2 pros, 1 con of Ty Jerome being regularly involved in Cavs rotation
By Dan Gilinsky
The biggest con: Lack of Rubio opportunities and/or him entirely out of the picture
The downside to Jerome being regularly involved in Cleveland’s rotation would seemingly be Rubio given the axe.
Rubio did not look like himself last season, as he had 5.2 points per game, and connected on just 25.6 percent of his three-point attempts; his effective field goal shooting clip was only 40.2. He played a career-low 17.2 minutes per contest, and his assist splits were down to 3.5 helpers per game in that time.
One had to have tempered expectations for him last season, as Rubio was coming off his ACL injury from December 2021, and upon him signing back with Cleveland last offseason, he was still going to miss a significant chunk of the 2022-23 season for recovery. That factored heavily into his ineffectiveness last season.
So, with a full offseason to get more in-game and for further recovery, it’s not far-fetched to believe Rubio can bounce back and have a solid 2023-24 campaign.
Rubio’s on-floor leadership is still meaningful for this Cleveland group, and if he gets his pull-up game going to some degree, and if his playmaking is more on-point, as it has so often been in his career, he could be back, per se. In theory, perhaps that’d be demonstrated come the playoffs, too, and the same goes for his defensive impact.
While Jerome might end up being a better option due to his shooting, off-ball play and him being much younger, at 26, Rubio’s craftiness could still be worth having involved more, potentially.
If not, though, Rubio, who turns 33 in October, could feasibly end up being a possible trade piece at some point down the road. And Rubio has seemingly been a name involved in trade rumors already, even.