Robin Lopez add should help Cavs depth in this way in 2022-23

The Cleveland Cavaliers‘ signing of Robin Lopez in 2022 free agency was one that was seemingly for insurance, having another veteran in the locker room and for playable depth to some extent.

Lopez was a veteran’s minimum signing via one-year deal, so it was not a move that was going to be a notable one. The same likely went for Raul Neto, another one-year signing for the veteran’s minimum. That was to bridge the gap for non-Darius Garland stretches until Ricky Rubio is back from injury, which will seemingly be in December or January.

With Lopez, he’s been a player that has bounced around in his career, of which has spanned 14 seasons thus far and Cleveland will be his ninth team. Last season, he played with the Orlando Magic, but only appeared in 36 outings, mostly because Orlando was wanting to get young guys the lion’s share of minutes, as they were a tanking team. The Magic would eventually land the top overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, and took Paolo Banchero, as an aside.

Other recent clubs Lopez has played for were the Washington Wizards in the season prior, the Milwaukee Bucks in 2019-20 and for the three years before that stop, he was with the Chicago Bulls. With Washington, Lopez had 9.0 points and 3.8 rebounds in 19.1 points per game with more of a role game-to-game, as he was in 71 outings then, and while the role was not nearly that, he did play in 66 games with Milwaukee the previous season.

As for the upcoming campaign with Cleveland, it’s probably safe to say that Lopez is not going to be an every-night-type player.

He’ll be in his age-34 season, and Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, and seemingly a bit with Kevin Love, are others involved, with Allen set to receive most of the 5 minutes. Mobley will likely get his chunk of time as a de facto backup 5, too, one would think.

A side benefit to the Lopez pickup, though, is that Lopez could be maybe more viable for stretches against more physical 5s in non-Allen minutes, and could enable Mobley to stick at the 4 in those instances.

That from Lopez could help the Cavs depth in those non-Allen minutes in some matchups, and Mobley would stand to benefit.

I know that Lopez is up there in age, and he’s not likely to regularly be playing over 15 minutes a game. Allen is fresh off a career, All-Star season, he showed growth offensively last season, and one can’t overstate his defensive impact.

In some bench stretches, however, it might behoove Cleveland to have Lopez in there compared to Mobley as a de facto 5. Mobley, for a rookie, did a more than respectable job in his starts at the 5 last season in its closing stretch, but against more traditional 5s, even after a full offseason to get stronger, he does have some issues. Also, it doesn’t allow Mobley to be as active off-ball in those instances.

In regards to the Lopez element, though he is hardly operating a lightspeed in his minutes, he is a 7-footer, and his 281-pound frame can carve out space for stretches offensively, and he can hold his own against those traditional 5s if needed. His veteran presence can aid others via defensive communication as well, and he should be a defensive glass cleaner based on position, I would think.

Generally, though, one of the main benefits to having Lopez in the fold is if needed, he should give Cleveland playable depth at the 5, more so to give Mobley a breather as well, but unlike say, Love, Lopez can provide some rim deterrence.

Granted, Mobley at the other end being able to have more playmaking opportunities and on-ball work, to some extent, can counteract things a bit. Mobley has played plenty at the 5 leading into the NBA, too. It’s just nice to be able to have a legit veteran option for some stretches, whereas in the non-Allen minutes last season, that wasn’t the case much, at least in my opinion.

So, as it pertains to Lopez, he should help the Cavs depth in that way, and for spurts, his hook shot touch, screening and interior scoring could give the offense a jolt here and there.

The Lopez signing was a nice move, despite it seemingly being a relative afterthought among the Cavs Twitterverse. That’s aside from how Lopez looks to be a fan favorite, that is.