NBA Draft: How did Cleveland Cavaliers do in 2020 NBA Redraft?

Where does Isaac Okoro end up?

In the 2020 Redraft over at Hoops Habit, Okoro slid down the draft board to go 16th to the Detroit Pistons. In this redraft they lost out on taking Saddiq Bey, the 3-and-D wing they took last November, and here get a wing with the “D” who is still working on the “3” in Okoro.

It is expected that most rookies will face a steep learning curve, but Okoro faced an even steeper one as he was thrust into the role of perimeter stopper from the jump on a Cavaliers team that had no other options, especially when Nance was out of the lineup or against faster wings.

In a vacuum, Okoro did not do particularly well, but that’s not fair to the situation. He held up better than most, if not better than any of his peers in this draft class would have done in his situation. He still projects as a good, if not one day elite, perimeter defender.

The problem with projecting Okoro forward after his rookie season is that for him to be worth a lottery pick, and especially a top-5 pick, he needed to be serviceable enough on offense for a team to survive with him on the court. He doesn’t have to be Paul George as a two-way wing, but he can’t be Andre Roberson.

After one season, things are not looking good on the offensive front. Despite a low usage role alongside two point guards setting him up for shots, Okoro shot just 42 percent from the field and a ghastly 29 percent from 3-point range. Of players who took 200 or more 3-pointers, only two (Detroit’s Sekou Doumbouya and Oklahoma City’s Aleksej Pokusevski) shot worse than Okoro.

That has to change for Okoro if he wants to carve out a full-time starting role in the NBA. The Cavaliers desperately need him to do so, especially if they continue to build around Sexton and Garland moving forward. The Portland Trail Blazers are an example of a team that could never find the right 3-and-D option to pair with their small backcourt. The Cavaliers need to chart a different course.

Moving forward they will need to help Okoro develop into a player more worthy of the fifth pick than the 16th. Fortunately though, it is encouraging that Okoro showed encouraging signs as a driver last season, and as the year progressed, he seemed to get more comfortable. And while injuries did play some into it, he did have a promising offensive stretch to end out, putting up 16.2 points per game in his last 12 outings.

That sort of stretch can be something to build on for him leading into next season, but overall, the results weren’t outstanding for a top-5 pick.

Still, generally, looking back it’s fun to explore what could have been if the 2020 NBA Draft was conducted with the benefit of hindsight. As we move forward into the future, that hindsight will only grow sharper, telling us who we were right about, and who is proving us wrong. For the Cavaliers, only time will tell whether Isaac Okoro will prove to be the right pick.