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Ricky Rubio Is the Missing Link for the Cleveland Cavaliers

Rubio is everything that the Cavs aren’t and everything that the Cavs need.

By Tony HeimPublished 7 years ago 4 min read
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Before I begin let me get one thing out of the way.

I’m very scared about this piece.

Since May I have written approximately 345,002,394,920 words about the Oklahoma City Thunder. I have written a solid zero about any other team. Luckily for me, and not so luckily for you, The Unbalanced has given me an opportunity to publish my non-Thunder takes.

Let’s get started.

Derrick Williams is not the answer for Cleveland. Kyle Korver is not the answer either. There’s no denying both guys have bolstered Cleveland’s depth and made them a better team, but let’s be realistic here.

Golden State turned Harrison Barnes into Kevin Durant. It is asinine to expect a couple bench players to make up for that discrepancy.

What Cleveland needs is a player who can play in the last two minutes of Game Seven. I hate to break it to all the Cavs fans out there, but 36-year old Richard Jefferson won’t suffice this year.

That’s where Ricky Rubio comes in.

Credit: Simple Wikipedia

Rubio is everything that the Cavs aren’t and everything that the Cavs need. They don’t need any more shooters. They don’t need another versatile wing. LeBron has even said it: they need a backup point guard.

Rubio isn’t a backup-talent, and he definitely wouldn’t be limited to backup minutes in Cleveland. So how could the Cavs work a trade for another starting-caliber player?

Enter: Iman Shumpert.

Cleveland already has one solid piece that Minnesota is interested in. Shumpert for Rubio straight up would never happen, but bringing in a third team could make the trade viable. You know, something like this.

Plus a future first rounder for Philly

Shumpert is a solid defender but his offensive inability keeps him out of crunch time. Jefferson has seemingly been replaced by 25-year-old Derrick Williams, so Cleveland isn’t losing anything too important in this deal. Plus what they gain in Rubio exceedingly outweighs any loss.

Remember how perfect Matthew Dellavedova was for Cleveland? He came off the bench to slow down Steph Curry at times. Turns out Rubio is an even better Curry-stopper than Delly.

And what Delly lacks in offensive talent, Rubio brings.

The beauty of Rubio as the backup point guard is that it gives Kyrie Irving an opportunity to play (i.e. dominate) against benches more. Think about it. With Rubio and Irving, Cleveland would have two starting caliber point guards. Why waste the supremely talented Irving solely against the best competition?

But the entire premise of this trade comes back to the last two minutes of Game Seven.

We know Golden State is going to roll out Curry-Thompson-Iguodala-Durant-Green. Cleveland had the recipe for last year’s Warriors, but this team is different. It’s not a guarantee that Tristan Thompson will be able to play in that type of perimeter game, so Cleveland’s crunch core solely consists of Irving-James-Love.

Irving has shown that he can guard Curry somewhat, but wouldn’t LeBron and Co. feel more comfortable with Rubio out on the frontline? And wouldn’t Kyrie be happier “guarding” Andre Iguodala’s offensive corpse?

Imagine this. Rubio on Steph. JR on Klay. Kyrie on Iggy. LBJ on KD. Love on Draymond. The Warriors will always have the pure talent advantage, let’s not be mistaken.

But if I’m a Cleveland fan, I haven’t seen another lineup that makes me as confident as this one. No player on the court has an unnatural advantage; that’s the closest thing you can hope for when playing against Golden State.

The beauty in all of this is I have yet to mention Rubio’s offensive game and what he could do for Cleveland. His passing ability and off-ball movement would add a different type of weapon to LeBron’s arsenal.

LBJ has shooters to feed on the perimeter. What he doesn’t have is someone who sees the game on his plane. Rubio does. Rubio and LeBron are a part of a rare breed who can sense a play happening five seconds before it starts. Combining those two IQ’s would create absolutely beautiful basketball.

Is this going to happen? Probably not. Should it happen? I think so.

The only thing I do know is that Cleveland cannot beat Golden State unless they add one more starting-caliber player to their roster — Rubio is that player.

basketball
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About the Creator

Tony Heim

Sam Presti Stan | Just trying to learn how to use 14% of my brain

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