Isaac Okoro would seem to be right in the draft mix for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
With the 2020 NBA Draft set to take place in just about two weeks, many scenarios are still in play for the Cleveland Cavaliers it would seem. While once again the ping pong balls did not bounce their way, the Cavaliers have several options to sift through at the No. 5 draft slot.
The expectation is Anthony Edwards, James Wiseman and LaMelo Ball will go in the top three it would appear, which leaves Cleveland to do their homework and find a talented prospect at No. 5. To make this even more challenging, the novel coronavirus pandemic has limited the Cavaliers’ ability to see these prospects workout.
Cleveland and every other NBA team are allowed just ten in-person workouts, while the remaining meetings must be done virtually.
While Cleveland has focused on drafting guards in the past two drafts in Collin Sexton and Darius Garland, their needs are obvious. Cleveland, who finished dead last a season ago with a defensive rating of 114.8, is in dire need of a wing defender. Also, with Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, and Andre Drummond all having an uncertain future in Cleveland, the Cavaliers definitely need to address their big man situation.
Although, it would still seem that Love should be well in the fold looking at next season, and while he’s constantly a subject in trade rumors, he could stick around with the Wine and Gold through 2020-21, and appears especially bought-in.
And while the to-be unrestricted Thompson might not be back, even with him being reportedly undecided regarding exercising his $28.7 million player option, it’s tough to foresee Drummond not pick that up for next season eventually.
Anyhow, what is still evident is Cleveland mightily needs wing defensive help, and for the purpose of this piece, I will focus on one prospect: Isaac Okoro. The freshman from Auburn is arguably the top wing defender and defender overall in this draft, which should be of obviously high priority for the Cavs.
So, here we will focus on two realistic expectations for Okoro if he’s drafted by the Cavs at #5.
We’ll get into that now with expectation #1 involving that scenario.