3 Cavaliers players Bickerstaff has to give more playing time

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Isaac Okoro, Cleveland Cavaliers. (Photo by Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports) /

Cavaliers who deserve more playing time No. 2: Isaac Okoro

The Cleveland Cavaliers are at their best this season when Isaac Okoro is on the court. While you can quibble with whether he is the best pick to start, the results have born themselves out: the starters plus Okoro is a very successful lineup that needs to play more minutes.

In 306 minutes this season that group is +5.2, the seventh-best lineup in the entire NBA that has logged at least 300 minutes.

Okoro is this team’s best point of attack defender, and against most teams in the league that means Okoro needs to see the court more. He locks up opposing guards and harries them into turnovers and missed shots, and he is one of the players who can pick up a ball-handler full-court and exhaust them into passing the ball away.

He fits in well with Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell because neither brings that point-of-attack intensity. He can take the most intimidating backcourt threat, filtering Garland and Mitchell down the lineup. With his shot largely falling this season (35.5 percent for the season, 45.8 percent since January 1st) and his work as a cutter and in transition still solid, he deserves more than the 20 minutes per game he has been playing over the past few weeks.