Unlike several other Cavs bench guys, Robin Lopez’s role is clearly defined

Heading into the upcoming season, I’m not expecting Robin Lopez to regularly be playing a ton of minutes in games for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

When it comes to the 5 outlook, the vast majority of the time, one would assume Jarrett Allen will be filling that role. Allen is fresh off a career season, and he has immense defensive value for the Cavaliers, and for some stretches, Evan Mobley will likely fill in at the 5 for Cleveland, too.

Both of those players affect games in a variety of ways for the Cavaliers, and both are crucial players for the Cavs looking onward.

That said, for some stretches, albeit somewhat matchup-depending, I do still believe that Lopez can be useful for Cleveland.

Sure, he’s up there at 34, and Lopez is set to enter his 15th season, of which Cleveland will be his ninth NBA team in his career. But, as opposed to some other bench pieces, Lopez’s role does seem to be very clear, for when he’s in there.

Unlike some other Cavs bench players, Lopez’s role looks to be clearly defined.

Lopez is probably not an every-game sort of guy, and as we noted, he’s no spring chicken. He was objectively a one-year, veteran’s minimum signing this offseason.

Even still, Lopez can give Cleveland competent minutes as a true backup 5 at this point, and for a few spurts in contests, he can give Allen a breather, and could be more viable still versus physical 5s. He’ll be a meaningful screening presence as a burly 7-footer for Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell on-ball, and could help out off-ball shooters in his minutes, also.

On the interior, Lopez can still carve out space to get to post-ups, where he’s mastered his variation of hook shots, and as a roller, he’s able to connect on his share of push shots as well.

His interior play is somewhat unorthodox, but he can give the Cavaliers a meaningful threat for spurts in that way, and while he’s not the lob threat of Allen or Mobley, he’s a capable below-the-rim finisher in a rotational sense. Sure, 7.1 and before 9.0 points per outing the last two seasons with the Orlando Magic and previously Washington Wizards doesn’t jump out, but when he’s been in there, his interior offense has been a bright spot.

As far as the other end, while some matchups he’s not going to be particularly viable off the bench, Lopez seems to be a good communicator, and with his frame, he can provide some rotational rim protection still. His blocks per-36 minutes the past two seasons with Washington and Orlando was not especially notable at 1.2 and 1.1, although he can alter shots still in a meaningful manner in the paint.

So, as we hinted at, unlike some other Cavs bench guys, the role for Lopez is clearly defined, despite some limitations, admittedly.

For other guys in that regard, it’s uncertain as to whether or not Caris LeVert or Isaac Okoro will start at the 3 for Cleveland, and Dean Wade could possibly be in the running there; I’d personally be in favor of that, as an aside. Perhaps Lamar Stevens could maybe be in the cards there as well.

Either way, with those players, it’s not as clear as to what their roles will be there, and/or where they could fill in more at. LeVert, for what it’s worth, could seemingly be a key playmaker off the bench for stretches, and if that were to occur, would Raul Neto fill in still until Ricky Rubio is back from injury? There’s something that will have to theoretically be ironed out.

From there, does Cedi Osman factor into things? Do Wade and Stevens more so just have defensive specialist minutes? All of these sort of questions we’re hinting at will have to be answered in due time, I would think.

Conversely, Kevin Love’s role off the bench as a crucial scorer/shooter seems defined, and when he is back, Rubio’s does.

But circling back, while he’s not always going to be involved, in matchups where Cleveland does utilize Lopez, his role seems clearly defined, and for stretches, I do think he can help out the Cavs’ depth.