Cavs faithful will be huge fans of Isaac Okoro in no time

Isaac Okoro is going to win over the Cleveland Cavaliers fan base quickly.

I know, I know, I know. Isaac Okoro needs to strides as a shooter in the near future for the Cleveland Cavaliers. That’s undoubtedly the big knock on the Auburn product, who was selected by the Cavaliers in Wednesday’s draft, whose signing was made official by Cleveland on Saturday, as noted in a release from Cavs.com’s Courtney Payton.

Okoro hit only 28.6 percent of his three-point shot attempts in his lone collegiate season, and you’d have preferred for him to hit more than 67.2 percent of his free throw attempts. Okoro reportedly believes he made considerable progress with his shot leading up to the draft, but we’ll have to see.

Nonetheless, I’d expect Okoro to have his ups and downs in his rookie year as far as three-point looks, seemingly via spot-ups.

Albeit I’m excited to see Okoro in action for the Cavs in large part due to what he should provide defensively, as a driver/finisher and as a secondary playmaker. Him hitting 60.7 percent of his two-point attempts was impressive, all things considered, and played into his 12.9 points per outing.

But one thing to me is pretty clear when it comes to the 19-year-old: he’s going to have plenty of big-time supporters right away among the Wine and Gold fan base.

The Cavs faithful will be huge fans of Okoro in no time.

Okoro has Cavs fan favorite written all over him, with Okoro’s defensive capabilities, competitiveness on that end, in particular, and him absolutely being 100 percent team-first. This quote after Cleveland selected Okoro from Cavs general manager Koby Altman was so telling regarding the Auburn product, via Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.

"“He’s a wonderful teammate,” Altman said. “Those 50-50 plays, those loose-ball plays, those hustle plays, we call them floor burns. That gets everybody ignited. Not just team but the fan base, the city. I think that’s going to get a lot of people fired up, how intense he plays on each possession. It’s team first. He’s prideful about that. He’s humble. But he’s not lying when he says he’s a winning player.”"

As KJG’s own Robbie DiPaola hit on, it’s apparent that Okoro’s a rookie that is egoless. And based on the way he plays, with him wanting to take on opponents’ best players one-on-one defensively each time out, and with being active without the ball offensively, he has the makings, a la Altman, of a “winning player.”

Obviously, what jumps out from his selection by the Cavs was them prioritizing the defensive end/his perimeter prowess there, but also being switchable 1-4 at 6-foot-6, 225 pounds.

With Okoro being able to consistently mirror ball handlers, cut off driving lanes, prevent pull-ups and wall up when needed, that led to him placing in the 90th percentile in one-on-one primary defense in 2019-20, per Synergy Sports. He’s a heck of a team defender for such a young player, too, and a block rate of 3.1 percent in 2019-20 shouldn’t be discounted.

But with Okoro being such a high energy player, similarly to Larry Nance Jr., for example, and with him being such a tough finisher with power near the rim, and also being an active cutter and more than willing passer, and having encouraging feel in that realm, he’ll be the consummate team player.

While I wouldn’t expect him to be a starter from the jump at the 3 spot with Cedi Osman seemingly there for a bit to begin 2020-21, I would be the furthest thing from shocked to see him take over that role pretty early on.

Either way, though, Cavs fans will love Okoro right away. With the grit and competitive fire he has and with him reportedly having a Collin Sexton-like work ethic, to go with them both being from the Atlanta area, it’s not surprising that Sexton and Okoro are close.

In any case, I’d say it’s a safe bet that with Okoro being such a high energy guy, big-time defender, unselfish player and regularly getting on the floor for loose balls/being a solid defensive rebounder, he’s going to be truly all about winning.

This dude’s going to be a favorite of his teammates, Cleveland’s coaching staff and again, the Wine and Gold faithful, in no time. There’s so much to like about this kid, and I’m pumped that the Cavs took him.

With Okoro’s work ethic/burning desire to get better, give the shooting time. But make no mistake, this dude will make his presence felt in a number of ways very early on and the fan base will love him.