Since the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted Isaac Okoro with the fifth pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, there hasn’t been much production from him that validates the choice. I don’t say that to take a pop shot at Okoro. He will turn 22 on Jan. 26 and only played one year collegiately at Auburn University.
Nobody should look at the selection as a mistake yet. When players are that young, they are projects, and it’s only year three. It becomes much more challenging for a team to develop the skills of a young man when its timeline changes from rebuild to a contender. Besides, there’s no guarantee if the Cavs picked another in 2020 that, in the next draft, they’d be in the same spot to draft Evan Mobley.
Cleveland Cavaliers fans shouldn’t be so hard on Okoro.
The one-and-done rule does not benefit everyone long-term, even when players get picked in the lottery. Some guys, by the time they are 19 or 20, are very close to a grownup’s body, or their games are so far ahead of the talent pool that they show immediate impact. These people are rare specimens.
Pro sports are a realm ruled by immediate gratification. So many want what’s unrealistic, a high draft pick to come in with enough mastery to average 15 points a night or, by their third or fourth season, to start showing All-Star-level production to uphold the pick.
The NBA is an orbit run by veterans or the supremely talented. If a team has a decent coaching staff, having young players is a worthwhile risk.
Okoro is built like a smaller Hercules at 6-foot-5. Yet, nowhere near as imposing as the Greek legend on their side of the court, where he is largely still limited. In 40 games through his third season, he’s logged 200 points. That would be #1,957 all-time for a third-year player in scoring if he didn’t suit up for another minute.
In Cleveland’s last outing, the 13-point loss in Denver to the Nuggets on Friday night, Okoro played almost 18 minutes. His only bucket came in transition on a cut from the wing fewer than two minutes into the game. Michael Porter Jr. (6-foot-10) tracked him to the basket, but Okoro scored with a light touch off the glass.
#35 missed his next four shots, all within seven feet of the cup, through three quarters. Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff had him on a short leash in the second half, only giving him four minutes in the third and one in the fourth quarter.
On his first miss, Darius Garland dished to Okoro in the left wing. A quick jab with his left foot briefly stopped his matchup, Aaron Gordon, as he dribbled into the lane. Gordon recovered and forced Okoro into taking an off-balance floater.
The following close-range misfire was from three feet away. Denver’s Jamal Murray was the low man, and Okoro had good positioning on the baseline. Caris LeVert curled into the paint off a screen at the left wing and attracted Nikola Jokic and Murray as extra defenders before feeding it to #35. Okoro caught it in the dunker spot, but Jokic and MPJ were right behind him and forced the miss.
Next, as soon as he caught a pass in the left corner from Jarrett Allen, Isaac muscled past Murray on the baseline and was bothered mainly by Jokic in the restricted area. Okoro attempted a reverse layup and folded.
After his last miss, I questioned why he was wearing a shooting sleeve. Again, off the catch, Okoro was looking to score. He dove from the right wing, one more time guarded by MPJ. From seven feet away, Okoro launched a floater that smacked the side of the backboard, sparking transition for Denver.
Converting buckets hasn’t come easy for the young man this season. A game shy of the midway point, he’s averaging five points on 43% efficiency and 26% behind the arc with 2.4 boards and 0.9 assists a night. It’s safe to seemingly say the Cavaliers won’t be in a hurry to offer an early rookie-extension after this season.
The Cavaliers have drastically improved each season Okoro was signed for. Following his rookie campaign, the Cavs got a one-year rental of Lauri Markkanen and started him next to Allen and Mobley, making the league’s largest frontcourt. This past summer, the front office executed the haul to bring in Donovan Mitchell. These roster changes resulted in Okoro being the odd man out with offensive touches. In 2020-21, he attempted eight shots a game. Last season it was six. This year it’s four.
A positive of Okoro’s offensive game is that he makes 64.8% of his shots in the restricted area. 43.3% of his attempts come from that area. It would help him gain confidence if he raised his tries inside the restricted area to at least 50% while staying above 60% efficiency. A higher dosage of paint shots would probably send Isaac to the line more than the one attempt he takes a night.
When he hoists outside the lane, he is doing opponents a favor. A player that Okoro should emulate is Denver’s Bruce Brown. He can get 10-15 points a game without a play run for him. He gets it done by getting open off-ball in transition, seizing the baseline in the halfcourt, screening well, crashing the offensive glass for putback points and playing average-to-solid-level defense.
It will take some time for Okoro to find his 3-point stroke that he had last season (35%), but if it never comes back, he should focus on all the other little things. Defensively, the Cavs sometimes struggle to contain the point of attack, which puts their backline out of position. In minutes Okoro comes in switched to the top, he must own the area and stop the ball. This also means being the first person back across halfcourt after a miss or bad shot.
If Okoro turns into a high-volume screener, apart from doing everyone on the team a favor because of the mismatches created, he’ll always be open after a pick. If a small guard gets tagged on him after the screen, Okoro could use his athleticism as a vertical threat or bump past them.
Brown is Denver’s ultimate leatherman tool. Cleveland could use a difference-maker like that, and Okoro has all the talent to do it. There are not too many 21 year olds in the NBA with the physical gifts he possesses.