3 things Cavs fans will want to see from Isaac Okoro this season

The Cleveland Cavaliers look to have made a wise draft selection in Isaac Okoro.

Isaac Okoro‘s potential looks to be sky high and if everything goes right, the Cleveland Cavaliers could have a core piece on their hands. Okoro had an eventful preseason, showcasing his defense, shooting and playmaking abilities.

Similar to every rookie, Okoro is prone to make mistakes but, these mistakes are fixable.

Okoro is a match made in heaven for the Cavaliers as a player of his skill set was much needed for them. Okoro will have many opportunities to showcase said abilities and many people, including myself, will be waiting to see just how well he performs with these opportunities.

With said opportunities, people will want to see certain things from Okoro, clearly.

On that note, we will be highlighting three things that Cavs fans will want to see from Okoro this season.

We’ll get right into those, beginning with #1.

#1: Limiting his fouls per game for the Cavs as the season progresses

During the preseason, one thing that had been prominent was Okoro’s high foul tendency. In those four preseason games, Okoro averaged 3.8 fouls per game.

This isn’t something to fret over though as this looks to just be Okoro adjusting to the rules and speed of the NBA. The Cavaliers drafted Okoro for his defensive abilities and as he becomes more accustomed to the league, his fouls should decrease while we should see an increase in steals and blocks as the season goes on.

Okoro is 6-foot-6 with a strong frame, having great defensive instincts, underrated playmaking abilities and even perhaps a shot that isn’t as bad as many people seemingly made it out to be. Looking at this, many scouts compared Okoro to someone such as Andre Iguodala; the shot for Okoro wasn’t a strength coming in, really.

Comparing the two, Iguodala had some foul troubles during his rookie season, similar to that seen from Okoro. Looking at Iguodala’s rookie season, during his first 41 games, he averaged 2.7 fouls per game compared to just 2.3 in the last 41 games. For Okoro, limiting his fouling will be essential to the Cavaliers’ success.

Not only would limiting his fouls mean that he can stay on the court longer but, it also means that Okoro can play defense as he wants. Being in foul trouble means that a player cannot be as aggressive on defense as they may want as they aren’t looking to pick up more fouls. It wouldn’t allow Okoro to use his quick hands as much, or use his crazy bounce to attempt to contest and block shots.

To become an elite defender, Okoro’s first step would be to limit his fouling and so far, it seems as if he’s taken the steps to do so and is adjusting to the NBA’s speed. Okoro made his NBA debut on Wednesday against the Charlotte Hornets.

In this game, Okoro was active on defense and was assigned to guard LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier and Devonte’ Graham at times. Throughout all of this, Okoro had only committed one foul while having some good defensive possessions.

It will be interesting to see what Okoro will be able to do as the season goes on and I expect his fouling to continue to dip.