Cavs’ Isaac Okoro is excelling in these areas on offense and defense

Where Okoro’s excelling offensively: Off-ball movement/attacking closeouts

On offense, Okoro has received some praise for his catch-and-shoot progression, and rightfully so.

In his last 18 games, 14 of which have been starts, he’s connected on 44.7 percent of his deep attempts. But, in fairness, we’re a ways from Okoro being a legit volume threat from three, as in that span, his deep attempts have been 2.6 per appearance; so there’s going to be a question mark there for a while, seemingly.

Objectively, though, what’s resonated more has been Okoro’s movement in off-ball situations, particularly as a cutter, and with what he’s displayed in terms of attacking closeouts and making the right plays far more than earlier in the season.

Okoro isn’t going to be a high usage player for the Cavaliers, to clarify. However, especially this in these past few weeks and/or the last month, he’s found ways to get looks at the rim from well-timed cuts to aid Darius Garland and others.

Whether it’s been generating catch-and-go situations out of the corner to utilize spacing, filling lanes in transition, or just cutting aggressively to make rotators honor him, therein leading to opportunities for others, Okoro has leveled up with his movement feel. For a player of his ilk, that’s meaningful, whether he starts or comes off the bench regularly.

Also, Okoro has made better decisions when he’s attacked closeouts in recent weeks.

He still isn’t going to be taking pull-ups to counter those, which is something long-term, he’ll need to add, but he has shown that he can make plays in gaps, leading to finishes with either hand at the basket, or he’s found dump-offs to bigs at times. Even if the assist totals don’t necessarily indicate that from those, his vision and timing has improved in drawing defenders in those situations, which has indicated growth and better feel on the move.

With both of these offensive aspects in mind on and off-ball, Okoro having hit 65.6 percent of his restricted area shot attempts this season, per NBA.com’s shooting data, has been solid.