In what’s expected of him, Cavs’ Raul Neto should be fine for stretches

When the Cleveland Cavaliers signed Raul Neto to a one-year deal via the veteran’s minimum, it was not going to be sending shockwaves throughout the Cavs Twitterverse. It’s safe to say nothing the Cavaliers did with their three free agency signings did.

In that realm, Cleveland signed Robin Lopez via one-year, vet minimum and Cleveland brought back Ricky Rubio, with him receiving a three-year, $18.4 million deal, with the last year non-guaranteed. Rubio will remain out until December or seemingly January with him still working his way back from an ACL tear last December, when he was with Cleveland, before his contract having been traded to the Indiana Pacers as part of the deal for Caris LeVert.

Rubio should still help Cleveland in the first two-plus months of the season behind the scenes, which will benefit players such as Darius Garland, and I’d still think Rubio could make a difference next season when he is back.

Until Rubio is back in the fold, though, one would think Raul Neto should receive some minutes pretty regularly. I’m not suggesting that’d be in every contest in that stretch, but Neto can help the team as a rotational playmaker, can hold his own defensively, and he should be able to get others quality looks when Garland gets a breather.

Neto, who had a more consistent role the past two seasons with the Washington Wizards, should be fine, in what’s expected of him by the Cavaliers, I’d think.

Nobody’s saying Neto is going to have a Rubio-esque impact for the Cavs, but he should be fine for stretches.

Neto, as we’ve touched on, isn’t a Rubio replacement, nor am I saying he is.

Rubio had 13.1 points and 6.6 assists in a supersub-type role in his 34 games active with Cleveland last season, and throughout Rubio’s career, he’s been one of the game’s most gifted passers. We’ll again have to see ultimately when Rubio is able to be back, and it’ll take some time for him to get himself right in-game from there.

In the case with Neto, he should be decent filling in for stretches, still, sans Rubio. Neto has bounced around somewhat, and didn’t play regularly much with the Utah Jazz in most of his time there, but he improved with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2019-20 and helped the Wizards with more opportunities the last two seasons.

With Washington, he had 8.1 points and 2.7 assists in 20.7 minutes per contest in the past two years and was impactful as a defensive guard. He’s a solid point-of-attack defender, and Neto makes his share of plays in passing lanes, as evidenced by a steal rate of 2.2 percent with Washington, and 1.7 percent in his season with Philly.

Now, at this point, it’s difficult to say what the minutes outlook will be for Neto in the Rubio-less part of the season to come for Cleveland. I’d imagine Caris LeVert should still receive some time filling as a de facto 1 for stretches, whether or not he does regularly start contests, which reportedly is likely currently, albeit this is before training camp.

From there, Collin Sexton could fill in some in that role, and in general, I’d think that we should see Cleveland run things through Evan Mobley and still a bit through Kevin Love. Generally, I wouldn’t think we’ll see the 6-foot-2 Neto with Garland often, given Neto’s not much of an off-ball presence.

However, he’ll play a bit with Garland here and there, and in order to help preserve Garland, I would still think we could see Neto play a two-to-three stretches per game, equating to say, 12-16 minutes. And while he’s not going to be Rubio, Neto can still help get guys good looks, run some pick-and-roll with Jarrett Allen/Evan Mobley and perhaps at times with former teammate Robin Lopez, and Neto can hit some runners.

Neto should be competent against opposing point guards defensively when he’s in there, and he is a guy that in his role, should still be able to provide energy for the Cavaliers in his few stretches per contest.

Lastly, if needed, while I’m not saying he’d be playing 28-plus minutes in these instances, Neto did fill in fairly well in spot starts with Washington, and at times, the 30-year-old could do so in the first few months of the 2022-23 season for Cleveland. When Rubio is back, I wouldn’t expect him to be in the rotation much, though.

But all in all, in what’s expected of him, Neto should be fine for the Cavs.