B/R keeps pounding proverbial drum for Boston Celtics to sign Ricky Rubio

The Boston Celtics just recently tied up their best-of-seven Semifinals series against the Milwaukee Bucks Monday night and, in turn, are once again viewed as a viable candidate to take home this year’s Larry O’Brien trophy or, at the very least, clinch their first NBA Finals berth since the days of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo.

With this, one would expect the bulk of sports media to cover the C’s current situation and map out ways in which they could pull away against the defending champions and advance to the next round of the 2022 postseason, and, for many outlets, this is indeed the case.

For the folks at Bleacher Report, however, they’ve mainly been focusing on the ball club’s future endeavors (after all, it’s never too early to plan ahead), specifically focusing on what could possibly wind up being accomplished during this summer’s free agency period and, more often than not, we see them linking Brad Stevens and co. to one veteran player slatted to hit the open market.

That man: Ricky Rubio.

It’s no secret that the Boston Celtics will have minimal wiggle room to work with in regard to their salary cap situation, as they have 10 consistently utilized players attached to guaranteed or partially guaranteed contracts in 2022-23.

Because of this, the team’s management and decision-makers will need to hit the bargain-bin to see if they can snag a potentially high-quality contributor on a minimum-esque deal, and B/R is under the impression that, in this realm, Rubio could be a name worth monitoring closely.

Frankly, it seems like every day we’re seeing something new about a link between the Celtics and the veteran point guard and, just recently, writer Dan Favale discussed the idea of the two parties pairing up this summer, as he believes that the Spaniard’s likely cost, coupled with his playstyle, should warrant him significant consideration from the front office:

"Latching on to a 31-year-old who just tore his left ACL for the second time in his career carries implicit risk. In this case, it’s also the entire point.Boston won’t have access to the bigger mid-level exception unless it waives and stretches the $14.5 million guarantee on Al Horford‘s 2022-23 salary. But he has become so valuable on both sides of the floor and could plausibly see his guarantee increase to $19.5 million if the Celtics win this year’s title. There’s a very real chance they just keep his entire $26.5 million expiring contract on the books.Dependable playmakers seldom cost under $7 million per year, but Rubio’s timeline for return remains unclear. He had surgery at the end of December. A nine-month recovery would put him back in September—right around training camp. The Celtics are among the potential suitors who can slow-play his integration. And while he wouldn’t do anything for their floor spacing, his passing on the move fits what they need, and his defensive activity fits what they’ve already built."

As we all know, the Boston Celtics took part in one of the greatest midseason turnarounds in NBA history this past season, going 31-10 during the final 41 games played.

While there are plenty of reasons for why they exploded during this final stretch run, one could argue that their improved ball movement played a major role, as they ranked seventh in assist percentage during this stretch, which was a massive improvement from their first half where they ranked just 23rd in this same category.

A guy like Ricky Rubio, who has made a career for himself as being a true set-up artist and who was ranked in the 97th percentile when it comes to assist percentage prior to going down with an ACL tear this past season, could be viewed as someone who can help carry this style of play over into 2022-23 and, in turn, help keep the team’s successful offensive production alive.