I’m never going to overreact to preseason action for the Cleveland Cavaliers, neither from a pessimistic, nor optimistic perspective. Even with that viewpoint, there are still some things to keep in mind from in-game action in those sort of exhibition matchups leading to regular season play.
For the Wine and Gold, it was meaningful for the group in general to have live reps, and let’s not gloss over how much of this team is still young. We know that even more so applies to guys such as Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, albeit not as much for Mobley, as he was recovering from an ankle sprain.
Additionally, it was preseason sure, but it was nice that Donovan Mitchell got some time out there with this new teammates, with action in three of Cleveland’s four preseason outings. The Cavaliers lost three of those four contests, however, there were positives to take from the first Philadelphia 76ers loss, which was close, and in their preseason games versus the Atlanta Hawks in a win on Wednesday, and at the Orlando Magic on Friday.
One guy that did help himself in preseason, too, was Isaac Okoro.
For Okoro, while it seems either he or Caris LeVert will end up being the starting 3 heading into the regular season, he’ll factor in a bunch it appears, feasibly for defense. He’s shown he can help on that end through his first two seasons, and his mindset there can aid the team in setting the tone.
It is apparent, though, that his offense has to be there more this season, in his third year. On the plus side, there is reason to be optimistic about his approach there from preseason leading into the 2022-23 campaign.
Okoro’s play offensively for the Cavs in preseason was encouraging heading into his third year ahead, which is a pivotal one.
Okoro was well, shaky offensively last season, and was largely in his first year. I’m not going to put all on him, as he was known to be a guy that was going to take time to develop offensively, and coming into his first year in 2020-21, his draft selection was going to be for defense.
Last season, in a bit less play from 32.6 minutes per outing in his first year to 29.6 in his second, his scoring went from 9.6 points to 8.8 points per game.
There were flashes from Okoro, on a positive note, there were still just inconsistencies, and despite some catch-and-shoot growth, at face value, the three-point volume didn’t warrant a ton of reason to be excited about it. Okoro did connect on a better 35.0 percent from three in 2021-22, compared to 29.0 percent in his rookie campaign; the issue was his volume went from 3.2 to 2.3.
Granted, there were some encouraging signs offensively, and as a driver and cutter, he did make some plays that indicated he could be more viable on that end in years ahead, provided he’d be more confident. And in preseason, he did seem to be more willing to let shots go, and demonstrated some more on-ball assertiveness.
He was looking for his shot more in early offense in Cleveland’s close loss to the Sixers in the first preseason game, and had seven points in 18 minutes off the bench then, which was fine in those circumstances.
From there, in Cleveland’s win over Atlanta, in a start then instead of LeVert (rest), Okoro connected on two triples in four attempts, and shot seven-of-nine overall, en route to having 16 points, to go with three assists and three steals. Then in Cleveland’s preseason finale, sans Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen (rest), Okoro then followed up that Atlanta game with 17 points on six-of-seven shooting in 24 minutes of work.
Okoro was rumored to have been demonstrating offensive progress over the course of the offseason, and as detailed in a report from Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, Okoro worked a ton on his perimeter shooting stroke.
Fedor’s report laid out how Okoro has been working extensively on improving his hand placement, and essentially in time with Cavs shooting coach Andrew Olson over the course of Okoro’s time in the NBA, they’ve been working on sharpening that positioning. That same report expressed how there’s been a bunch of strides being made in trying to perfect Okoro’s shooting arc, to ultimately strive for that to be a “45-degree arc,” as tracked by a state of the art shooting system.
Time will tell if Okoro can become a consistent offensive player, in fairness, and whether or not he does start for the Cavaliers, it is evident that if he’s going to stick around, he has to be more viable there. I could definitely still foresee Dean Wade potentially cutting into Okoro’s minutes, for example, and to some extent, perhaps Lamar Stevens could, for big wing defense. Stevens’ off-ball play has to improve, though.
In any case, as it pertains to Okoro, who will turn 22 in late January, him appearing to be more assertive on offense and playing with more urgency it seemed was good to see in preseason, with a pivotal third year for him ahead.