Who are the Cavs’ 3 best passers entering the 2022-23 season?

The 3 best Cavs’ passers entering 2022-23 – No. 1: Ricky Rubio

For the top Cavaliers’ passer heading into the 2022-23 campaign, I have to go with Ricky Rubio here.

To get this out of the way, it’s not a certainty as to when we could see Rubio back in action for the Wine and Gold. He’s progressing in his recovery from a torn ACL in his left knee from last December, and while that was the second ACL tear in that left knee for him, if he can keep recovering steadily, he could seemingly be back for the season’s second half, feasibly. Perhaps we could see him back in December.

Upon his return, he could still make a big impact for the Cavaliers this season in a supersub-type role once again, of which he was mostly in in his 34 appearances following his trade acquisition last offseason from the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Simply put, Rubio has long been one of the NBA’s best passers, as he demonstrated in his two stints with Minnesota, the first of which he played plenty with Love, and at his other stops with the Jazz and Phoenix Suns, Rubio did so as well.

For his career, Rubio has had 7.6 assists per contest, and in his 34 appearances last year with Cleveland pre-injury, he had 6.6 helpers per game in mostly a supersub role. It was understandable why the Cavaliers reunited with Rubio this offseason, even with the injury and after his then-expiring contract was moved in the Caris LeVert trade involving the Indiana Pacers last season.

Rubio’s creativity as a passer allows rollers to always be in-play, for one. His pick-and-pop feel, especially in sequences with Love, can give the Cavaliers quite a lift upon his return, too, to counter his lob dishes to other bigs.

Along with the interior passing and pick-and-roll vision aiding the interior, Rubio’s dimes thrown in the transition game brought a new element to the Cavs’ offense last year in various lineups, and in secondary break situations, his timing for hitting trailers is so impressive.

And in set offense, his ambidextrous hook passing in firing to the perimeter puts defenders in a bind, and his ability to manipulate rotators with ball fakes, behind-the-back feeds to cutters and shooters leads to incredible opportunities for other Cavaliers.

With the body of work, vision, creativity and his impeccable timing, I have to go with Rubio as Cleveland’s top passer heading into this season. Garland is a close second, but not having Rubio there would be a sizeable slight to him. Through 11 seasons, Rubio having a 7.6-to-2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio is pretty damn solid, too.