5 Cavaliers players who will be much better next season

Ricky Rubio will be much better next season

We come to the third of our injured veterans, and the one with the greatest gulf between how he was expected to play and how he actually performed. Two seasons ago, Ricky Rubio was a revelation for Cleveland. He averaged a career-best 13.1 points per game as Darius Garland’s backup, often playing alongside him in two-guard lineups that absolutely roasted teams.

Then Rubio tore his ACL, and he was traded only to come back in free agency. It was expected coming in that Rubio’s return would not come until well into the season, and indeed he sat out recovering until January and played in just 33 games down the stretch of the regular season.

Rubio was bad in those 33 games. His shot never came around, with Rubio’s lack of burst gaining separation and lift shooting jumpers contributed to an anemic 34.3 percent from the field and 25.6 percent from deep. In his 17 playoff minutes he shot just one time. Rubio was barely playable as a backup point guard this season, let alone a Sixth Man of the Year candidate as he was in 2021-22.

It may take players around a year to come back from an ACL tear, but it’s longer than that until they are back to normal. With an offseason to more fully recover and train he should be a much better player next season,, a more worthy backup to Garland and Donovan Mitchell in the backcourt.