Cavs’ Robin Lopez pickup could be a steal for this season

I get it, the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ free agency signings of bringing back Ricky Rubio, and then signing Raul Neto and Robin Lopez via veteran’s minimum one-year deals wasn’t going to be drawings oohs and aahs.

Rubio can still be a boost for the teams’ playmaking if he can come back and be some of what he was pre-injury for Cleveland last season, though, and Neto and Lopez are capable vets. Neto benefited from having more opportunities to make things happen in the past two seasons with the Washington Wizards, and Lopez is a player that can be valuable depth for Cleveland.

To me, the Lopez signing was one that might be flying under-the-radar among Cavaliers fans, too, as he’s a player that does have ample postseason experience, and his offense is somewhat underrated.

I get that he’s up there in age at 34, and Cleveland will be his ninth team in what will be 15 seasons, but the Lopez pickup could be an impact one for the Wine and Gold, in the grand scheme.

The Cavs’ Lopez pickup could end up being a steal for this season ahead.

Lopez was not given a ton of chances to make his imprint on games with the Orlando Magic last season, as he was active in only 36 appearances.

Orlando was a club that was looking to get young guys more meaningful minutes, and with them in the tank, it was understandable. The Magic eventually were able to land the No. 1 selection in this year’s draft, too, which ended up resulting in them going with Paolo Banchero.

Lopez is a player that could aid the Cavaliers this coming season, though, and played fairly well for Orlando. While he’s not going to be an every-game-type of player at this point, he’ll be playable depth for Cleveland and should help preserve Jarrett Allen, and to some extent, Evan Mobley.

Lopez was able to give the Washington Wizards a lift in the 2020-21 campaign, and had 9.0 points and 3.8 rebounds in 19.1 minutes per outing, in what amounted to 71 appearances then. And despite his role not being prominent, he was able to give the Milwaukee Bucks some energy minutes the season prior in filling in for his brother, Brook Lopez, in stretches.

In his three seasons with the Chicago Bulls prior to Milwaukee, he was a capable interior presence in starts, for further context.

Generally speaking, with Allen and Mobley in the fold, Lopez isn’t going to be playing a boatload of minutes regularly with Cleveland this coming season. But when he is in games, he’ll give the Cavaliers a legit depth 5, which was something that could’ve made a difference last season, and if needed, Lopez could do alright in spot starts here and there.

Lopez is not a stretch big, however, he is a low post presence that Cleveland can go to periodically, has perfected hook shots, can make push shots as a roller consistently, and his 7-foot, 281-pound frame and timing can definitely carve out space as a screener for Darius Garland and others. His former Wizards teammate in Raul Neto and him could be a nice two-man game for some bench spurts, too, in that regard.

So, factoring in the minimal compensation in this sense with the Lopez signing, and with some rotational rim protection involved for spurts/a few stretches in games, I could foresee Lopez being a steal for 2022-23 for Cleveland.

He’ll be a meaningful leadership presence as well for the Cavaliers, has the makings of a fan favorite, and again, should be nice depth/insurance for the Wine and Gold to have, particularly for some matchups against more physical 5s. He could provide an offensive jolt at times, too, as an interior presence, and he could help Allen keep fine-tuning his paint offense and screening/rolling.

This Lopez signing could pan out as a nice value one for Cleveland.