The Cleveland Cavaliers appear to be back on track after winning three straight games to climb to a 12-10 record on the season.
While one of those victories came against the 5-18 Orlando Magic, a team that features a fellow 2021 top 10 draft pick in Jalen Suggs, the other came via a very talented Dallas Mavericks squad that just so happens to be led by one of what many consider to be a top 10 player in the NBA in Luka Doncic. The Cavaliers then dismantled the Miami Heat on Wednesday, and though they were without Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, Cleveland taking care of business 111-85 in a place they haven’t won at in so long shouldn’t be discounted.
These victories came hot on the heels of five-game losing streak that saw the Cavs do battle with the likes of the Brooklyn Nets (twice), Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, and Phoenix Suns. One constant in every single one of those contests has been the unrelenting efforts of one Isaac Okoro.
The second-year forward has been giving his all despite being replaced as the full-time starter at the 3 position by newcomer Lauri Markkanen to begin the season. In fact, Okoro could have hung his head and pouted while the new addition to the team came in and was handed his job but didn’t.
Instead, he chose to put his head down, go to work, and do what the team has asked him to do at every step of the way thus far. It’s this positive outlook that afforded Okoro the opportunity to once again start, albeit in another position, due to the unfortunate injury to Collin Sexton.
With that said, it’s not as if his transition back into the starting unit has been smooth night in and night out.
One quick glance at his boxscore statline would be enough to make that determination as he is averaging 8.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists while shooting just 37.1 percent from the field and canning an even more appalling 21.1 percent from three-point range in 11 games as a starter. Compare that to his small-sample size as a reserve (7.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 47.8 percent shooting, 20.0 percent from three) and you really won’t find a significant difference outside of a misleading field goal percentage.
Okoro is still a work in progress offensively for the Cavs, but it might not matter at this moment.
The Auburn product was always going to be a work in progress for this Cavs team as he was drafted primarily for what he was capable of defensively. To this point in his young career, we know that Okoro can and will pick up perhaps the opposition’s best perimeter player on any given night. We know that he can defend 1-3 and even some undersized 4’s on occasion. We also know that he is still quite raw offensively speaking in many regards thus far.
He is proficient enough as a cutter and in transition to pick up easy baskets around the rim which has resulted in 58.9 percent of his points coming from within the painted area as well as 68.6 percent of his made two-point attempts coming off of assists, per NBA.com’s shooting data. A very telling stat of Okoro’s is that 88.9 percent of his made three-point attempts have been assisted on (also per NBA.com’s shooting data), meaning that he is mostly relegated to catch-and-shoot threes when taking those shots.
To take it one more step further, a whopping 72.7 percent of all his made field goals have been assisted. That speaks volumes about both his ability to create as well as his ability to pull-up off the dribble and convert.
But the crazy thing is, it might not even matter how much Okoro is able to contribute from three-point range this season. With the recent strides that this team has made on the court in regards to chemistry, as long as he plays his role he’ll be fine. He is by no means 1, 2, or 3 in the pecking order in regards to scoring options. To be honest, Okoro is quite literally the last option on offense.
Darius Garland is the clear No.1 option because of his ability to score from anywhere on the court and facilitation. No. 2 is clearly Jarrett Allen at this point due to his paint dominance so far this season and his constant rim-running. Evan Mobley can create for himself and others even at this early stage in his career and is also a constant lob threat on a nightly basis.
That leaves Lauri Markkanen and Okoro to vie for the leftover opportunities at that point and right now, Markkanen is miles ahead of him in regards to spacing even though he’s completed just 33.0 percent from range this season.
Take his last five games for instance, in which he’s averaging exactly 17.2 points while draining 39.5 percent of his triple attempts. His ability to space the floor is what allows Okoro to truly focus on what he’s best at, playing lockdown defense.
If Markkanen and others continue to provide enough offense to offset what is being left on the court from Okoro, his three-point troubles won’t matter as much.