Cavs: Isaac Okoro should be able to focus more on offense

In his rookie season, Isaac Okoro took a while to get going on the offensive end of the floor for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He had 9.6 points per game in an average of 32.4 minutes, and knocked in only 29.0 percent of his three-point attempts.

It was not a rookie year that was particularly noteworthy offensively for Okoro, and his closing batch of the season, injuries to the Cavs aside, aided his overall numbers to some degree.

Nonetheless, given that it was the quickest turnaround from the NBA Draft to the start of a regular season in league history, and with how Okoro was more so a defensive prospect coming in, it’s tough to be overly critical.

On the plus side, he did appear to look more assertive on offense post-All-Star break, to an extent at least, and from April-onward, which was nice to see. In his last 12 games of Year 1, again even with injuries playing into it some, Okoro did still have 16.2 points per contest, and that was good for him heading into the offseason from there.

In a general sense, too, it wasn’t easy for a rookie to have the defensive workload he had. He was often tasked with guarding the opponent’s best wing scorer, and in other stretches, had to help contain opposing primary playmakers, neither of which were simple tasks.

That said, next season, I do believe that, while he’ll be a key defender, Okoro could be able to have balance to his game, with the offensive element in mind as well.

Cavs: Okoro should be able to focus more on offense in Year 2.

To reiterate, I fully acknowledge that Okoro will be a crucial player for Cleveland’s defense; I’d anticipate further growth from him on that end, too. He also looked to have gained muscle over the offseason, going off of how he appeared in Las Vegas Summer League, and next season, with more experience, I’d expect him to be more of a playmaker in the off-ball sense.

Getting down to it, with others such as Evan Mobley and Lamar Stevens, even with him non-guaranteed, in the fold, that could help Okoro out, and lessen his defensive burden a bit.

That’s with Mobley’s impact as a team defender, and potentially even function on occasion in primary matchups versus wings, and in Stevens’ case, he displayed impressive defensive abilities and versatility last season.

Additionally, though we’d have to see, a potential wing free agency target such as Garrison Mathews or James Ennis III could take a bit off Okoro’s defensive plate in some spurts/stretches.

Plus, Okoro playing in stretches with Mobley, a gifted passing big, but with him also getting some considerable PT on the floor with a polished shooter in Lauri Markkanen, should be a boost for Isaac.

Mobley could very well help Okoro’s progression as a cutter, of which we saw growth as last season wore on, and to add to the Markkanen perspective there, I’d think that in a number of time on the floor together, Okoro could be aided as a driver. And that could go for him as a secondary playmaker too, with Markkanen’s spot-up and movement shooting abilities.

Moreover, with the Cavaliers looking to give Okoro some more pick-and-roll opportunities in Year 2, which could lead to more high percentage chances/perhaps free throws, that could help him confidence throughout games as well.

Now, Okoro does need to show progression as a catch-and-shoot player in 2021-22; I’m not disputing that. But if Cleveland can maybe spell him a bit on defense and/or put him at times on more so off-ball players for spurts, that could realistically enable him to be featured some more game-to-game offensively, where I think he could demonstrate legitimate growth on-ball.

That’d help lessen the scoring/playmaking burden on the likes of Darius Garland and Collin Sexton, in turn, too.