Cavs: Isaac Okoro playmaking progress could free up backcourt duo

Last season, Darius Garland‘s bounce-back campaign was just what the doctor ordered for his outlook for the Cleveland Cavaliers. After a fairly underwhelming rookie year because of a variety of factors, Garland looked like a completely different player in Year 2.

He had 17.4 points and 6.1 assists per contest, and knocked in 39.5 percent of his three-point attempts. His passing vision/abilities often popped too, and it appears as if Cleveland has a keeper looking onward in Garland.

While there were trade rumors leading up to the 2021 NBA Draft involving Collin Sexton, it seems now far less likely that he could potentially be dealt before next season, and could end up sticking around/being extended perhaps next offseason. Sexton was a bright spot, similarly to Garland, last season for Cleveland as well.

But next season, even with Ricky Rubio in the fold, which should take some off Garland’s plate, and could help Sexton to some degree, it would pay off for Isaac Okoro to provide some secondary playmaking more consistently game-to-game. He showed flashes in that regard, and more so in the season’s later stages, and he demonstated playmaking potential in his lone collegiate season at Auburn in 2019-20.

The Cavs will be giving Okoro some more playmaking work in Las Vegas Summer League play too, and that’s meaningful before training camp/next season, and hopefully there’s strides made from him there seen next season. That’d be helpful for the young starting backcourt duo, in particular, also.

Okoro playmaking progress could help free up the Cavs backcourt duo more.

Okoro is not a player that’s going to be a primary playmaking presence for Cleveland. That’s up to Garland, recent trade acquisition Ricky Rubio in bench stretches, to go with Sexton some.

Even so, if he can provide more supplemental playmaking game-to-game, that could enable Garland to get some more movement shooting and/or spot-up opportunities from the perimeter, for one.

The same could go for Sexton to some extent, and it could lead to some more cutting opportunities for paint shots for Collin, feasibly with him reacting to Okoro’s drives.

Of course, Okoro’s handle needs to be better and tighten up next season for him to be a more viable secondary playmaker on a nightly basis, and I acknowledge that.

But over the offseason, I would think that with the Cavaliers reportedly working with him on sharpening up his pick-and-roll approach, and with him having better chemistry with Jarrett Allen, that Okoro could help the backcourt/others more.

The Cavs are reportedly looking to give Okoro some mid-post opportunities in 2021-22 too, which could help him get some more paint looks/free throws from quick moves out of those, sure.

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However, as Okoro gets more comfortable, there could be more meaningful skip passes to counter those shots, and I’d imagine the young backcourt duo could be go-to targets for Okoro in those scenarios.

To that point, Garland knocked in 43.2 percent of his catch-and-shoot three-point attempts last season, and Sexton hit 40.3 percent of those looks, both per NBA.com’s shot tracking data.

Anyway, you get the gyst. It would pay dividends for the Cavs and their young backcourt if Okoro shows secondary playmaking progress, and can help free them up for some more off-ball opportunities in games, which would aid Cleveland’s perimeter offense. Next season, Okoro needs to have more than 2.1 assists per-36 minutes, clearly.

Fortunately, even with the volume not having been high, he did show potential in that regard at Auburn.

Auburn spot-up shooters did place in the 95th percentile off of drive-and-kick passes out of pick-and-roll passing situations from Okoro then, per Synergy Sports and as h/t The Stepien’s Spencer Pearlman. So I do believe we’ll see him more productive in that realm.

Additionally, perhaps we could see Okoro initiate secondary transition offense after defensive rebounds a bit more in games next season, which could be impactful from a playmaking perspective for Cleveland’s shooters, and bigs such as Evan Mobley.

In a general sense though, I’d look for Isaac to help open up more looks for Garland and Sexton game-to-game, most notably. And their chemistry next season should be much improved, I’d imagine.