What about this? We also send Osman to Minnesota.
http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ht7r3x4
Downsides are:
1.) This costs Gilbert in the vicinity of $30M -- might get vetoed by ownership (who knows). We could also send Muhammad elsewhere as part of the deal (or not include him) if
2.) Rubio is a poor shooter (more on this in a bit).
3.) Who knows if Osman is enough to make Minnesota interested. I might also throw in Felder or another pick if it makes this deal work though.
Upsides:
1.) Rubio is a premier ball handler, allows KI and LBJ to work off the ball more. I don't see Rubio playing much when LBJ and KI are both in, but I think he interfaces with both of them individually pretty well.
2.) Rubio is a + defender and is 6'4", which allows him and KI to switch off defensive assignments.
3.) Rubio's shooting woes aren't going to be as detrimental to the Cavs, since we have plenty of shooting options. By keeping Love in with the second unit we can keep a shooter at the 5 to keep appropriate spacing.
4.) I would like to see the ball in Rubio's hands, and then run screens off the ball with LBJ/Korver, LBJ/Frye or Irving/Frye ---- Rubio's ability to make the right pass in those situations would be lethal.
5.) I like the Muhammad fit on this team too -- large post-up offensive game that will give us a wrinkle we don't have (especially when other teams try to go small to combat our shooters). He will also slow down the pace of the game a bit, which might help against GS.