3 lineups the Cavaliers can deploy with Ricky Rubio

Potential Rubio lineup No. 3: Rubio-Mitchell-Dean Wade-Mobley-Allen

This lineup involves the Rubio-Mitchell backcourt, the Mobley-Allen frontcourt and Dean Wade, when he’s back from an AC joint sprain, would be involved at the 3.

Rubio and Mitchell are the initiators here from the perimeter, which could result in a plethora of quality two-man games between them and Allen, who has shown growth with his passing in 4-on-3 situations. That could lead to over the top feeds to Mobley via big-to-big passes, too.

With the front and backcourt pairings in this lineup, when he’s back from injury, Wade could be a great player to slot in as a quality perimeter shooter as well. Wade has connected on 41.1 percent of his threes this year thus far, albeit in 17 games, as he’s dealt with multiple injuries.

However, what stood out from this potential lineup was how Cleveland could utilize four impact defenders with length here in Rubio, Wade, Mobley and Allen, and those players all can thrive in secondary transition capitalizing on their defense. That’s an area where the Cavs’ disruption could definitely ignite the team in games, and of course, Mitchell’s always a great threat in transition on-ball, as a trailing shooter or situational cutter.

There’s tons of possible lineups where Rubio could slot in and make a big difference in his minutes for Cleveland looking onward, but J.B. Bickerstaff and company will have to find ways to get Rubio comfortable in a rotational sense. It’s going to be a storyline to pay close attention to, anyways.

Regardless, it’s great that Rubio is close to a return for the Cavaliers.