Ricky Rubio’s time with the Cavs and the NBA are up | Cleveland Cavaliers podcast

Ricky Rubio’s time with the Cavs and the NBA are up | Cleveland Cavaliers podcast

Ricky Rubio’s time with the Cavs is done do the Cavs have to make a move now or is the answer already on the roster we’ll answer that and more on today’s locked on Cavs are locked on Cavs your daily Cleveland Cavaliers podcast today’s episode is brought to you by

FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 money line bet that is 150 bucks if your team wins visit fanduel.com lockon to get started I am Chris Manning that is Evan damal thanks again to Jake Stevens

As always for his work on the production side Today’s Show is all about One Ricky Rubio the Cavs have bought out his contract he has issued a statement that without really revealing specifics which obviously his right Ricky Rubio is leaving the NBA does not seem like he is going to play professional basketball

Again at least in the NBA we will see where his life his career goes all the best to Ricky the Cavs of issue to statement Kobe Alman praising him and and thanking him and wishing him all the best I think the whole NBA world is wishing her the best we’ll get to the

Basketball part of this later in the show but I Ian I think it’s appropriate to start with the human side of it and and really ask like when you saw this come through you saw this news come through on Thursday morning what was your initi reaction where’s your head ey

With it so uh I don’t know if the title of this episode is also byebye Ricky um but Chris titled this document bye-bye Ricky and this is before I get serious um always makes me think of that episode of Pokemon when Ash releases his Butterfree bye-bye Butterfree and just

You know if you know you know I don’t think Chris knows but nope maybe one day Chris bman will go back and redub the OG run of the end uh I’ll just go watch Blade Runner 2049 again that’s that’s that’s how I cope with things is is this your new movie of the

Week uh it’s one of them yes but let’s talk about but on a yet a more serious note um I wasn’t surprised that it kind of boiled down to this I know it was in The Ether uh mostly from Jake fiser that the of Yahoo sports that the Cavs were

Looking to move Rubio heading up to the deadline because he did have that salary which you know is a little bit more movable for a rotation caliber player if the Cavs are able to get someone to bite on it um did have the caveat of not being fully guaranteed next season which

You know could be an incentive for a team to take on that contract um but like fer kind of made a clear that whoever acquires Rubio is likely going to buy him out just because he it just seems like there’s no indications of him returning to the NBA and when I

Asked JB biera about this once or twice he’s just like yeah it’s like cordial texting conversations and like there’s no update at this time or like there’s no really and right on the Cavs and right on Ricky to prioritize his mental health and make sure that he does right

By him and I think the Cavs did handle this a very delicate situation well but my initial reaction to the news was I wasn’t shocked um just because I think the Cavs just weren’t really ever going to find a trade partner unless like they gave up one of the few legitimate assets

They have left in their Hopper and in order to do that just to kind of move off of a guy who hasn’t reported and you’re trying to replace him um it just made more sense to me logistically just to agree to AB it we again don’t know how much money was left

On the table so how much more financial W wiggle room Cleveland gets out of this it remains to be SE scene but um for now like yeah I I wasn’t surprised I think maybe you know just seeing the news though is still sad um I think just

Because Ricky was kind of a part of this very sudden turnaround the Cavs had he was a very fun story until he tore his ACL against New Orleans and unfortunately that was kind of the flash point where he uh collapsed like his career collapsed like I think if he

Didn’t tear his ACL he was regressing back to the mean but maybe he’s still H happy healthy functional NBA player Rubio but I think him saying he’s retiring from basketball just tracks with what he said before like when he’s ready to hang it up it’s he’s going to

Stay in Spain and be with his family and I think this just presented an opportunity one he hasn’t played in a while and two like doesn’t seem to have any intentions of returning to the court anytime soon so yeah it’s sad but not not a surprise what what was your

Reaction very much the same I think this was coming I I think I don’t know I can’t tell you right now exactly how much activity there was on the trade market I I all the’re reporting is that they explored the possibility of it and Chris Fedor has it in his story today

That they determined that the most anage advantageous option for them was the wording used would have been to buy him out they get some wigm under that all the matters we’ll get to that I think for me I go back to two things came into my mind

Today well three first is I go back to the night of New Orleans and that’s going to be for me the night towards ACL right after Christmas will be a Crossroads moment of Ricky Rubio’s career in life I think forever he was chasing a triple double in that game I

Don’t know if there’s really reason for him to still be out there other than that maybe things hit things all maybe this all turns out differently if he just isn’t on the court at that moment I I’ve thought that that’s not totally fair but I’ve thought that secondly I I think we

Knew how serious this was at least I thought I did when he didn’t play for Spain if you know anything about Ricky Rubio and you know what his basketball Journey has been it has been so much about Spain more than the NBA so I I was thinking about that and just really for

Him to get to this point on top of that it’s you should take this seriously and and thirdly I thought about Kevin Love who I haven’t I don’t know if he’s talked about that at all but you want to talk about someone who’s been so public with his mental health struggles and

Battles as well and been an advocate for people it’s not are placed to know their conversations but those guys bonded when they were here together they bonded obviously first in Minnesota what Kevin I I I’ve Kevin was someone I thought about just in the sense of what was he thinking today when

He saw this and what has it been like for him to see someone that he played with and knows so well think and just that and I I thought about how the the league and in general just so much respects Rubio um that this is going to be one of

Those guys that leaves that I I don’t think you’re going to see a single person say anything bad about R Rubio on the way out no nor should they I don’t think anyone should ever say anything better but Ricky Ruby on the way out and

He is by and far I think the favorite teammate of like Donovan Mitchell’s or Kevin Love as you had noted like he’s a guy that a lot of people just kind of rallied around and became like attached to in a way like not even just those two

Whether it’s like Darius Garland or um Evan Mobley or Jared Allen in the capacity like we talk about adults in the room like Rubio was the adult in the room for that young Cav Squad when they had that sudden Resurgence in Evan Mo’s rookie season and um he also was just like a

Functional player like he his the way he played on the floor was just infectious for Cleveland and I think that’s just like hard to replicate and I don’t think you ever really can it just makes it special in that sense and um yeah I just think maybe like I don’t want to say

That’s the juice the Cavs are missing now but um it certainly does seem to make a bit of a difference just like looking back at everything uh just all things considered I think you can make a real case that the most Joy the Cavs

Have had as a team and look we’re not in the locker room this is just purely just like guessing from the outside but the most Joy they had the last couple years was between August 3rd the day they traded for him when they gave atoran Prince a 2022 second in cash to bring

Him in through December when he te that is not a long time that is 1 2 3 4 that’s basically 5 months 3 months of basketball that’s not a long time and yet there’s a reason they traded him and were like immediately very clear about wanting to bring him back there’s a

Reason that I don’t think this that they’re handling this so carefully it’s that this is a beloved guy that I think the locker room and everyone in that team from JB bicker St to Kobe Alman to Donovan Mitchell who also played with him Utah to Darius Garland to anyone who

Interacted with that guy I think is going to miss is going to miss him and respects that guy to a degree that I think is rare AB there’s a certain joy and pride and just positivity that came from that Ruby run that that to me is I think

Like his legacy in a lot of ways is just like how he carried himself as much as how good he was and all the comparisons and his Peaks that to me is going to be his basketball Legacy that that the The Vibes that he brought to wherever he was

Like you said positivity uh one of the most iconic Rubio moments was when he told a teammate in Minnesota to fix their face and smile more and he was being it’s not like a rude guy at the bar telling a female bartender you should Spa more often or something like

That um instead now he’s just genuin like yeah he should be happy more like hey this is like we’re living like a really great life here like everything’s awesome so yeah it’s just it’s it’s just weird to think like we all kind of saw this coming I think when like you said

He stepped away Spanish national team play but um still surprising even when it hits I guess coming up next we’re going to go through our favorite Rubio Cavs moments I have one immediately that comes to mind that I that is imprinted on my head and we’ll also start getting into what

Are the mechanics of replacing riy Rubio’s roster spot how they go from here that’s up next today’s episode is brought to you by better help around New Year’s we get obsessed with how to change your ourselves instead of just expanding on what we’re already doing right maybe you

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Get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp hp.com loock innba again that deal is 10% off your first month all right we’re back here Chris Manning and Evan damro with you best Rubio moments Evan let’s just do we’ll do Cavs ones because you know other shows locked on wolves locked on suns I

I know we’ll talk about him a little bit there’s a lot of different ways you could go with rubinus kre the Spanish national team in its own right is going to be full of stuff I believe I was doing some Googling today I do believe he’s actually the record holder for the

Most points scored against Team USA in a feba game so that’s that’s a good bar trivia question for anyone out there Ricky Ruby a fun fact if that’s in fact correct if not I didn’t tell you that that’s a fact but what’s your favorite rubby a moment what comes to mind for

You um I I think it has to be when just like you and I were shocked actually like when the the Cavs first traded for him they sent out tan Prince and Prince by no means is like a perfect player he has flawed in a lot of

Different ways but the Cav still had a clear need of perimeter shooting and just depth on the perimeter and torian Prince is at like pseudo 34 that kind of fit the mold of what the Cavs needed from that position and they flipped him for a backup point guard who wasn’t

Awesome statistically uh was kind of a net negative um when he was on the floor in the season before he came to Cleveland and he just kind of came in and was like lightning it a bottle right away like I think just for me I’m like I was happy

To eat crow on that situation and just be proven wrong because r Rubio was the ideal um backup point guard for Darius Garland in Evan Mo’s rookie season and like really gave it to the Cavs and really stepped up when Garland was dealing with a Litany of

Issues and it’s unfortunate it was cut so short but um yeah like just that moment for me like when I was tring wrong was like one of my top moments with him to me there’s there’s one answer to this it’s 37 points eight of eight from three and MSG against the

Knicks that was Ricky Ruby unconscious that was I think in some ways the peak of the Rubio Cleveland experience when the magic was just fully there I I was watching the Clips again today and he Darius Garland looks like much younger like he looks like person

Well the uniforms are odd too cuz that was the yeah pre Rebrand yes the the Gold’s different all that stuff but Rubio’s just out here coming off of like very soft Mo screens he’s hitting threes over Derrick Rose on the Move he’s everywhere on the floor

Everyone’s got masth on to cuz it was that time in in the world and he’s just absolutely cooking he’s he’s hitting he had a sid step like one footed three over Quinton Grimes and I still am just unsure of a why he took it and be like

How he made it I just can’t really believe that he pulled it off and then if you go to the end of the game the postgame interview to me is like stuck in my head I don’t even remember what he said but I just remember darus scarland like screaming

Behind him and like yelling at the microphone Rick Rubio’s name there’s just like the joy of just that group and when Rubio’s cooking like that in MSG is just for me like the it is without question the peak of the Rubio Cavs era all right the mechanics over placing him this is

There’s there is obviously like they’ve already kind of had to replace him basketball-wise like that’s kind of already happened to some degree the reporting out there mostly from Cru Fe or a little bit from others is they could look to sign someone they’ve cleared some money under the

Luxury tax again we don’t know exactly how much but they’ve cleared some money from the luxury tax and on top of that they could just convert Craig Porter Jr’s contract so now a they have a little more wiggle room they only had 750,000 under luxury attack so they have

Conceivably some money they have some mid-level exception money left they could still spend and they have Craig Porter Jr there are trades they could look to make I don’t know if that’s the exact option for backup point guard if that’s the move they would make but I

They don’t have EV I think a ton of resources to fill the roster spot and get to place now and there also are 10-day contracts Friday so maybe we just see a Band-Aid someone signed to a 10day and that that’s it for now but the the

The mechanics of this are going to be I think be pretty straightforward I wouldn’t expect even anything as drastic as like when the C raded for raan Rondo the year that Ruby his ACL if people remember when they did that yeah so I mean for context they did trade for for

Rondo just because Rubio tore his ACL uh Garland was out with back issues and um the Cavs were struggling heavily without him um just to kind of guide them um and it got really murky and really messy and that’s where you saw Rondo come in but I

Just don’t think the Cav’s really in a rush I saw Fedor did report and I think it makes sense cuz I mean I think everyone who’s just kind of like keeping a pulse of this team or has connections on the team just kind of knows like yeah the aren’t really a organizational rush

Or overreact I think not having Darius Garland stings but if you’re able to ride out the tide of this week uh you have that long trip to Paris next week and then he could technically be back the following Friday after so you could ride this out but you also don’t really

Have to put the baby out before the bathwater because Craig Porter Jr I did the math the other day um based on Cleveland’s schedule he won’t hit that 50 game mark on a two-way contract until after the trade deadline so like if the Cavs go out and make a

Move they can do that then or they could just wait till after the trade deadline depending on do they consolidate the roster a bit more like do they move Dean Wade plus like Damen Jones or Tai Jerome to go get a player and do they still have like two open roster spots after

That and they still maintain that flexibility to buy get like a bio guy or something like that like I think the Cavs have options but I don’t think they’re as pressed just because Craig Porter Jr really has stepped up for them and really impactful ways whenever he

Does get minutes and and also just like that the Cavs are playing the Wizards two nights they’re playing the Spurs on Sunday they fly out to play Brooklyn in Paris and then I think they still have some pretty sub suboptimal teams with maybe like a good game or two after they

Get ear back home against Chicago after that yep I they’re on their they’re the late game on the on the MLK Day slate across the league they’re like the 7:30 tip that day so like the I think the Cavs could still again ride out this storm and not really have to worry about

It and then Darius Garland could conceivably be back in their laps and they just keep rolling with Mitchell just running the starting point until Garlin can come back I think it’s going to be a lot of do that with Craig Porter but I I I wouldn’t I think just in terms of

Getting yourself depth and finding something I wouldn’t shock me if they oh go ahead go ahead no go ahead I just I I don’t know really who’s on the 10day market like is it Austin Rivers they signed to a 10day deal or something like that just to add some quote unquote

Depth he’s he’s he’s he’s busy podcasting I would look at like gie guys I’ll throw some I’ll tell you some names that you could look to including an internal one one that’s technically internal that I don’t think is a super an NBA Prospect but I name they’re at

Least familiar with we’ll touch on some of those names and we’ll talk about cck Porter Jun a little more cuz he’s worth talking about more after this today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel the NFL regular season is wrapping up but there’s still time to get in on the action with FanDuel

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NFL all right so g-league options if you wanted to go that route number one you do have Sharie Cooper who’s not on a 2A he’s a point guard he’s a body that you know he’s not exactly I think where what I think makes the most sense

But I could see it as far as the leaders here are the here are the 10 players in assists I don’t know how many some of these guys might be in two ways I’m not sure we i’ have this isn’t like marked or anything on their stats page so keep

That in mind as I say some of these names uh Maris Noel is the leader and assist 10.2 a game Jason PR personally just sign Jason Preston for me at 8.7 assists is second Brandon Goodwin JD Davidson 8.5 Alfred Payton at 8.2 there’s your top five you could sha

Harrison is another vet is at six you could go with some of those vets you could go with Sharie Cooper mck mclung is another guard in the G league as well if you wanted to go that kind of route but I think really th those kind of guys would

Be Evan I think those guys would just be placeholders those guys would be very much just eat up some innings maybe in case Darius Garland twists an ankle or Craig Porter hurts himself or you need another guard because Carris is hurt or Sam Arrow’s wrist is bothering him like

That’s the kind of guy that’s the quality I think you’re looking for if you’re going to go 10 days as a Friday yeah and so like Maris Noel is on a 2A with the Raptor so that’s one you have to kind of look elsewhere on um I

Don’t hate the Sharif Cooper pickup but if I were looking at guys on the charge I think like again I I don’t think there’s like a pressing pressing need for depth just because you have Mitchell Levert Porter Jr even streu and who can handle ball handling responsibilities I’d rather look at

Um um zra Smith instead and see like if that’s a viable option for Cleveland um there’s dudes that the Cavs could definitely take a look at and um yeah it’s just a run-of-the-mill stuff or you look at it outside like are there free agents that have just been

Kind of trying to stay healthy and uh com competitive like I know isah Thomas is always tweeting that he’s looking for job opportunities whenever a point guard position comes up in question so if the Cavs want to get in that # slow grind look into the that sure that would be of

Course that like honestly let’s just bring let’s just Kumba the world needs more kumbai maybe just bring back a thas A Smith for whatever this is worth three games with the charge in the regular season so far this year 8.3 points shooting 53 from the field 20% from three so you

Let me ask you this you see seemed to me to think you just wouldn’t want another point you would just say like get me a win get me just like another body as opposed to another guard why why does your brain go that direction versus going on more one for One Direction

Um I just think that the C like we talked about this the other day about like when it came to like trading Dean Wade or whatever um the Cavs have like more of a at least to me clear or need to um upgrade on like bigger forwards or just forwards that can provide

Three-point shooting and I’m not saying um excuse me that like um say Smith is perfect but I think he’s showing a little bit of juice with the charge that maybe it’s worth a long stab and look at especially if you want to look at the in-house options with your

Uh open roster spots whether it’s on a 10-day deal and it doesn’t work out it goes back down to the charge or um you Brin repeat from there cuz he’s not two-way eligible because of his experience at this point so those are stabs you could take um but just for me

Like again like I think Mitchell’s done a pretty good job stepping up for the Cavs when they needed him to um I think um lever’s done a good job I think Craig Porter Jr of course has done a very good job to me The Logical

Path is you see if you can make an upgrade Elsewhere on the roster whether that’s uh just mostly like the bigger rebounding three and the or three and rebounding Wing that you can get that can play the three and the four and then you just convert Craig p junor to a

Regular NBA contract just based on the Kobe Alman special and just like maneuvering like the the limitations of not getting into the salary tax and um you just move forward from there because I think they they’re they’re fine like they’ve shown strength without Garland and Mobley and they played Without Ruby

All Season like to me I’m like he he hasn’t been here all year so it’s not like it’s like a super pressing need now I I think shortterm I still might just want another guard cuz like I I just think you’re already have tilted towards this way where you just need you

Got close to not having like any healthy point guards and Darius is still out I might just want for the short term like be it Sharie kooper be it somebody else just give me someone for two 10day contracts just to like bridge the gap they get to go to Paris maybe like good

For them that would be cool like to get a to get a stay in a hotel paid for by an NBA team in in Paris and be there at the second ever NBA game there like like that’s cool you could do that and I think that would be acceptable for the

Short term I think long term the move is just convert Craig Porter J maybe he’s not in the rotation long term I think that’s very possible but I think you could just get into a world where you bridge the gap at the backup point guard and then you start looking

For TRD you start looking other veterans there’s not a ton of NBA free agents that are like like there’s a like I was texting with a friend today who texted me some names and I’m going to read you these names that he sent me because he

Was like they should sign one of these guys montress Harold TJ Warren Jeremy Lamb Justice winow Will Barton Michael Carter Williams and John W there’s a reason none of those guys are on NBA teams there’s a reason that TJ Warren as good as he was in the bubble just like

Has it hasn’t worked and he’s not on a team now like there’s just not when you get to this point in the year I think like veteran guys or FR agents for reason I don’t think you can look at those guys it’s the same reason bio guys don’t really work usually you just

They’re probably not as good as you think they are based on their name value at this point yeah and like when I talked about the Cavs like looking at the bio Market or whatever that that’s more so the case of like um they bring in like a veteran just to

Kind of keep them steady and like maybe has a little bit of tread on the tire like somehow Tristan Thompson does just to kind of give them a little bit of juice they need him to or he has like an Eddie tavar like career defining game at

The very last game of the regular season for Cleveland but um regardless um I I’m I’m interested to see what they do I I don’t know like just the way this team seemingly operates the very patient and pragmatic with their approach when it comes to stuff so I’m curious to see

Like how they approach this how they tackle it and if there even is like wholesale wholesale change um between now and when they play on Friday Cavs will talk about this for the first time aside from prepared statements Friday there’s um a shoot around uh Friday I say JB will talk

About it then the players will talk about it I’m sure and we’ll see if we hear from anyone else I wouldn’t expect this oh that’s my bad I misread the email that I got then um then they’ll talk about it Friday before the game they’ll talk about it Friday after the game

We’ll talk about it Sunday I’m sure until everyone has talked about it that they’d like to hear from um particularly if anyone I say I want to hear from donov Mitchell who played from him in with him two places who knows him well that’s kind of the guy I want to see

What Donovan has to say is kind of the the Statesman of the team um and see if I mean I don’t maybe Donovan’s talked to maybe they maybe they facetimed or something who knows we’re going to end there though we’ll be back after Cavs Wizards and then we’ll get you ready for

The Sunday game against Victor wanyama and the Spurs who are battling with the bucks right now which is pretty fun check out lockdown Browns if you want to get ready for the last Browns game of the regular season and check out lock on Guardians for all that all kinds of

Great Cleveland stuff in your feeds if you want it thanks again to Evan thanks again to Jake Stevens talk to you guys next

On a new episode of Locked on Cavs (Friday, Jan. 5, 2024) hosts Chris Manning (@cwmwrites, The Just Basketball Show, SB Nation’s Fear the Sword, Forbes Sports) and Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan, Right Down Euclid) react to the news that Ricky Rubio has been bought out by the Cavaliers, look back at Rubio’s best Cleveland moments, talk about where the Cavs go from here at backup point guard and more.

This episode was produced by Jake Stephens. The intro music is from our friends at Astral Radio.

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