5 point guards the Cavs could sign to back up Darius Garland
5 point guards the Cavs could sign: Raul Neto
For our final point guard option, we could have gone for a purely offense-first player, such as Patty Mills or Isaiah Thomas, but that doesn’t seem to be the direction this team is likely to go. Instead, the Cavs will almost certainly want a plus-defender backing up Garland; that’s been the common theme for all five options on the list.
Raul Neto is the version of that player who could be available for the minimum. He found a home in Washington the past two seasons, backing up Russell Westbrook and Spencer Dinwiddie and starting 41 games across the two seasons when the starters were either hurt (Russ) or traded (Dinwiddie).
Neto is a career 36.6 percent 3-point shooter, but he hit only 29.2 percent last season; that’s the red flag and what will likely keep his market suppressed. That being said he is a steady hand and can facilitate the ball well enough. Where Neto is particularly helpful is on the defensive end; he plays hard every possession and has a robust steal rate. He’s the kind of player to bring in if the Cavs either sign Ricky Rubio and need a stop-gap, or decide to commit to Collin Sexton and Caris LeVert long-term and have less of a need for a high-level backup point guard.
Next. 3 players the Cavs can sign with the Mid-Level Exception. dark
The Cavs aren’t going to “run it back” with Rajon Rondo and Brandon Goodwin. They learned a lesson two seasons ago that you need a reliable backup point guard for when injuries strike, but their solution to that last season, Ricky Rubio, didn’t last the year. Now they enter another postseason knowing they need to address the situation with a reliable option; could it be one of these five players?