Danny Cunningham covers the Cleveland Cavaliers for 850 ESPN Cleveland and thelandondemand.comThe Cavs have had a number of issues with health so far this season. The injuries started night one when All-Star guard Darius Garland suffered a lacerated eye lid against Toronto and missed the next two weeks.
Since then, Kevin Love, Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen, Dean Wade, and Lamar Stevens have all missed some sort of time due to injury or illness. The team hasn’t had as much of a chance as anyone would like to build continuity on the floor.
In fact, the Cavs haven’t been whole all season, partly due to the fact that reserve guard Ricky Rubio hasn’t stepped foot on the court during game action. That looks like it will be changing sometime, soon, however.
Rubio, who is recovering from a torn ACL in his left knee that occurred at the end of last December, recently received clearance from the medical team to partake in five-on-five activities, Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after practice on Thursday.
“He’s going to start doing more and more. More five-on-five and those types of things. He’s been given the green light to do that,” Bickerstaff said. Now it’s the progression that he has to go through to get ready to play in an NBA game. It’s something we won’t rush. But he’s heading in the right direction.”
Throughout the season, Rubio has been seen taking part in workouts following practices or shootarounds for the Cavs. Lately, he’s been put through intense on-court workouts prior to games at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse as he ramps up his return-to-play process. He’s also been seen going through shooting drills and playing one-on-one at Cleveland Clinic Courts.
Five-on-five is the next step for him to get back on the floor when the games count for the Cavs.
“It’s the conditioning in five-on-five, it’s being able to be bumped in five-on-five and then being able to react without hesitation. It’s the transitions of defensive slides to running up the floor and all of those things that we don’t do in everyday life that are basketball necessary,” Bickerstaff said. “He’s got to get to a place where he’s comfortable with that. It’s too important and he’s too important to rush it. But he’s taking steps in the right direction.”
Even while Rubio has been off the floor during the games, he’s still been someone that members of the team have been able to lean on for advice and information. He’s seen on a regular basis sitting on the team’s bench during games.
“He has a super high basketball IQ, he loves the game, always giving guys pointers, suggestions, and things like that,” Cavs reserve Caris LeVert said on Thursday. “I know he's super excited to get back. We're all excited for him.”
As Rubio’s return grows closer to reality, thinking about how he can impact the team becomes pertinent. It’s unfair to expect him to be the same guy he was prior to his injury in terms of his impact on the game right away. That’s something that’s going to take time, if he’s ever able to return to that level.
Rubio’s presence in uniform will be able to immediately help the Cavaliers in a couple of areas, however. First and foremost, the Cavaliers will be able to save the legs of both Mitchell and Garland. Garland is playing just a shade under 36 minutes per night, the 12
th most in the league and Mitchell is fourth in the NBA at 36.7 minutes per game. For the Cavaliers to be playing their best at the end of the season, which is a started goal, those numbers will likely need to come down.
Rubio being on the floor will do that for the Cavaliers. Right now, they don’t ever have the floor without one of Garland or Mitchell while the game’s outcome is still in the balance. They struggle to survive when both those guys are on the bench. When Rubio returns, that is something that could change, even if for two or three minutes a night, it would make a difference.
The other thing that could immediately change is the play of LeVert. He’s been very up and down this season, bouncing between a number of different roles that have included being a defensive stopper in the starting lineup, the second option on the perimeter when Garland was out, and now, the team’s sixth man off the bench. It can be hard to find consistency when that’s happening.
That could change when Rubio returns.
“I think Ricky is a pass-first guard, kinda ball mover, who will be in the second unit as well,” LeVert said on Thursday. “Like I said, he has an extremely high basketball IQ, he's seen a lot of basketball, played a lot of basketball. I'm really anxious to play beside him and also pick his brain a little bit, too.”
Lately, LeVert has started to change the way he plays a little bit. Since LeVert’s move to the bench, the areas he’s attacking defenses offensively have changed. Prior to moving to the second unit, LeVert had been shooting more from the mid-range and the non-restricted area of the paint and shooting poorly in those areas. On the 1.1 mid-range attempts per game, LeVert was shooting just 6.3%. On three non-restricted area attempts from the paint, LeVert was making only 33.3% according to
NBA.com.
LeVert has been creating better opportunities for himself at the rim since coming off the bench. While the attempts have dropped, partially due to his total number of shot attempts declining from 11.5 per game to 7.3 per game, he is shooting better in the restricted area, making 61.5% of those attempts.
Now, LeVert has severely cut down on how frequently he’s taking inefficient 2-point shots while increasing his output from 3-point range. The issue, however, is that he’s not connecting on enough of them. Since moving to the bench, LeVert is shooting just 33.3% on corner 3-pointers and 22.2% on above the break 3-pointers.
Furthermore, LeVert is shooting only 25.1% on catch-and-shoot 3-point looks since moving to the bench. That’s severely down from the 38.9% he was making as a starter. Pairing him with Rubio in the second unit could be something that helps to get him going in that area.
Having Rubio alongside LeVert could also help the spacing on the floor. Part of the reason that LeVert has been getting better looks at the rim is an increased determination to get downhill. LeVert credits the lineup he’s playing with for that being able to happen.
“I think it has more so to do with the lineup that we have in the game. I think when we are two bigs with Ev and JA, they do a great job of being in the paint and finishing everything in the paint, but I think in the second unit we usually go a little bit smaller and the spacing is a little different,” LeVert said. “I think there's more lanes to drive and get to the rim.”
Quick hitsThe Cavaliers will be squaring off with former head coach Mike Brown on Friday night as Sacramento comes to town. Brown was head coach of the Cavaliers on two different occasions, leading the franchise to consecutive 60+ win seasons in 2009 and 2010 at the end of his first stint (2005-10). Brown then spent a couple of years as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers before returning to lead the Cavs to a 33-49 record in 2013-14.
Brown and Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff do have a relationship that dates far back.
“He’s a big brother, a mentor, a friend, somebody I admire and look up to. He is one of the handful of guys in this league that when he says something he means it and he’s going to do it and there’s always follow through,” Bickerstaff said. “He worked for my dad, I think I was 13 years old when he started working for my dad. I used to bust his ass in 1 on 1 and he will lie and tell you it was the opposite. But big brother, friend. I don’t know what else you want to call it but he’s that.”
There’s a new line of potato chips out there as Garland recently unveiled his line. He had a bag with him during his media availability on Thursday. The chips are available for purchase at Heinen’s.
When the Cavs take on the Kings on Friday night, they’ll be without forward Kevin Love, as he was ruled out on Thursday with low back soreness. Mitchell is also dealing with soreness in his right leg, as he’s been listed as questionable.
