cavaliers could bring Collin Sexton back, and he could be around long term. It’s not a certainty, but it does appear that could very well be the case.
As the year progressed, Sexton’s absence for most of the season because of his meniscus tear put even more of the onus on Garland. Injuries to Lauri Markkanen (ankle sprain) before the All-Star break, and Caris LeVert later on (foot sprain) and Jarrett Allen (finger fracture) didn’t help the team and Garland, either, for what it’s worth, and hopefully, Sexton recovers fully in due time without setbacks.
When it comes to the backup 1 spot, though, it is apparent that the Cavaliers need to find Garland help there.
Sexton, if he’s back, can help be a primary playmaker, to some extent, for stretches, but it’s logical that the Cavaliers are rumored to have interest in guys such as Ricky Rubio, Tyus Jones and Delon Wright.
Potential draft prospects such as TyTy Washington Jr., involving Cleveland’s #14 pick in the upcoming draft, and Dalen Terry and Andrew Nembhard, seemingly at #39, are players Cleveland reportedly could consider, too. Another second-round target I’d be a fan of for playmaking depth would be Alondes Williams, as a combo guard-type guy as well, along with say, Marcus Sasser as a lead guard.
Circling back, I just wanted to touch more on Rubio here, however, when it comes to possible veteran guys that can provide primary faciliation help. There seems to be a significant contingent of the Cavaliers fan base that would be big fans of a potential Rubio return, and I fully understand the reasoning there.
Rubio, who was a trade acquisition from the Minnesota Timberwolves last offseason, was terrific for the Wine and Gold in the first two-plus months of this season when he was in there. He had what would’ve tied for a career-high with 13.1 points per contest, to go with 6.6 assists per game, and that was in mostly a supersub-type role.
Then, in what was another gut-wrencher for Cleveland, Rubio was lost because of a torn ACL, which occurred in a late December loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Cavaliers blew a big lead in that one, which even shorthanded stung a bit, but the loss of Rubio to what looked immediately like a significant injury really was crushing.
Rubio, well his expiring contract then, was later moved as part of the package Cleveland sent to the Indiana Pacers near the deadline for Caris LeVert, and Rubio is now set to be an unrestricted free agent. As we stated, there could possibly be a Rubio return, too.
The Cavs just have to be objective here, when it comes to that possibility.
A potential Rubio reunion would be enticing, but the Cavs can’t bank on an encore.
First, I’ll touch on how Rubio was outstanding when he was in there this season for Cleveland, and I acknowledge that, so we’ll touch on the positive.
Rubio exceeded expectations with Cleveland, so that’s part of the rationale for a potential return
Rubio, as we alluded to, was better than anybody could’ve anticipated in his time with Cleveland this season. Now, maybe part of it was the Cavaliers looking to give him more of a green light as a shooter than in other situations, I’m not totally sure on that, but he did provide more of a scoring lift than one could’ve expected.
The red-hot three-point shooting from Rubio came back down to earth as there were was a larger sample as time went on prior to his season-ending injury, in fairness.
He started out hitting 37.1 percent of his three-point attempts in his first 17 appearances of the season, and then in his 17 appearances, that clip was just 29.9 percent. His scoring went from 15.0 to 11.2, as a result.
For the nearly-half-season he played with Cleveland, his three-point shooting clip was then 33.9 percent.
On the plus side, Rubio’s playmaking in his minutes, his defensive work, particularly off-ball, and his floor generalship and leadership, seemingly both on and off the floor, were invaluable to the Cavaliers. Rubio had 1.4 steals per contest with Cleveland, and has had 1.8 per game for his career, and still 1.5 over the past nearly 3.5 seasons with the Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns, Wolves and Cavs.
He’s a decent rebounding guard, too, and as we highlighted, his leadership was huge for the Wine and Gold in his time with them, and him being around assuredly made a difference for Garland as a leader. Rubio’s chemistry with Kevin Love dating back to their Minnesota days helped as a boost for the bench, too.
With those things in mind, I get why there’s been rumors of a potential Rubio return.
All of that being said, as I mentioned, the Cavs can’t be banking on an encore from Rubio, in terms of the overall on-floor impact. The main reasoning for that is the injury, clearly, and the Cavaliers would need to make other accommodations prior to his return.
It’s uncertain when Rubio will really be back, and the Cavs can’t bank on an encore
Rubio could be back, best-case scenario one would assume, in November/December, but that seems overly optimistic. And Rubio tore the ACL in this same left knee back in 2012, in his first Timberwolves stint.
I don’t doubt that Rubio will continue to get after it in rehab, however, the dude will be entering his age-32 season ahead, and what will be his 12th season to come. So, needless to say, he could seemingly end up being back in January, or potentially February.
The Cavaliers would have to be realistic in their outlook here as well, in thinking it’d take Rubio a some chunk of playing to get back into game shape, no matter what role he has, and just generally, the team can’t expect a near-encore level of impact from him.
Maybe I’m wrong and being too pessimistic, and objectively, Rubio is not a player whose game is largely predicted on athleticism. That’s more of the rationale in regards to possibly why the Cavaliers should definitely bring Rubio back, feasibly via the non-taxpayer mid-level exception near $10 million/year annually for maybe two years, or part of that MLE.
I just have questions about how long it will take for Rubio to truly be back, and be able to establish a rhythm next season, and the Cavs can’t honestly be thinking he’ll have nearly the same impact as last year, albeit with more guys involved this go-round.
And if the Cavs do elect to bring Rubio back, the team would need to add a third lead guard presence, via the upcoming draft or maybe they consider bringing Brandon Goodwin, who was on a two-way deal this season, back in some capacity next season. I have my doubts on that, though, and Rajon Rondo won’t be back it seems, and could seemingly retire.
As far as the overarching point here, I’d probably rather the Cavaliers go a different direction for backup point guard than Rubio, but we’ll see.