When the Cleveland Cavaliers and Robin Lopez agreed to terms on a one-year, veteran’s minimum deal last week, it was not a noteworthy signing to many, if anybody, necessarily. Lopez has been a big that’s bounced around in his career, and particularly, in recent seasons.
Last year, Lopez had 7.1 points and 3.5 rebounds in 17.0 minutes per contest with the Orlando Magic, and with them in a full-rebuild and wanting younger guys to get the lion’s share of minutes, Lopez only was active in 36 games. 2021-22 was Lopez’s 14th season, and he is now 34 years old, for context.
Next season, I do believe that he can very well be a nice rotational contributor player to have for the Cavaliers, though. He won’t be an every game-type of contributor, with the likes of Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley, and to some extent, Kevin Love involved.
But I would think that Lopez will receive some meaningful minutes still and function as a playable depth piece and, still in a decent share of matchups, fill in as a backup 5 for Allen.
He was solid with the Washington Wizards in 2020-21 with a more consistent role, and had 9.0 points and 3.8 rebounds per outing in 71 appearances. For his career, he’s had 8.7 points and 4.9 rebounds in 21.9 minutes per contest, with the Cavs now being his ninth team to come.
As a veteran presence and a guy who seems to have been an exemplary teammate throughout his NBA career, Lopez I think could really help players such as Mobley, Lauri Markkanen and Allen, perhaps, too, among other younger guys.
Allen is fresh off a career season where he had career-bests in points and rebounds per outing with 16.1 and 10.8, respectively, and he, along with Darius Garland, repped the then-hometown Cavaliers in the 2022 All-Star Game. Even still, I could foresee Lopez helping Allen continue to improve, on the offensive end, in particular.
Lopez can help Allen round out his offensive game more for the Cavs next season.
Allen is not a guy that’s going to have the offensive upside of Mobley, by comparison, from here. Allen is going to be a hyper-efficient roller/dive threat, make things happen from cuts, and he’ll still generate putbacks. The point is, he is still a player that’s likely to score more often from off-ball play.
That being said, Allen has shown since he was acquired via trade from the Brooklyn Nets in early 2021 that his offense can steadily improve over time. There were some signs of that with more opportunities with the Cavaliers as the 2020-21 campaign wore on, and last season, Allen demonstrated further growth in creating for himself.
Allen’s touch on push shots as a cutter took a step forward it seemed, and he made some plays as an occasional driver against opposing bigs.
Additionally, Allen’s post-up play, and interior positioning to get open with seals in set offense and at times in secondary transition took a step forward. Allen made strides in taking advantage after entry feeds from Darius Garland and others in that area, and as we touched on earlier, Lopez could help Allen take another step forward offensively in making plays for himself.
I’m not suggesting the volume is going to be nearly that of the playtype for Lopez, but Lopez can help Allen continue to get better with his hook shots and some with his low-post feel. Allen showed marketed growth in converting hooks with both hands last season, and with his push shot touch.
Lopez has been among the league’s best in recent seasons in his execution on hooks, though, and while the flat-footed nature of those often for him is odd, he could give Allen some pointers still as far as positioning, and rotation on those shots.
Lopez could also help Allen a bit when it comes to face-up finishes at times below the rim otherwise.
That’s an area where Allen displayed some positive strides with touch last season when above the rim plays were seemingly not there, but with Lopez’s craftiness in those situations, I believe Allen could benefit from his advice for those situations somewhat as well.
And lastly, while it’s not a huge area of concern, at times, Allen could be more physical when he has mismatches off-ball to get touches at times. That’s not always on him, however, with how physical Lopez is, despite their size disparity in terms of weight, I do still think with how Allen has gotten stronger in recent seasons, Lopez could help him be more forceful still, too, for what it’s worth.
So, despite it not being a splashy signing, I do think Lopez can be a productive interior presence for stretches, and the 24-year-old Allen could benefit from Lopez in regards to helping him round out his offensive game below the rim more.
Allen was impressive in his fifth season last year offensively overall, but he can take that a step further, and a vet like Lopez, who’s seemingly been an incredible teammate everywhere he’s been, could make a difference there this next season.