Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 storylines to watch in 2021 LV Summer League

The Cleveland Cavaliers, along with other NBA teams, did not participate in Summer League, either in Salt Lake City or in Las Vegas, last year.

Clearly, the COVID-19 element was the reasoning there, and while precautions will still be in place to some extent for safety, it’s meaningful that Summer League will be back in the fold this go-round.

The Cavs will be taking part in Vegas, with their first game being on Sunday against the Houston Rockets at 6:30 Eastern. For reference, you can check out the Wine and Gold’s Vegas Summer League roster at this link, via the Cavaliers.

So with the Vegas outings in mind, what should be a few intriguing things to be looking out for in Summer League for Cleveland this time around?

We’ll take a look at three storylines for this version of the Cavs Vegas Summer League squad here.

Firstly, it should be interesting to see how see Isaac Okoro does as a crucial playmaking presence for Cavs assistant coach J.J. Outlaw, who will serve as Cleveland’s Summer League head coach.

#1: What Okoro shows as a Cavs playmaker

Okoro wasn’t utilized much as a playmaker in his rookie season, and that wasn’t surprising, with the likes of Darius Garland and Collin Sexton often handling those duties. Cedi Osman at times in bench minutes was a de facto lead playmaker as well at times, and while he had his struggles as as a shooter, I thought he did a nice job when thrust into that role on occasion.

Okoro, conversely, didn’t get many opportunities in his lone collegiate season at Auburn as a key playmaking presence, but he did show he could be a capable secondary playmaker there, and showed flashes in that realm for Cleveland as a rookie. That was more so when he seemed more confident offensively, from April-onward, I thought.

In Summer League this time (he didn’t have the chance last offseason), the Cavaliers do reportedly want to get Okoro reps as a key playmaker, and he should have plenty of opportunities to show progress as a passer in the process. I’d hope over the offseason, that improving his passing feel and awareness, at least as a driver/slasher, has been something the Cavs have been working on a good amount with Okoro.

The potential as a pick-and-roll playmaker was shown at Auburn from him from a secondary sense, so perhaps he can show further progression in Summer League in that realm. Although the volume wasn’t high, spot-up shooters did place in the 95rd percentile off his passes operating out of the PnR then, per Synergy and as h/t The Stepien’s Spencer Pearlman.

Okoro will likely get his share of on-ball scoring reps too, and look to build on his late-season run, and I get that. But we should be looking out for how he does in a significant playmaking role as well, even if that’s for two or so games (each team is guaranteed to have five in Vegas).