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.
#2: Okoro shooting with confidence for the Cavs
Throughout the entire scouting process, the one “supposed” weak spot in Okoro’s game was his shooting. During his freshman season at Auburn, Okoro shot just 28.6 percent from three-point range and his jumpshot was of concern.
This didn’t stop the Cavaliers from taking him with the fifth overall pick and the Cavs reportedly believed they could fix his shot over time.
During training camp, it was said by many members of the Cavaliers that Okoro’s shot was much better than anticipated, and looking at videos, you could see the improvements he made to his jumper. These improvements were then seen during the preseason as he shot 5-of-11 from three-point land.
Looking at the new-age NBA, one of, if not the most important player to have on a roster is 3-and-D players. For Okoro, it’s about improving the 3 seeing as his defense will continue to grow as he continues to gain experience.
Okoro has shown the ability to hit catch-and-shoot three-pointers, which could help out players such as Darius Garland and Collin Sexton, but, there is more to shooting than just that. On multiple occasions, prominent in his first preseason game, Okoro would hesitate to shoot a triple as he would see a defender closing out.
He would then try and drive to the rim but often would step out of bounds which was a reason he recorded four turnovers in this game. As it looks, the Cavaliers encouraged Okoro to stop avoiding perimeter shots and want him to be confident with his shot, as Larry Nance Jr. emphasized recently to media members, via Forbes‘ Evan Dammarell.
Okoro can take his game to an even higher level if his shot continues to become better. During this season, there will be ups and downs regarding his shooting but if he can show confidence in it, that will be a big step in his career.
#3: Showcase his playmaking abilities for the Cavs
Looking back at his scouting report once again, one thing that was overlooked was Okoro’s playmaking abilities. Seeing as his role was limited at his time at Auburn, this ability by him wasn’t showcased.
In a scouting report from The Stepien’s Spencer Pearlman, he said how Okoro was a “legitimately good PnR passer” and does a “great job seeing the full perimeter,” which shouldn’t be discounted. Looking at notable stats, per Synergy Sports and as h/t Pearlman, Okoro ranked in the 93rd percentile in regards to efficiency as a pick-and-roll passer, with most of that via passing to spot-up shooters.
Though we didn’t see much of that PnR passing volume, the potential is there and it’s worth the Cleveland Cavaliers to note for the future. During certain points of the season, the Cavaliers could experiment with Okoro as a secondary playmaker depending on who is on the court with him.
Having this ability is great for the Cavs because they could use this to work Okoro into different lineups as well.
Playmaking was hard to come by for the Cavaliers seeing as they were the seventh-worst team in assists per game last season with 23.1.
Having two young guards as your backcourt will do this to a team but, Okoro should be able to take the pressure off of Darius Garland and Collin Sexton if his playmaking is actually something of great potential.
And Okoro having five assists in his first start/game for Cleveland on Wednesday, in which he had two turnovers, which wasn’t all that many, given the circumstances, was a positive sign.