Earlier this offseason the Cleveland Cavaliers made a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves to acquire a veteran backup point guard in Ricky Rubio. Rubio has 10 years of NBA experience as well as playing at the highest level in Spain at 16 years old.
Rubio is known for helping younger players such as Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker, and most recently Anthony Edwards. After being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers Ricky Rubio now has his sites set on young point guard Darius Garland.
“I think one of the hardest things to do in the league is not having a great year, but it’s having a better year when you had a great year,” Rubio said. “All the attention is going to be on you, all the pressure is going to be on you. The challenge you’re going to have is more mentally than anything else. ‘I already did that. Do I have what it takes to be even better?'” Rubio said, per NBC Sports.
“It takes a lot of energy to have the year that he had last year. He had great numbers, great year. But that can translate to a winning team. I’m going to have to challenge him in that area. I’m going to bring my experience the same way I did with Booker, the same way I did with Donovan Mitchell, the same way I did with the young stars that I had on my team,” Rubio added.
Ricky Rubio sees potential in Darius Garland
Darius Garland is coming off a year where he showed a lot of promise and a lot of improvement in his scoring and passing abilities.
Rubio has the experience to be the perfect mentor for not only Darius Garland but also the team’s leading scorer Collin Sexton. With Cleveland’s talented young core they will need all the guidance they can get and Rubio has the knowledge and experience to do just that.
It will be very interesting to see how Ricky Rubio will help the young Cavalier guards develop into an even more deadly pair. But for now, we will have to wait until the 2021-22 NBA season tips off next month. Either way, you look at it the Cavs have a very bright future in the league if they play their cards right they could even be back in the playoffs this year as a lower seed.
It could be a big year for the city of Cleveland as the Cavs could be back on the rise and the Browns are looking to get that long-awaited Super Bowl appearance. Cleveland fans should be very excited about where some of their sports teams are going.
Amanda Lynne