The Cleveland Cavaliers need some help from Raul Neto

There haven’t been a boatload of meaningful minutes for Cleveland Cavaliers lead guard Raul Neto. He’s played 11.4 minutes per outing, and has appeared in eight of Cleveland’s 13 games played.

Coming into the season, the expectation wasn’t for him to be playing big minutes. Neto was a one-year, veteran’s minimum signing in the offseason, and Darius Garland was going to be handling the lion’s share of those duties.

Then adding to other guys that’d factor some into primary playmaking, the Cavaliers of course pulled off a blockbuster trade for Donovan Mitchell, one of the game’s top combo guards. Mitchell has been nothing short of phenomenal so far with his new squad, too.

So in short, Neto probably wasn’t going to be receiving a considerable chunk of minutes.

Most of the reasoning for the Neto signing was for him to be supplemental depth that could fill in for spurts until Ricky Rubio is back from his ACL injury, which could be in December and more likely January, seemingly.

In the mean time, Cleveland does need Neto to help fill in some to still aid Garland, and with Donovan Mitchell currently banged up, having missed the last game because of an ankle strain, Neto has to give the team some productive minutes.

The Cleveland Cavaliers need some help from Neto.

So that pegs the question, what has Neto given Cleveland thus far in his time out there? Well, it’s been somewhat of a mixed bag, and with limited time in there, one shouldn’t have lofty expectations.

Currently, Neto has had 3.6 points and 1.6 assists per contest, in the aforementioned sub-12 minutes he’s averaged. His effective field goal shooting clip has been 46.0, which is not fantastic, no, and would a career-low, is considerably lower than his career average eFG% of 51.8.

But in some of his time in, Neto has provided solid defense versus opposing guards for the Cavaliers, which was part of the rationale for his offseason pickup by the Wine and Gold, and he’ll help initiate meaningful ball movement in spurts. That said, there could be a bit more to be desired from him when he’s in there, and with Mitchell banged up, perhaps it’d behoove Cleveland to have Neto in a bit more, to give Garland fresher legs for later in games.

Neto is not going to be a high usage player in his minutes, however, when he was assertive in the past two seasons with the Washington Wizards, he demonstrated he can get to the basket and finish efficiently from sudden bursts, and change-of-pace on-ball. At least in some pick-and-roll situations with Jarrett Allen or Robin Lopez at times, perhaps we could see that from him upon him becoming more comfortable with his new Cavs teammates.

Well, objectively, if the veteran point guard can generate productive ball-swings in spurts for the Cavaliers, hit shooters from kickouts and mix in some runners, that could, over time, alleviate some burden on Garland. And I’d think that Neto could aid Mitchell, his former Utah Jazz teammate, in some stretches to come as well in helping create open looks and from some transition plays.

Now, will more minutes come for Neto in ensuing contests? It’s tough to say, and maybe after his 51-point explosion on Sunday night in Cleveland’s near-comeback versus the Minnesota Timberwolves, Garland is truly back, which would factor into Neto’s outlook. Caris LeVert has been a meaningful secondary playmaker as well, too, for what it’s worth.

Taking everything into account, though, while Neto was previously dealing with an ankle sprain, he’s been recovered for the past handful of games it seems, and in upcoming games, whether it’s his defense, supplemental playmaking or PnR initiating, some help from him would be meaningful throughout games. Easing the burden on DG a bit could play into Cleveland snapping their current four-game skid.

Whether Neto’s in there for legit stretches, and can find a rhythm, remains to be seen. Early on here, he hasn’t been able to make a difference much offensively, but the defense has been a positive.